Pinar Ilkkaracan

Pinar Ilkkaracan is the founding president of Women for Women’s Human Rights (WWHR) – NEW WAYS, which led various successful legal reforms in Turkey towards gender equality. She has created a nationwide human rights education program to enable women to exercise their rights in Turkey, which is implemented in 40 provinces of Turkey, especially for women living in poverty. In 2001, she initiated the international network Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR), a network of more than 40 NGOs and academics in Muslim societies of the Middle East, North Africa and South / Southeast Asia. She has contributed significantly to development of women’s human rights at various United Nations meetings.

Ilkkaracan is the editor of Women and Sexuality in Muslim Societies (translated into Arabic and Turkish) and Deconstructing Sexuality in the Middle East (forthcoming), and the co-author of Gender and Sexuality; The Myth of the Warm Home: Domestic Violence and Sexual Abuse and Human Rights Education for Women: Training Manual.

She was awarded the Gruber Women’s Rights Prize in 2007 for her leadership for women’s rights at the global level.