The European Forum Of Muslim Women (EFOMW) was announced that in June 2019, it was granted consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). According to the announcement:
EFOMW has been granted consultative status to the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in June 2019. Consultative status to ECOSOC is the highest status granted by the United Nations to non-governmental organizations (NGO’s), thereby allowing them to participate in the work of the United Nations. Consultative status provides NGOs with access to not only ECOSOC, but also to its many subsidiary bodies, to the various human rights mechanisms of the United Nations, as well as special events organized by the President of the General Assembly. This access is very important for our advocacy work as it gives us opportunity to influence decision-makers at the highest international level.
The GMBDW first reported on the European Forum of Muslim Women (EFOMW) in March 2016 when it announced that it organized a hearing at the European Parliament on the impact of Islamophobia on Muslim women. In 2008, we covered another seminar on women’s issues at the European Parliament that featured Noura Jaballah, the wife of Ahmed Jaballah another important European Brotherhood leader living in France and at that time the EFOMW President.
A report by the NEFA Foundation authored by the GMBDW editor indicates that the EFOMW is affiliated with the Federation of Islamic Organizations in Europe (FIOE), the umbrella group representing the European Muslim Brotherhood. The history of the EFOMW provided on the organization’s website obscures this background but a cursory examination of the group’s member organizations and its current leadership continues to show many links to FIOE and the European Muslim Brotherhood.