Khairani Arifin

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Starting Point 

The Balai Syura name emerged after the 2000 Duek Pakat Inong Aceh (DPIA) forum. Balai Syura was officially established in 2001. As a women and peace organisation, Balai Syura has four mandates: equitable Islamic Sharia, the implementation of women's basic rights, environmental issues, and the empowerment of victims and former female combatants.

Balai Syura houses 82 women's organisations in Aceh and actively promotes changes to laws governing women's empowerment and protection. Only Aceh has a pan-Aceh women’s organisation, which is nonexistent in Yogyakarta and Ambon, making it incredibly impressive for Aceh to establish theirs even before the peace negotiation started. Through DPIA, Balai Syura was the first organisation to advocate for peace when many others were still fixated on prolonging conflict and violence.

Peace Journey

Balai Syura has played a major role in challenging discrimination against women in Aceh. They push for environmental policies in Aceh to have a gender and women's perspective. During this time, almost no women were involved in the process of policy formulation, research, etc. 

Balai Syura also contributes to the regeneration of women's organisations by holding sharing sessions between young and old activists and creating a political home for young women. In this forum, Balai Syura encourages women to get involved in politics. All Balai Syura events must involve young people. Therefore, Balai Syura also provides internship space for interested students.

Success Stories

A major challenge to running an organisation based on women's empowerment is religious interpretations that prevent women's involvement and leadership. Then, the government's commitment to women's empowerment is minimal. It is also difficult for women to get support from their families and social circles. 

Through these challenges, Balai Syura managed to survive and even became the first forum in Aceh to talk about peace. Balai Syura also managed to persuade the ulama to abolish articles of Aceh's regulations that discriminate against women. Not only that, thanks to its advocacy efforts, funding for women's empowerment organisations in Aceh has increased.