CAIRO – 3 February 2022: The management of the Aswan International Women Film Festival decided to grant the Somali Hibaq Osman the Note Award for achievement in the field of women’s issues, and to honor her at the opening ceremony of the festival's sixth edition that will be held from February 23 to 28. Osman was also appointed as a Senior Fellow at the James MacGregor Burns Leadership Academy, Churchill College, University of Cambridge. Ambassador Mervat el-Talawy noted that Hibaq Osman led the global campaign for justice for the "Women of Comfort" - Korean women forced into sexual slavery during the Japanese occupation in the 1940s - by working with survivors and relatives. Moreover, Osman led a project aimed at initiating the reconciliation process in the Horn of Africa, by bringing together 30 organizations and 60 representatives from across the region. The project brought Somali women from warring clans to work together for the first time.
