A Muslim councilor has been appointed as one of the two Tower Hamlets night-time safety champions to promote women’s night safety and help to make more women feel confident in the borough after dark. 

The new role, taken by Cllr Amina Ali and Cllr Bex White, comes as part of the Mayor of London’s Women’s Night Safety Charter, a London-wide response to women feeling unsafe at night.

“We want women to feel safe in our borough whatever time of day or night it is. We know that unfortunately this is not always the case, which is why we’ve introduced the Women’s Night-Time Safety Champions in Tower Hamlets,” Cllr Ali told TowerHamlets.org.  

“I feel very passionate about addressing misogyny and gender-based violence and I look forward to championing the needs of women and making sure our voices and concerns are heard and prioritized.”   

The announcement comes during the annual 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence campaign, a global initiative tackling violence against women and girls.

The council marked the start of the 16 Days by holding a stall in the London Muslim Centre with Solace, the leading domestic and sexual violence charity.

The East London Mosque led with a sermon on gender-based violence and a White Ribbon stall, asking men to wear a white ribbon and sign the pledge to never commit or remain silent about male violence against women.  

“Our new Women’s Night-Time Safety Champions will give us the opportunity to promote the work we’re doing to tackle violence against women and girls, and will also shine a light on the areas where we still need to do more work,” John Biggs, Mayor of Tower Hamlets, added.  

“I know that Cllrs Ali and White will give this role the attention it needs and I look forward to working with them in the coming months.”

Tower Hamlets continues to be one of the fastest growing, youngest, and most diverse populations in the UK. 38 Percent of Tower Hamlet’s residents are Muslim, the highest proportion in the UK.