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2007 Round-up: AP Partners Struggle for Social Justice on Five Continents, January 2, 2008

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AdvocacyNet
News Bulletin 126
January 2, 2008
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Contents:

• Holiday Appeal Raises $3,010 for Survivors in Bangladesh, Bosnia, Guatemala and India
• Council Votes to Evict Travellers from Dale Farm, UK
• Spanish Government Intervention Prompts NGO Walkout from Middle East Forum
• Srebrenica Memorial Quilt to be Featured in Michigan Human Rights Exhibition
• Graduates Win $25,000 Award for Education in Peru
• Advocates Denounce Agricultural Labor Practice and Prepare for April Elections in Nepal
• Albanians Face Summary Eviction in Belgrade
• Sri Lankan Media Struggles to Stay Neutral as War Intensifies
• Diaspora Advocacy Wins Release for Nigerian Trafficking Survivor in Texas
• Malaysian eHomemakers Showcased at International ICT Conference
• Girl’s Schools Defy Threats and Thrive in Afghanistan

 
Holiday Appeal Raises $3,010 for Survivors in Bangladesh, Bosnia, Guatemala and India
 
AP is seeking $3,750 to help survivors who are struggling against disability, disaster, massacre, and poverty in the four countries. Many thanks to those who have donated so far. To others - please help us reach the target!
 
Council Votes to Evict Travellers from Dale Farm, UK
 
The Basildon Council in southeast England voted on December 17 to evict 86 Traveller families from the Dale Farm site. The Council’s development committee ruled (three to one with one abstention) that the rights of the Travellers were outweighed by the need to respect planning decisions and halt “illegal” Traveller encampments. The British High Court will review the Dale Farm controversy on February 11. For more information about the history of the Dale Farm issue, visit the Dale Farm timeline. At the request of the Dale Farm Community Association, an AP partner, the AP site has linked to video footage of past evictions.
 
Spanish Government Intervention Prompts NGO Walkout from Middle East Meeting
 
Civil society delegations from Israel, Palestine and Arab countries withdrew from the Madrid Social Forum for a Just Peace in the Middle East – a civil society conference – on December 12, after the Spanish Foreign Ministry invited Israeli NGOs that it thought would downplay criticism of Israel. This violated Forum rules and undercut the Alternative Information Center (AIC) an AP partner, which had been charged with selecting the Israeli delegation. Meanwhile, the Friedrich Ebert Foundation (FES) in Jerusalem warns of a growing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, which is under siege and embroiled in factional fighting. The FES newsletter and website were developed this summer by Erin Wroblewski, an AP Peace Fellow.
 
Srebrenica Memorial Quilt to be Featured in Michigan Human Rights Exhibition
 
The Srebrenica memorial quilt will be displayed at the Michigan State University Museum in an exhibition devoted to quilting and human rights, starting January 15, 2008. The quilt comprises 20 panels, each commemorating a victim of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre, and is being made by the weavers of BOSFAM, an AP partner. A second 20-panel quilt is being completed and will be unveiled in Boston in February. AP is seeking sponsors for the quilt at $40 per panel.
 
Graduates Win $25,000 Award for Education in Peru
 
Supporting Kids in Peru (SKIP), an AP partner, has won the prestigious 2008 Good Venture Competition, awarded annually by JP Morgan Chase to encourage community initiatives by graduate students. The $25,000 award will allow SKIP to increase the enrollment of poor children in schools in Trujillo, Peru, from 20 to 400. SKIP’s winning proposal was presented by former SKIP volunteers. AP recruited two Peace Fellows for SKIP this summer. Contact Brent Latham for more information.
 
Nepalese Advocates Denounce Agricultural Labor Practice and Prepare for April Elections
 
With elections in Nepal now set for the second week of April 2008, the Jagaran Media Center (JMC), an AP partner, reports in its latest e-Bulletin that Dalit advocates in Palpa, Gulmi and Arghakhachi districts are mobilizing against the system known as Balighare, which pays agricultural workers in grains rather than money and is considered a form of slavery. Dalit workers will now be urged to work only for cash. Ten Dalit journalists will use the JMC e-Bulletin to report on caste discrimination in the run-up to elections, helped by a $16,000 donation from the Dutch organization Cordaid. Meanwhile, 15 episodes of the Baglung pro-democracy and human rights radio program, produced by the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP), an AP partner in Nepal, can be downloaded via the AP site.
 
Albanians Face Summary Eviction in Belgrade
 
Women in Black (Serbia), an AP partner, warns that minority Albanians in Belgrade face eviction from their homes without compensation or due legal process. On December 5, a monitor from Women in Black witnessed police demolish the house of Ljiljana Nedzib Mitrovic, an Albanian, to make way for a commercial development. All other evicted families received compensation. The Women in Black monitors were threatened with arrest for “obstructing” the eviction. Contact Women in Black.
 
Sri Lankan Media Struggles to Stay Neutral as War Intensifies
 
Adam Nord, an AP Peace Fellow with the Home for Human Rights (HHR) in Sri Lanka, blogs about the risks that face media outlets in Sri Lanka that are not aligned with the government or the Tamil Tigers. Armed thugs recently stormed the offices of a prominent newspaper in a “secure” zone and destroyed the presses. Mr Nord also blogs about the escalating war and a visit to Sri Lanka’s Hill country, where HHR, an AP partner, has recorded an increase in sexual violence against women.
 
Diaspora Advocacy Wins Release for Nigerian Trafficking Survivor in Texas
 
Advocates from the Nigerian diaspora in the US have helped to secure the release of Celestina Ifeacho Joseph, a Nigerian woman who was detained by the Immigration and Naturalization Service in Houston and was threatened with deportation. Ms. Joseph was trafficked from Nigeria in 1984 at the age of 10, and forced into slavery in Houston. Her arrest was publicized in April 2007 by Africans in America, an AP partner, and by AP in an April news bulletin.
 
Malaysian eHomemakers Showcased at International ICT Conference
 
Sheau Ching Chong, Director of the Malaysian eHomemakers, an AP partner, led a panel discussion on ICT innovation, and reviewed the experience of the Salaam Wanita basket weavers (a project of eHomemakers) at the Global Knowledge Partnership meeting (GK3) in Kuala Lumpur (December 11-13). GK3 attracted 1,766 practitioners and experts from 125 countries. The conference predicted that five billion people will use the Internet by 2015.
 
Girl’s Schools Defy Threats and Thrive in Afghanistan
 
The Oruj Learning Center, an AP partner, expanded its program of girl’s education in Afghanistan in 2007 in spite of growing insecurity. Oruj now supports 992 girl students at four schools in Wardak province, and will soon hire four new women teachers. Oruj organized four trainings for teachers in 2007, with a donation from the Government of Liechtenstein. Oruj also received new grants from the Flora Family foundation ($27,500), the Global Fund for Children ($6,000), and a matching grant from a private donor. Six of Oruj’s best students will provide home education for 60 students during the winter (January to March).

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