A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

The Advocacy Project seeks to help community-based advocates produce, disseminate and use information, and so become more effective advocates for human rights and social justice

FROM THE PHOTO LIBRARy

www.flickr.com
This is a Flickr badge showing photos in a set called Best of AP. Make your own badge here.

TAKE ACTION FOR ADVOCACY

  • News
  • FAQ
  • Subscribe to our newsletter
  • Search

Resources > News Service > Newsletters > Issue 7, May-June...

Issue 7, May-June 2003

News From AP's Partners:



News From The Advocacy Project:


News From AP's Partners

The Women of Kosovo and Afghanistan Urge Iraqi Women to 'Organize and Raise Their Voice' During Reconstruction

Two prominent women's networks in Afghanistan and Kosovo, representing hundreds of influential women activists, have pledged solidarity to Iraqi women and urged them not to be intimidated by the emergence of conservative elements in Iraq that threaten to reverse years of steady gains by women.

In separate open letters, which have just been released, the two networks also urge the occupying forces in Iraq to improve security - which poses a special threat to women - and ensure that women's rights are guaranteed in any new legal system.

The letters have been issued by the Afghan Women's Network (AWN) and the Kosovo Women's Network (KWN). AP is helping both networks to develop their advocacy.


UN Must Provide Guarantees for Afghan Refugees Against Abuse of Iris Scan, Says AWN

The Afghan Women's Network has urged the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to provide a written guarantee that it will respect the right to privacy of Afghanis, and not share information that it collects from scanning the irises of Afghan refugees in an effort to prevent fraud.

In a press release just issued from the AWN's offices in Kabul and Peshawar (Pakistan), the AWN says that the current procedure of iris-scanning does not do enough to respect the rights of the refugees.

'The privacy rights of refugees are never a consideration,' said Afifa Azim, Coordinator of AWN. 'We want to make sure that this identity test, the iris scan, is not misused in a way that will harm refugees now or in the future.'

Afghan refugees in Pakistan receive a one-off repatriation grant of between $5 and $50 before returning home, but many refugees have been crossing back to collect more than one grant, prompting UNHCR to introduce some curbs. The scan (which is painless and poses no physical risk) detects any previous iris test and has a margin of error of three percent. UNHCR estimates that there has been a forty percent drop since March in the numbers of refugees who try to beat the repatriation system.

Currently, UNHCR assigns only numbers in the database and does not gather names or other personal information. But AWN is concerned that this might change, and is calling on UNHCR to guarantee in writing that it will not expand the information it collects from refugees, or make the database available to any other individual or agency.

'We agree that UNHCR should keep accurate record of the numbers of refugees who return to Afghanistan and stay,' said Azim. 'We also realize that UNHCR needs to maintain controls on its repatriation program. But we are concerned that there are no guaranteed limits placed on the kind of information UNHCR collects and who will be allowed to have access to that information.'


Afghan Women's Network Grows Stronger on Both Sides of the Border

An ambitious program to strengthen the information and advocacy of the Afghan Women's Network (AWN) is gathering strength in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

AWN represents 24 women's groups and over 1,000 individual women, and works on both sides of the border. Mary Moore, an information specialist, has been working with the network since February, under a project that is funded by the Central Eurasia Program of the Open Society Institute and East-West Management Institute. The project is managed jointly by The Advocacy Project and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children.

Moore's approach is consistent with AP's philosophy of empowering community-based advocates by helping them to use information technology and produce information products. It is clear AWN has made some important strides since her arrival:

Organizational structure: Operating on both sides of the border poses obvious logistical problems, and the AWN board has accepted several recommendations from Moore that will help coordination. These begin with the creation of an AWN communications unit, which has four posts (currently paid for under the project budget). Three work in Peshawar under the direction AWN's chief of External Relations, Sadiqa Basiri. The fourth works in Kabul under Afifa Azim, AWN's coordinator. 

Publications: AWN recently launched an in-house electronic newsletter, covering the work of its members. It has also published three issues of a public magazine (Ertiqa) on women's issues. These will all be posted on the AWN website. 

Radio: AWN's office in Kabul has formed a radio production unit to produce community radio programs with help from a Canadian organization IMPACS. The story ideas are generated by AWN's Coordinator (Afifa Azim) and scripts are written by AWN's Media Unit. 

Journalism Training: Several AWN writers are receiving journalism training in Kabul from the Institute for War and Peace Reporting, an international NGO. In Peshawar, 40 young women recently attended a second round of journalism training organized by Ms. Moore. In addition to improving the writing skills of AWN members in both countries, the training will produce material for AWN's two publications and radio programs. 

Media Outreach: AWN now has lists of news contacts in both countries. It organized a press conference in Kabul on March 6, and has recently issued an open letter to the women of Iraq and a press release on iris-scanning in the refugee camps (see this issue).

Website: The English version of the AWN website (designed by AP) has already been revised by the AWN publications unit, and a local version in the Dari language will be published shortly. The website has been extensively used by AWN members. Eight AWN members have been receiving website design training in Peshawar under the direction of Sadiqa Basiri in order to ensure that the website is maintained and used by AWN. 

Hardware. Moore has purchased three computers for the AWN office in Peshawar, with project funding. The computers are being used for training AWN staff, but will eventually be moved to an Internet café in Peshawar for use by AWN members. 

Campaigns. The next stage of the plan is design and promotion of AWN campaigns. Top of the list is lobbying for women's rights in the new Afghan constitution, which will be adopted in October.

Website and Advocacy Training for Srebrenica NGOs Emphasizes Local Support and Sustainability

Under the direction of The Advocacy Project, the Tuzla-based Center for Information Technology (CIT) is putting the finishing touches to websites for the Forum of Srebrenica NGOs and the Bosnian women's group Bosfam, as well as training both organizations in website maintenance. CIT's involvement is intended to ensure that both groups can draw on Bosnian technical support, instead of depending on foreigners to maintain their websites.

Meanwhile, membership of the Forum itself has expanded to 16 organizations, in a sign that civil society is beginning to flex its muscles in Srebrenica and demand more of a say in the reconstruction of the town. Several new members come from municipalities other than Srebrenica, showing the Forum's breadth of support.

AP's support for the NGOs of Srebrenica began last October, when AP posted an illustrated web profile of the NGOs on the AP website and received funding from the Dutch Refugee Foundation to help Bosfam and the Forum design websites. CIT was engaged to ensure that the sites are locally-designed and not dependent on outsiders.

AP's work in Srebrenica is directed by Peter Lippman, AP's Field Project Director, who will be joined shortly by an AP intern, Marta Schaaf, from Columbia University. Together, they will help the Forum use its new site to launch campaigns and possibly even produce a newsletter. They will also be working to gain support for a new Bosfam center in Srebrenica that will help displaced women - Serb and Muslim - as well as train women weavers in the production of carpets.

CIT began website training for nine representatives from the Forum and Bosfam on May 20. CIT director Adnan Salkic introduced them to the Internet and Internet activism. Further sessions will involve uploading or removing texts and photos from a website through a locally-designed Content Management System. By the end of the course both NGOs will be able to update their sites in minutes from any computer with Internet access.

CIT is a multi-ethnic organization, founded in 2001, which is managed by students and alumni of the Electrical Engineering Department of Tuzla University. In addition to providing training, the Center maintains management systems for businesses and government agencies and also runs the most popular Internet center in Tuzla. CIT currently employs a staff of ten. Counting the two sites underway with The Advocacy Project, it has created eight websites.


eRiders Start to Change Attitudes, Build Confidence Among Europe's Roma

When Maria Metodieva, a Roma activist and university graduate from Bulgaria, was asked to train Roma women in the use of information technology, she met resistance. 'Many of the women were used to being taught by men and were distrustful of a woman,' she writes. 'They were also fearful of showing they did not know how to use the computer.'

Gabriela Hrabanova is a second-year student in Prague, and active in the Roma youth movement. She has found that young Roma might be more computer-savvy than their elders, but that they prefer to learn about IT from someone who seems older and more experienced. Her tip: 'Always dress five years older than you really are. Don't wear concert t-shirts, hip huggers, or little sundresses.'

Miroslav Olah, from Slovakia, met with a different response when he began explaining the advantages of IT to the head of one Roma group. 'She said she already knew everything!' recalled Olah. So Olah played a trick and asked the director whether she used a 'switch card,' even though there is no such thing. 'She answered yes! It became clear she did not know what she was talking about.'

Gyula Vamosi, in Hungary, was able to 'sell' the benefits of IT to a group of Roma parents who were trying to end segregation against their children in the local schools. He helped them use email to contact the Prime Minister directly and so bypass the obstructionist local authorities. Vamosi then used this success to help the group reorganize their entire way of working, from raising funds to setting goals.

Vamosi, Olah, Metodieva and Hrabanova are among several Roma eRiders (IT consultants) from East Europe who are managed by The Advocacy Project as part of the Roma Information Project (RIP). The project began in April 2002 and is supported by three programs at the Open Society Institute (Network Women's Program and Women's Program, Roma Participation Program and the Information Program). AP's Technical Director recently began the latest round of RIP training for the eRider team in Prague on May 26.

The goal of the RIP is to help Roma do more than just understand technology. It aims to help them use IT in bettering their lives and some clear lessons are beginning to emerge. Many of the factors which have impeded the development of Roma - education, confidence, gender taboos - also make it difficult for them to embrace technology. Once they make the connection, however, it is clear that IT can indeed empower Roma.

The Advocacy Project is encouraging the young Roma eRiders to write about their experience, which is itself distinctly empowering. In March 2003, the four eRiders cited above contributed to a series of articles on the web site of Tech Soup, the largest portal for nonprofits and technology in the world. This is the first time Roma techies have been published on the web. Their four articles can also be found on new pages on AP's website.


UN Spurns Offer of Indigenous Help for its Cash-Starved Indigenous Forum, Says Indigenous Media Network

The UN's Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, which is badly strapped for money, has been told by the UN's Legal Counsel that it cannot accept an offer of a fully-paid staff member from the Metis Nation of Ontario (Canada), according to the Indigenous Media Network (IMN).

The offer was worth $100,000 and would have eased some of the financial pressure on the Forum, which has been asked to coordinate all indigenous issues in the UN on a shoe-string budget. But the Forum has been told it cannot enter into direct agreement with indigenous peoples for fear of infringing the sovereignty of UN member states.

The UN's response drew an angry response from Tony Belcourt, president of the Metis Nation, at the recent two-week session of the Forum in New York (May 12-May 23), as reported in one of several new articles posted on the website of the Indigenous Media Network (IMN).

Several indigenous journalists established the IMN at last year's Forum and asked The Advocacy Project to construct a website. This has since evolved into an important virtual forum for the airing of indigenous concerns.

It has also been quickly and efficiently taken over from AP by indigenous media experts. The site was designed by an Australian firm, Ecomaccess, with financial support from the Mohawk Internet Technologies, a business initiative of the Mohawk Council of Kahnawake (MVK) in Canada. The site is currently managed by Rangi Kaiwhiria, with help from the chief sub-editor, Kalani Tarawa - two Maoris in Aoteroa/New Zealand. Over 50 indigenous writers have posted articles on the site, and editorial policy is decided by seven indigenous media experts in Aoteroa/New Zealand, Australia and the US.

The report on the recent session of the UN's Permanent Forum sheds light on other current indigenous concerns, which are not receiving enough publicity in the conventional media. Legborsi Saro Pyagbara, of the Movement for the Survival of Ogoni People (Nigeria) calls on the Forum to engage oil companies and the World Bank, and stop the proliferation of oil wells in Ogoniland, which now number over 100. The Ogoni are not consulted by these 'agents of death,' he complained.

Another complaint comes from the International Indian Treaty Council that criticizes the World Bank's new indigenous policy for 'ignoring emerging international human rights standards.'

Palestinian Nonviolent Resistance to Occupation Must Reach Out to Israelis, Says MEND Director

The key to ending Israel's violent occupation of the Palestinian territories is to assuage the fears of Israelis, not terrify them by suicide bombings and violent resistance, according to Lucy Nusseibeh, a prominent leader in the Palestinian non-violence movement.

Nusseibeh is Executive Director of the Palestinian organization MEND (Middle East Non-Violence and Democracy) and chairperson of the Board of The Advocacy Project. She gave a briefing for staff from AP and Search for Common Ground in Washington on April 29, shortly before the annual AP board meeting.

To judge from the continuing spate of suicide bombings, many Palestinians feel that Israel has to be forced out of the territories, not rewarded with dialogue. But Nusseibeh, who has been active in nonviolence since the first intifada in 1987, argues that violence feeds violence and cannot possibly triumph against the powerful Israeli army. It also encourages Israel to demonize Palestinians and intensify the occupation.

Nusseibeh said that MEND runs workshops on nonviolent resistance that attempt to give people the courage, confidence and tools to confront occupation. Parallel to this, MEND advocates easing the fears of Israelis that they will be the target for violence. Demand for the workshops is growing so fast, said Nusseibeh, that they even attract activists from Fatah, Yasser Arafat's political movement.

However conciliatory MEND's message, the chances are that nonviolent resistance will at some stage involve protest and may even provoke a violent response. The Israelis are currently trying to deter the International Solidarity Movement (ISM), which is the most prominent practitioner of active nonviolence in the territories. In March 2003, an American ISM activist, Rachel Corrie, was crushed to death by an Israeli bulldozer when she attempted to prevent the demolition of a Palestinian house in the Gaza Strip.

Western Immigration Officials Can Curb Trafficking, Says Women's Consortium of Nigeria

Immigration officials in Western countries should be trained to identify trafficking victims in transit, and intervene, according to the Director of the Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON).

News From The Advocacy Project

AP Sends Interns to the Balkans, Asia, Africa and the Middle East

The Advocacy Project (AP) has arranged for eight American graduate students to intern with AP partner organizations this summer in Kosovo, Bosnia, Lebanon, Nepal, Nigeria, Italy, the Palestinian Territories and the Czech Republic.

In line with AP's mission, most of the interns will be helping their hosts with information and advocacy. Most will also be taking out computers, which have been kindly donated to AP by the CS Mott Foundation. AP arranged a day of training for the interns in Washington on May 14. Each will be writing a regular online diary, or 'blog' for the AP website.

Five of the interns are studying for a Masters degree at Georgetown University and two are studying at Yale and Columbia (New York). The eighth has been working this year at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington. The group has impressive work experience. One worked with the Peace Corps in Kyrgystan. Another has worked in Zimbabwe. A third served as country director in Kosovo for Doctors Without Borders.

As well as helping their host organizations, the interns will try to develop international links between civil society organizations. Erica Williams, from Yale, will be going to the Women's Consortium in Nigeria (WOCON), which campaigns against the trafficking of Nigerian girls to Italy. Julie Lee, from Georgetown University, will be going to TAMPEP in Turin, a group which helps trafficked Nigerian girls and is developing information programs aimed at deterring girls from leaving Nigeria. Erica and Julie will work at establishing stronger ties between TAMPEP and WOCON.

The eight host organizations are: Dzeno, a Roma media organization in the Czech Republic; The Kosova Women's Network; The Women's Consortium of Nigeria (Lagos); The Forum of Srebrenica NGOs and Bosfam (Srebrenica, Bosnia); Middle East Non-Violence and Democracy (Jerusalem/Beit Hanina); the Collective Campaign for Peace (Nepal); TAMPEP (Turin); and the Middle East Reporter (Beirut).


Creating Independent NGOs Can Weaken Civil Society, Warns AP Coordinator

Donors who insist on forcing the creation of independent nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in post-Communist countries risk creating confrontation between civil society and local government, according to AP's Coordinator, Iain Guest. This can actually weaken the development of an indigenous civil society.

Guest told a recent conference in Albania that the relationship between civil society and local government is 'critical' to the promotion of democracy, and that the one needs the other. This is often overlooked by donors, who use their aid to create an independent civil society, usually consisting of NGOs. In addition to antagonizing governments, said Guest, this risks leaving the new NGOs totally dependent on donor funding. He cited the examples of Kosovo, where the number of NGOs increased from 45 to 400 in a single year following the 1999 war. Many collapsed when donor funding dried up

Guest's comments were made at a review conference of COMPASS, an ambitious three-year project in Albania which has worked to strengthen local government in five Albanian municipalities. COMPASS is funded by the Dutch government and implemented by three Dutch NGOs (NOVIB), (SNV) and (VNG).

It is often exceptionally difficult for civil society to strike the right balance between partnership and criticism in its dealings with government. Guest suggested that donors like COMPASS can help both sides to anticipate and talk through likely problems, and also help civil society initiatives identify needs and campaign goals.

This will call for some imagination, but COMPASS has already launched several innovative mechanisms in Albania, including a public debating arena ('Public Fora') and a 'Local Initiatives Fund' which provides small grants to innovative civil society initiatives.


Back


Services

Fellows+


Sponsor a fellow

Dissemination+


Read AP news bulletins


Research+


Human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (March 2007)

ICT+


Learn more about ICT support

Training+


UN human rights fellows (May 2007)




 

FIND A PARTNER

The Advocacy Project develops partnerships with advocates on the frontline and with nongovernmental organizations (NGOs). In so doing, we take our cue from partners and tailor any support to their needs.