Home About Services Partners Fellows Blogs Resources Take Action

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

Resources > News Service > Newsletters > Issue 8, November...

Issue 8, November 2003

News From AP's Partners:

• Women's Consortium of Nigeria exposes scandal of child slavery camps
• Afghan Women's Network frees jailed women as Afghan constitution promises respect for women's rights
• Afghan journalism trainees question the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan
• Ecuador Indians sue Texaco over Amazon pollution
• Croatian trauma center head proposes 'research laboratory' on trauma and refugees
• Israeli human rights group criticizes Israel's 'Security Barrier'
• Roma eRiders visit the World Bank and prepare to form an international NGO
• Roma women's network addresses Council of Europe, calls for conference on sterilization

News From The Advocacy Project

• Internship program judged a success by interns; how to apply for 2004 internships
• AP to co-host exhibition of Srebrenica carpets in Cambridge, featuring film on Srebrenica weavers

Briefly Noted:

• AP selected as One World's partner of the month
• Website stats show 40% increase during 2003
• 2003 press releases and commentaries

News From AP's Partners

74 Child Slaves Rescued From Stone Quarries After Intervention by the Women's Consortium of Nigeria

74 boys between the ages of 15 and 4 have been rescued from slavery in the granite quarries of Nigeria after a dramatic intervention by one of AP's partner organizations, the Women's Consortium of Nigeria (WOCON).

The child slaves, who are all from the neighboring state of Benin, were located by members of WOCON that then alerted the Nigerian police. After receiving medical treatment, the boys were returned to their families in Benin. The quarry operators fled before they could be arrested.

Many of the 74 children were sold to traffickers by their impoverished parents in Benin for as little as $35. After being shipped to Nigeria, they received 35 cents a day for breaking stones with mallets in the quarries.

Those rescued said that 13 boys had died from exhaustion, disease, and abuse in the quarries. The bodies were buried in shallow graves nearby.

If the scandal has exposed the abuse of child slavery, it has also underlined the critical role of civil society in stopping such crimes. Nigeria and Benin have signed an agreement to cooperate in locating and repatriating children who are working in dangerous conditions, but it is clear that both governments will need prodding from civil society if they are to take the agreement seriously. A third group of child slaves were rescued from slave camps on October 22 by Nigerian police, but WOCON was only informed on November 7. This meant that the children were in the hands of the police for almost two weeks before WOCON members could visit them and provide food and clothing. The task of caring for, and rehabilitating, the children once they freed will fall to civil society.

At least the practice is now out in the open, and this marks a major success for the advocacy of WOCON. The Advocacy Project has been assisting WOCON's advocacy since 2000, when an AP team profiled WOCON's campaign again the trafficking of women to Italy and also helped WOCON design a website. AP also sent an intern, Erica Williams, to work with WOCON this summer.

WOCON has received inquiries from several people offering financial support to the organization. The Advocacy Project is acting as an agent for WOCON in the United States and will be happy to transfer any donations. Please contact us at the address below.

• More information on WOCON's work on international trafficking
• Read Ms. Williams's account of her work with WOCON in the summer of 2003.
• Email WOCON

Afghan Women's Network Frees Jailed Women as Afghan Constitution Promises Respect for Women's Rights

In a campaign, which illustrates the continuing vulnerability of Afghan women as well as the confidence of Afghan women's civil society, the Afghan Women's Network (AWN) has secured the release of four Afghan women refugees who were jailed after being falsely accused of bigamy. The AWN has also arranged for the release of 18 Afghan children who were jailed with their
parents because they had nowhere else to live.

The four women divorced in Afghanistan and then left for Pakistan as refugees. After returning home with new husbands, they were located by their former husbands and reported to the police on the grounds that no divorce papers were ever filed. One woman spent 17 months in prison before she was released. 'Men cannot bear to see their ex-wives with other men,' explained Sadiqa Basiri, spokeswoman for the AWN.

The women were released after the AWN hired a lawyer to take up the case under the AWN's legal aid program. The Afghan Women's Network comprises 24 NGOs and has over 1,000 individual members in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

Meanwhile, the AWN is gearing up for one last push to improve the new draft Afghan constitution, which will be presented a constitutional meeting of the Loya Jirga, the Afghan tribal council, in December. The draft has been widely discussed at community meetings across Afghanistan, and AWN's local chapters have participated actively.

The draft refers to international human rights standards and provides for extensive political participation by women. Still, critics have noted that 'Islamic law' appears to take precedent over human rights. This, they fear, could make it hard to eradicate traditional practices at the family and community level, which penalize women. Ms. Basiri noted that the existing constitution prohibits marriage under the age of 16, but that girls as young as seven are routinely married off by their families.

As a result, the AWN will be pressing for new laws to provide real protection when it comes to marriage, divorce, inheritance rights and the many other related family practices that have traditionally penalized Afghan women.

• The Advocacy Project has supported the AWN's advocacy and information throughout 2003. Together with the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, AP arranged for an information specialist - Mary Moore - to work with the AWN. Ms. Moore's diaries have now been collected and published as a new project page on the AP website.
• As part of her work, Ms. Moore arranged for AWN members to received training in website design and posting. Visit the AWN website.

Afghan Journalism Trainees Question the Wars in Iraq, Afghanistan

A member of The Advocacy Project's team was reminded of the growing confidence and independence of Afghan women recently, when he attended a session for trainee women journalists from the Afghan Women's Network (AWN).

Richard Blane is currently visiting Pakistan and Afghanistan to follow up on the programs that were put in place earlier in the year by AP consultant Mary Moore. His task is partly to evaluate the project for AP's own donors, and partly to help the AWN identify new partners and follow-up projects.

Ms. Moore, a former journalist, was able to arrange for journalism courses for AWN members, and the AWN has kept these going since her departure. Mr. Blane was able to attend a recent session for 40 Afghan women trainees. After being peppered with questions about the war in Iraq and the international war against terror, Mr. Blane tried to steer the discussion back to journalism. His latest web log (blog) records their response:

' 'Mr. Richard: you say that you do not want to talk about politics. But in this class, we are taught that a journalist must know politics extremely well - that this is essential for journalists. So why are you saying that you will not talk about politics? You must be more brave, Mr. Richard.'

'Although the statement was made in English, there seemed to be no need for translation. The women laughed excitedly at her candor, and I had to smilingly concede that she was right.'

Ecuador Indians Sue Texaco Over Amazon Pollution

After many delays and setbacks, 30,000 Ecuadoran Indians have managed to start legal proceedings against the oil giant Texaco for polluting their traditional land during the 21 years that Texaco exploited oil in the Amazon. The plaintiffs are seeking damage of $1 billion in a Quito court.

The case represents a triumph of perseverance by Ecuador's indigenous activists, and their lawyers. Texaco withdrew in 1992 leaving behind a trail of devastation, and civil society has been trying to seek redress ever since.

Although courts in the United States - where Texaco is headquartered - eventually declined to hear the case directly, the U.S. Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York ruled last May that it will enforce any judgment rendered by the Ecuadoran court against the company, or send the case to a trial court in the United States, if it believes that the plaintiffs do not get a fair hearing in Ecuador. This has heartened many human rights activists, who feel it might be used on behalf of other communities that seek redress against corporations.

The Advocacy Project described the damage wrought by Texaco, and profiled the struggle by Ecuador's indigenous people, in a 2002 series of AP's newsletter On the Record. Peter Lippman, the author of the series, visited the town of San Carlos, which lies at the epicenter of the polluted area.

'It is impossible to avoid the oil in San Carlos,' he wrote. 'Families wash their clothing and take drinking water from the contaminated streams. Cattle drink bad water from the streams or waste pools, and then get sick and die. Barefoot children play on the roads - and the only way they can wash their feet is with gasoline.'

• Read an illustrated profile of Peter Lippman's reports, and the campaign by Ecuadoran civil society.
• Read a report of the opening of the Texaco trial in Ecuador.

Croatian Trauma Center Head Proposes 'Research Laboratory' on Trauma and Refugees in Vukovar

Universities and think tanks are being asked to work together to establish a research center in the eastern Croatian town of Vukovar, which was almost entirely destroyed during the 1991 war between Serbia and Croatia.

The invitation was made by Dr. Charles Tauber, director of the Vukovar-based Coalition for Work with Psychotrauma and Peace (CWPP) during a November 4 meeting of the Human Rights Forum at Georgetown University. The Forum is jointly sponsored by The Advocacy Project and Georgetown's Institute for the Study of International Migration (ISIM). The Advocacy Project designed and
produced the Coalition's website in 2001.

Vukovar gained notoriety during the 1991 war after it was captured by Serbian forces after a devastating siege. Over 100 wounded Croatian soldiers were taken from the hospital and murdered in one of the most notorious war crimes of the Balkans wars. Vukovar was then recaptured by Croatian forces in 1994. Each stage resulted in displacement, expulsion and revenge killings.

According to Dr. Tauber, all of the town's roughly 30,000 inhabitants suffer from trauma. This ranges from the severe trauma suffered by victims of torture, to the guilt and depression, which affects former soldiers and policemen. As a result, Dr. Tauber said that there had been a marked increase in circulatory problems, heart attacks, and cancer as well as incidences of domestic violence in Vukovar. Adding to the problem is a lack of medical resources. Overburdened doctors prescribe anti-depressants, but this adds to the problems of addiction and alcoholism.

The Coalition is currently treating between 40 and 50 patients, but medical interventions account for a small part of its work. Dr. Tauber and his colleagues have developed a 'strategy of complex rehabilitation' which involves a range of integrated interventions aimed at promoting respect for human rights, strengthening civil society and encouraging reconciliation between the town's Serb and Croat population.

The Coalition has already worked with several academic establishments, and also hosted a steady stream of interns, since its establishment in 1994. Given Vukovar's strategic location at the heart of the troubled Balkans, and its unique history, Dr. Tauber argues that it would make an ideal local for a research center, where visiting scholars and practitioners could both study and make their expertise available to the local population. He has contacted several universities and received expressions of interest.

• Email Charles Tauber
• For more on the Coalition and its work visit their website.

Israeli Human Rights Group Criticizes Israel's 'Security Barrier'

Israel's 'separation barrier' will violate the rights of 210,000 Palestinians and will not provide Israelis with guaranteed protection from Palestinian suicide bombers, according to researchers from B'Tselem, the Jerusalem-based Israeli human rights monitoring group.

Speaking at an October 21 meeting of the Georgetown Human Rights Forum in Washington DC, Jessica Montell, the Director of B'Tselem, and Yezekhel Lein, a senior researcher, said the separation barrier appears to be aimed at reinforcing Israeli settlements and creating further obstacles to any peace process, rather than keeping Palestinian militants out of Israel.

• Read the full story

Roma eRiders Visit the World Bank, Address Georgetown University, Plan to Form NGO

European Roma cannot rely on government intervention or international aid to improve their lives. Instead, they have to take the initiative and build Roma confidence at the grassroots, using education, information technology and networking among NGOs.

This was the message from two young Roma activists, Gyula Vamosi from Hungary and Gabi Hrabanova from the Czech Republic, at a November 14 meeting of the Georgetown Human Rights Forum. Mr. Vamosi and Ms Hrabanova were among 11 young Roma leaders who were invited to Washington for a week of training by the World Bank in recognition of their community activism.

Europe's Roma are thought to number around 8 million, and they suffer from ill-health, illiteracy, poverty and discrimination. Roma in western Europe enjoy higher living standards than those in the east but suffer from less legal protection. Mr. Vamosi noted that Roma in Strasbourg - center of Europe's human rights system - are not allowed to vote or even settle in their own community.

Roma in eastern Europe are worse off physically, but enjoy more legal protection. There is also more social activism in the east, according to the two speakers. Ms. Hrabanova, a 22 year-old student who received 12,000 votes after she ran for public office in Prague in 2002, spoke of her work with five Roma women's groups in the Czech Republic. She has to start from scratch in teaching them how to use computers.

Mr. Vamosi is working with a network of 55 Roma groups that are trying to raise the level of education in Hungary. This is largely a matter of instilling confidence, he said: Roma children are routinely intimidated and bullied at school. Many drop out, thus perpetuating the cycle of illiteracy.

Mr. Vamosi and Ms. Hrabanova are among six Roma 'eRiders,' or roving IT specialists, who have been trained by The Advocacy Project under the Roma Information Project. RIP has received funding from three departments of the Open Society Institute: the Network Women's Network Women's Program, Roma Participation Program and the Information Program of the Open Society Institute.

Five of the RIP eRiders, including Ms. Hrabanova and Mr. Vamosi, plan to establish a new nongovernmental organization, registered in Bulgaria. They are now seeking support, contacts and ideas for new projects.

• Email the eRiders.
• Profile of Gabi Hrabanova
• Profile of Gyula Vamosi

Roma Women's Network Address Council of Europe, Pushes for Conference on Sterilization

Roma women across Europe are in the grip of a 'terrible health crisis' according to Soraya Post, the President of the International Roma Women's Network (IRWN).

In the course of a keynote address to an international conference held at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg on September 14, Ms. Post also urged governments to hold a meeting on the forcible sterilization of Roma women. The Republic of Slovakia has been accused by NGOs of sterilizing Roma women without their permission or knowledge. This was denied by a Slovakian representative at the meeting. In the course of her statement, Ms. Post revealed that her own mother had been forced to undergo sterilization in Sweden, or surrender her children to state custody.

Ms. Post is emerging as a respected representative for Roma women in Europe. In addition to attending conferences and lobbying governments, she has also visited Roma communities in France and Slovakia. This reflects growing interest in IRWN, which was established on March 8 by Roma women activists from 18 European countries with help from The Advocacy Project. AP will be conducting training for the IRWN committee at a 2-day meeting in England in late December.

• Read a full report on the health crisis facing Roma women in Europe.
• Read Soraya Posts's statement to the Strasbourg conference.

News From The Advocacy Project

AP Internship Program Judged a Success

The Advocacy Project's summer internship program has drawn praise from the interns, and from their host organizations, and also prompted a number of inquiries about new internships for the year 2004.

AP 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. Several took out computers, which were donated to AP by the CS Mott Foundation.

Each intern produced diaries, or web logs, which they posted directly onto the AP site. This was considered so innovative that it was written up in Wired Magazine. (Visits to the AP site jumped by over 50 percent the day after the Wired article was published.)

Six of the interns are from Georgetown University, and they described the experience at a public meeting with other students last month. The overall impression was of a productive and enjoyable summer, although several also observed that it is difficult to make a lasting impression on a community group in just three months.

This lesson is now being absorbed by The Advocacy Project and its partners. Future internships will be organized well in advance, and more care will be taken in matching the skills of interns with the needs of AP's partners.

There is clearly great demand among AP's partners. Dinesh Prasain, Chairperson of the Collective Campaign for Peace (COCAP) in Nepal, wrote the following about intern Kate Kuo, a second-year graduate student at Georgetown's School of Foreign Service:

'(Outside Kathmandu) Kate conducted strategic planning workshop, wrote brochures and grant proposals for two of the COCAP member organizations in the eastern part of Nepal. The resource material she compiled and developed for the purpose are very useful for the network, which we plan to translate into Nepali and use with other member organizations.

'In Kathmandu, Kate helped the Advocacy Forum, a COCAP member organization which is involved in advocating the rights of torture victims and 'disappeared' people. She wrote and designed a very impressive brochure for them, helped them with their planning process, and taught report writing and proposal writing skills to the staff.

'The entire COCAP family has been impressed by the commitment, skills and friendliness that Kate brought into COCAP. After Kate left, almost one dozen members have requested the COCAP Board to arrange for other interns like Kate to volunteer with their organization.

'On behalf of COCAP, I would like to express sincere gratitude to The Advocacy Project, Georgetown University and, of course, Kate herself, for making the internship possible. I would also formally like to request you to keep COCAP in mind whenever you get the opportunity to organize such international internship programs.'

• For the interns' own blogs, go to our blogging page and click on the relevant intern on the right-hand menu.
• AP published a regular digest of intern blogs during the summer. 
• For AP's own evaluation of the intern program email us.
• Interested in interning with an AP partner? Email us.

AP to Co-Host Exhibition of Srebrenica Carpets in Boston

The Advocacy Project and the Boston-based group Friends of Bosnia are co-hosting an exhibition of traditional Bosnian carpets (kilims), which were woven by the widows of Srebrenica. The exhibition will open with a reception on November 21 at the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

The exhibition will seek to publicize the work of Bosfam, the Bosnian women's organization, which has provided hope and work for hundreds of displaced Bosnian women. Many were widowed by the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica. The Advocacy Project has produced a 10-minute video film about Bosfam's work, which will be shown at a reception on November 21. A second goal of the exhibition will be to secure orders for the Bosfam weavers, and also raise funds for a new weaving center in Srebrenica itself. Beba Hadzic, the director and founder of Bosfam, argues that such a center will attract refugees back to the devastated town.

The Advocacy Project has provided extensive support for Bosfam this year. Working with a grant from the Dutch Refugee Foundation (Stichting Vluchteling), AP has profiled the work of civil society in helping refugees to return to the town, and also helped Bosfam to design and maintain a website. AP also sent an intern, Marta Schaaf, to work with Bosfam this summer. Among other duties, Ms. Schaaf helped to draft a proposal for the establishment of a new Bosfam center in Srebrenica.

The Cambridge exhibition will feature about twenty kilims, which were handwoven by Bosfam's weavers. AP organized a similar exhibition in Baltimore earlier this summer, which drew almost 200 visitors, attracted press attention and raised over $3,000 for Bosfam's weavers.

Meanwhile, in Bosnia itself, the Bosnian Serb government has reportedly admitted responsibility for the 1995 massacre in a recent television broadcast from Banja Luka. On another front, the Daily Telegraph of London reports that relatives of those killed at Srebrenica are preparing to sue the United Nations and Dutch government for $625 million, for failing to provide sufficient protection.

• For more information on the November 21 exhibition contact the Cambridge Multicultural Arts Center: 41 Second St, Cambridge, MA 02141. Tel: 617/577-1400 x.10. Visit their website or email Kelly.
• See AP's profile of civil society in Srebrenica.

Briefly Noted:

AP'S Human Rights Work Recognized by OneWorld

The Advocacy Project has been selected as featured partner of the month (November) by OneWorld, the worldwide internet-based network. According to OneWorld: 'This is our way of recognizing your important contribution to human rights and sustainable development, and your active participation in the OneWorld's network of over 1500 organizations worldwide.'

On November 13, Teresa Crawford, AP's Technical Director, addressed a meeting at OneWorld in Washington on the use of web logs (blogs) in social activism.

OneWorld is currently showcasing AP's work on the OneWorld US front page, the partners section, and the monthly email partner newsletter.

AP Website: 40% Increase in Vistors in Nine Months

An analysis of visits to the AP website between January and September of this year shows an average 40% increase is all three major categories - page views; average viewer session length; and unique visitors.

4,510 individuals visited a total of 37,546 pages during January 2003, and spent an average of 11.35 minutes per session. By September, the number of visitors had risen to 6,630 and the number of pages viewed to 50,014. Each visitor is currently spending an average of 14 minutes for each viewing session.

AP Press Releases During 2003

AP has produced 14 commentaries and/or press releases this year so far. Middle East (3); Roma (2); Srebrenica (2); Afghanistan (2); Nepal (1); Internships (2); Trafficking (1); Iraqi women (1).

Back