ADIVIMA would like to share a video report from Guatemala, in Spanish, that shows the conditions in the village of Agua Blanca, near Chixoy Dam.

The community of Agua Blanca, more than 300 people, is comprised of families displaced by the construction of Chixoy Dam who live in extreme poverty. They have been waiting for reparations from the government for their loss of property for over thirty years.

The January 4th, 2009 land slide occurred near Agua Blanca. With the rainy season underway, tons of silt is accumulating in the river near the village creating a natural dam near the induction tunnels for Chixoy. The situation is critical and leaves the entire community at risk of more landslides or total inundation.

Emergency response teams from the government seem more concerned about damage to Chixoy Dam than the livelihood of the residents of Agua Blanca. Tunnels for the dam are located at the entrance to the village of Agua Blanca and can be seen in the video. If this tunnel is affected, the country could lose 30% of its electricity generation capacity.

Agua Blanca has decided to take matters in their own hands. Although new land and homes have been promised to them within the year as part of the reparations package, all residents have decided to move to a nearby farm next week rather than wait for government assistance in the matter.

Right now, the community needs assistance to purchase basic foods and simple building materials for temporary shelters on the new property. ADIVIMA is coordinating this effort.

June 17, 2009, Basildon, UK: The Basildon Council has agreed to lengthy negotiations with the Dale Farm Travellers before evicting them from their homes in southeast England, a local newspaper has reported.

The Echo, which has extensively covered the Dale Farm crisis, reported June 16 that an agreement has been made for traveller spokesman Richard Sheridan to lead a group in negotiations with council officials.

Coucil Chairman Tony Ball said agreeing to the talks would not stop the Council from pursuing eviction orders against the Travellers, but that it was in everyone's interest for the Travellers to leave by choice and avoid the costs of a forced eviction.

The Dale Farm crisis began in 2005 when it was determined the Travellers were living on Green Belt land that is environmentally protected from development. Eviction orders were issued in 2005 and 2007. The most recent threat began after the UK Court of Appeal ruled in January that the Travellers could be legally evicted.

The Travellers and their advocates argue that the Travellers are defined as a distinct ethnic group by British law and have long been targets of discrimination in the UK. The wholesale eviction of about 90 Dale Farm families would also interrupt the education of the Traveller children and create a health crisis.

The Advocacy Project (AP) has supported the Travellers since 2005 and previously sent two Peace Fellows to Dale Farm.

June 11, 2009, Lima, Peru: The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) is urging restraint as tensions continue to mount between the government and indigenous villagers in Bagua, Peru after violent confrontations between protesters and riot police this past weekend.

Hundreds of villagers in the Bagua region have been protesting the government's push to open up indigenous lands in the Amazon to oil and gas companies. On June 5, more than 30 indigenous protesters are thought to have been killed in clashes with police, and the police have been accused of throwing large numbers of bodies into the Maranon river to hide the death toll. More than 20 police officers are also believed to have died.

Today, a national strike was called by indigenous activists and several cities held solidarity marches.

EPAF, a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP), released a statement criticizing the government for broadcasting gruesome photographs of police officers killed in Bagua in order to sway public opinion. EPAF is calling for the creation of an independent investigatory commission to determine the actual number of dead and wounded among police and civilians and inquire into possible forced disappearances.

Two AP Peace Fellows, Jessica Varat and Zachary Parker, are currently volunteering with EPAF in Peru, and will post updates on the situation on their blogs.

EPAF's full statement is below:

"The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team regrets the unnecessary violence and loss of life in Bagua over the weekend and expresses its concern that the tenuous calm in the region does not once again devolve into confrontation and bloodshed. Out of an interest in maintaining the peace and preserving the possibility of an eventual conciliation between the two sides, EPAF calls on the Peruvian government and the leaders of the indigenous movement to refrain from using heated rhetoric that can only serve to further polarize the conflict.

Along these lines, EPAF expresses its consternation over the continued broadcast of televised propaganda from the Ministry of Interior showing gruesome photographs of the bodies of police officers killed in the confrontations. Besides increasing the tension in the region, the use of those images demonstrates a fundamental lack of respect for the victims and the privacy rights of their aggrieved family members. For that reason, the government should suspend further broadcasts immediately.

EPAF also reiterates its call for the creation of an independent investigatory commission to clarify the events surrounding these acts of violence to determine the actual number of dead and wounded among police and civilians and inquire into possible cases of forced disappearance of civilians. The commission's findings should then be used to establish the criminal responsibility of those involved in these acts of violence and prosecute them according to the requirements of the law.

Finally, EPAF sends its condolences to all the victims of the violence and urges the country to reflect on the importance of protecting and preserving the lives of all Peruvians."

June 11, 2009, Malaga, Spain: "Water, Rivers, and People" -- an exhibit focusing on the impact of dams on local populations around the world -- opens tomorrow, June 12, in Malaga, Spain.

A case study in the exhibit focusing on the Chixoy Dam and Rio Negro massacres was curated by former Advocacy Project Peace Fellow Heidi McKinnon. Ms McKinnon volunteered with ADIVIMA (Association for the Integral Development of the Victims of Violence in the Verapaces, Maya Achi)in Guatemala in 2008 and early 2009.

In 1975, the Guatemalan government's decision to build a large hydroelectric dam on the Rio Negro River required the "resettlement" of Maya Achi villagers whose lands would be flooded. Overall, 477 indigenous villagers who refused to abandon their land for the Chixoy Dam were killed by paramilitaries in 1982. About 13,000 people in 28 villages remain affected by the dam, and ADIVIMA is currently negotiating with the government to secure reparations.

The exhibit will be on display until July 5. More information about the exhibit, in Spanish, can be found here. A larger version of the exhibit will open in Mexico City in September, and it is expected to tour at least three other cities.

June 11, 2009, Pyutar, Nepal: Police in Nepal have arrested a woman accused of beating and torturing a Dalit woman for being a "witch."

Bimala Lama (shown below) was apprehended Wednesday, June 10, by police in the Lalitpur District, nearly three months after the incident. When interviewed by reporters from the Jagaran Media Center (JMC), Ms Lama talked about what drove her to commit the crime:

"Villagers used to term Kalli as a witch, and while I became ill, one of the shaman from Chabahil-Kathmandu confirmed her as a witch, so I thrashed her," Ms Lama said.

The beating occurred March 20 in the Lalitpur District of Nepal, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of Kathmandu. Kalli Kumari Bishwokarma, a Dalit, was accused of witchcraft, attacked, and forced to eat excrement.

The case was reported on by the JMC, a leading advocate for Dalit rights and a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP). When JMC journalists heard about the case, they traveled to the village with a human rights team and rescued Ms Kumari BK, her husband Chet Bahadur, and their 17-year-old daughter.

Ms Lama intitially fled from the police when they tried to arrest her. She told reporters Wednesday that she first went to her relatives place in Makwanpur, Nepal, and then headed to Kathmandu. She said Wednesday that she regretted fleeing and should have turned herself in earlier.

Before the incident, Ms Lama was the principal of Gadhibhanjyang Primary School in Pyutar village and had been studying for her bachelor's degree.

According to the 'Muluki Ain' (Country Code in Nepal), if convicted, Ms Lama could face from three months to two years in prison, along with a fine ranging from 5,000 Nepalese rupees (about $60) to 25,000 rupees (about $304).

Two other suspects in the beating, Kamal Gole and Shyam Negi Lama, were caught a month ago and are now free after paying 15,000 Nepalees rupees each (about $200).

June 9, 2009, Basildon, England: The Basildon District Council is advertising for bids on a $3 million contract to forcibly remove about 90 Traveller families from their homes in Dale Farm in southeast England.

The Dale Farm Housing Association, an Advocacy Project (AP) partner, is insisting that Council freeze plans for an eviction and grant the planning permission needed for families to remain in their homes. A large-scale eviction and relocation could cost up to 25 million euros, in addition to forcing Traveller children out of schools and creating a public health crisis.

The Travellers want the Council to continue the dialogue started on April 23 during a meeting with Commission for Equality and Human Rights, instead of moving forward with their eviction plan. They are also appealing to local churches and social justice organizations to oppose the eviction and lobby the Council and British government on their behalf.

AP, which has supported the Travellers since 2005 and previously sent two Peace Fellows to Dale Farm, will be contacting relevant members of the United Nations and the British Embassy.

The Dale Farm crisis began in 2005 when it was determined the Travellers were living on Green Belt land that is environmentally protected from development. Eviction orders were issued in 2005 and 2007. The most recent threat began after the UK Court of Appeal ruled in January that the Travellers could be legally evicted.

However, the court ruled that the Council cannot make the Travellers homeless, and is still responsible for finding alternative land, under the East of England Regional Assembly and the 1996 Housing Act. So far, the Council has ignored these requirements.

Today, British Parliament Member John Barron offered a plan to help the Dale Farm Travellers move amicably outside of Basildon. This would be a temporary solution that would still leave the Travellers without a true home.

While the Travellers support Mr Barron’s intervention, they maintain that steps must be taken prior to any eviction to find a permanent home on land that they own, according to Grattan Puxon, secretary of the Dale Farm Housing Association.

Travellers have been consistent targets of racism and discrimination in the UK, despite the fact that most were born in the UK and are British citizens. Advocates for the Travellers note that British law recognizes them as a distinct ethnic group in need of protection.

June 8, 2009, Lima, Peru: The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) is demanding an investigation after twenty police officers and an undetermined number of civilians were killed Friday, June 5, in violent clashes between the National Police and indigenous groups.

The violence occurred in Bagua, a town located in the northeast corner of Peru.

EPAF, a partner of The Advocacy Project, is asking for a comprehensive report on the actual number of dead and wounded among the police and civilians and an inquiry into any possible forced disappearances during these events. The group has issued the following statement:

"EPAF expresses its solidarity with the relatives of each and every one of the victims for the unjust and unnecessary loss of their loved ones; insists that there are legitimate and legal strategies to resolve social conflict in Peru other than through more violence and bloodshed; manifests concern that the numbers of dead and wounded provided by the state and civil society organizations are distinct and in many cases contradictory; and feels that the explanations given by the state regarding the intervention provide insufficient justification for the actions taken.

As a result and for the benefit of the nation, EPAF demands:

- the formation of an independent investigatory commission to clarify the violent acts that have occurred;

- a comprehensive and conclusive report of the actual number of dead and wounded among police and civilians;

- a determination of the exact circumstances under which the victims were killed or wounded;

- an inquiry into possible cases of forced disappearances of civilians during these events;

- that criminal responsibility for this case be determined based on the findings of the aforementioned investigations.

We all must understand that the loss of life is irreparable and that the pain of some should not be valued over the pain of others because, in the end we are all Peruvian."

June 5, 2009, Pyutar, Nepal: More than two months after a Dalit woman was severely beaten and fed excrement for being a "witch," the woman responsible for her torture remains at large.

The incident occurred March 20 in the Lalitpur District of Nepal, about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of Kathmandu. Kalli Kumari Bishwokarma (shown below), a Dalit, was accused of witchcraft, attacked, and forced to eat excrement by her fellow villager, Bimala Lama.

The case was reported on by the Jagaran Media Center (JMC) a leading advocate for Dalit rights and a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP). When JMC journalists heard about the case, they traveled to the village with a human rights team and rescued Ms Kumari BK, her husband Chet Bahadur, and their 17-year-old daughter.

Now, despite then-deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister Bamdev Gautam ordering the police to issue an arrest warrant, Ms Lama has fled and remains at large. When human rights activists, journalists and police personnel went to Pyutar to apprehend her, villagers ganged up and started attacking them. Human rights activists suspect the delay in justice is related to the fact that Ms Kumari BK is a Dalit, while Ms Lama has close ties to the local Nepal Congress Party.

"It is a gross violation of human rights and it will have a severe affect on the Dalit community, both mentally and physically," said Dhan Kumari Sunar, a member of the National Women's Commission. "Our prime concern is to ensure that the culprit(s) are put behind bars and to rehabilitate BK so that she can live a life of respectability and security."

Sunar pointed out that police must apprehend those responsible to signal that such crimes against Dalit will not be overlooked and to decrease the likelihood of similar incidents.

According to the 'Muluki Ain' (Country Code in Nepal), if convicted, Ms Lama could face from three months to two years in prison, along with a fine ranging from 5,000 Nepalese rupees (about $60) to 25,000 rupees (about $304).

May 27, 2009, Mrsici, Bosnia: A new mass grave containing dozens of victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre has been discovered in eastern Bosnia, bringing a fresh reminder as advocates prepare to commemorate the 14th anniversary of the massacre this summer.

The grave was discovered in Mrsici village, 60 kilometers northeast of Sarajevo, according to Bosnia's Missing Persons Commission. Exhumation was expected to continue for several days.

Srebrenica, a Muslim enclave, was designated a UN safe haven during the Balkan conflict in the 1990s. But a lightly-armed Dutch peacekeeping force capitulated to the Bosnian Serbs, who seized the town and murdered over 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys over the age of 15. The women and children were bused out of Srebrenica to Muslim-controlled territory.

To date, the remains of more than 6,000 of the genocide victims have been exhumed from about 70 mass graves around Srebrenica, with more than 5,600 people identified by DNA analysis. About 2,900 massacre victims have been re-buried. Thousands of bodies and body parts have been exhumed from mass graves but not yet identified.

Each summer, thousands flock to Potocari, the scene of the 1995 massacre, to bury the remains of newly-identified victims. Two Advocacy Project partners in the Balkans, Bosnian Family (BOSFAM) and Women in Black-Serbia, participate in the commemoration each year.

BOSFAM has also produced a memorial quilt honoring victims of the Srebrenica massacre. The quilt was launched in 2007 and now comprises 85 total panels, each dedicated to an individual victim.

May 26, 2009, Lima, Peru: Members of the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) recently participated in a forensic training for members of the criminal justice profession in Venezuela.

The "Forensic Investigation Training for Justice Operators" was held May 13 and 14, and was organized by the Chair of Peace and Human Rights, Oscar Arnulfo Romero, and the Universidad de los Andes.

The workshop was part of EPAF´s global training initiative, which seeks to facilitate communication and joint efforts among different actors involved in finding the "disappeared" -- such as relatives, forensic investigators, police, and prosecutors. EPAF is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

Last week's workshop included theoretical sessions, held in the mornings, which covered the various elements of forensic investigations, and hands-on sessions in the afternoons. Participants learned about the recovery of evidence and recording of the crime scene, post mortem analysis and determination of the cause of death, and DNA analysis. They also practiced identifying and recovering evidence at model crime scenes created specially for the training.

The workshop concluded with a session on interpretation of evidence, which covered patterns found in the investigation of crimes, past examples, and case studies.

EPAF has previously conducted similar workshops in Peru and the Phillipines.

May 20, 2009, Washington, DC: The Advocacy Project (AP) has joined the Building Bridges Coalition, a group of more than 200 organizations and universities determined to double the number of international volunteers sent abroad annually by 2010.

The Coalition aims to promote interaction between international volunteer organizations, colleges, corporations, government agencies, and other stakeholders in order to improve the quality if international service and its impact on communities throughout the world. It strongly supported the recently-passed Edward M. Kennedy Serve America Act, which recommends $10 million a year in US government funding for international volunteer opportunities.

AP is committed to scaling up its own fellowship program through partnerships with other organizations, such as its 2009 projects with Vital Voices and the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA).

May 19, 2009, Washington, DC: The Advocacy Project (AP) is pleased to announce Bayo Oyewole as the newest addition to its Board of Directors.

Mr Oyewole comes to the Board with extensive experience working with the World Bank and the international philanthropy community.

Mr Oyewole has been with the World Bank Group since 1984. He served for several years as adviser, then senior adviser, in the office of the Executive Director where he represented the interests of 21 African countries on the World Bank’s executive board.

He joined the International Finance Corporation, the World Bank’s private sector arm, in 2001, where he has managed IFC’s relationship with the international donor community and foundations. Mr Oyewole currently works in IFC’s Infrastructure Advisory Department where he advises African governments on how to structure effective public-private partnerships in the health sector.

Before joining the World Bank Group, Mr Oyewole worked in the Nigerian affiliate of Deloitte and Touche in Lagos, Nigeria. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Economics from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and an MBA from the University of Maryland, College Park.

Mr Oyewole is married with two boys.

Mr Oyewole's addition brings the total number of AP Board members to nine. Meet the rest of the AP Board.

May 18, 2009, Basildon, UK: The British House of Lords has refused to hear an appeal from the Travellers at Dale Farm, meaning a January ruling allowing them to be evicted will stand.

The Lords decided they would not hear the case "because the petition does not raise an arguable point of law of general public importance which ought to be considered by this House at this time, bearing in mind that the cause has already been the subject of judicial decision and reviewed on appeal."

The news came only hours after a UN committee called for a freeze on plans to bulldoze Dale Farm -- Britain's largest Traveller community.

Lawyers acting for Dale Farm say the case may now go to the Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. But with a likely two-year wait before that court could rule on the matter, Dale Farm residents will need to
seek more immediate protection from eviction.

The Dale Farm crisis began in June 2005, when the Basildon District Council ordered the Travellers to leave because they were living on Green Belt land that is protected from development by environmental regulations. The Council issued a second eviction order in 2007.

About 90 families at Dale Farm stand to lose their homes following a January ruling by the British Court of Appeal that allows the eviction to proceed. The Court decision overturned an earlier May 2008 High Court ruling ordering the Council to find alternative land for the Travellers. The House of Lords refusal to hear the case effectively made the appeals court decision final.

The Advocacy Project (AP) has supported the Travellers since they were ordered out in June 2005 and sent two Peace Fellows to volunteer at Dale Farm.

At a May 14 meeting at the House of Lords, lawyer Leticia Osorio (pictured above, center) said UK local councils should stop evicting Gypsies and Travellers and refrain from criminalizing those living on their own land without planning permission. Ms Osorio asked that the House of Lords support the recommendations made by the UN Advisory Group on Forced Evictions, which visited Dale Farm April 23.

"All attempts to obtain retrospective permission have been rejected," she told the Lords. "We hope now that the Lords will agree to hear their case."

Basildon has promised to give the Travellers 28 days notice before any eviction. In the event of an eviction, human rights monitors have pledged to be on hand, and several hundred supporters have promised to join Dale Farm residents in forming a human shield to stop bulldozers.

The Council has yet to consider the homeless applications submitted by more than 90 Dale Farm households. They include a joint homeless application seeking to be re-accommodated together as a community.

May 13, 2009, Washington, DC: The United States House of Representatives has passed a resolution urging constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina and sustained US engagement in the Balkans.

The successful vote comes after months of lobbying by the Bosnian diaspora in the US, including the Bosniak-American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH), an Advocacy Project (AP) partner based in Washington.

BAACBH promoted the resolution with the help of lawmakers, including Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson (shown, right, with BAACBH Executive Director Elmina Kulasic), who spoke at Bosnian Women's Day on Capitol Hill in March. BAACBH is a nonprofit organization dedicated to advocating for Bosnian-Americans living in the United States and promoting peace and economic development in the Balkans.

House Resolution 171 was introduced by Rep. Howard Berman on February 13, 2009. It calls for immediate and urgent constitutional reform that will enable Bosnia and Herzegovina to become an efficient and effective state, and work toward full membership in the European Union (EU) and North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).

The resolution emphasizes that the U.S. should appoint a Special Envoy to the Balkans who can work in partnership with the EU and political leaders in Bosnia to facilitate government reforms, while also assisting the political development of other countries in the Balkan region.

The resolution strongly insists that efforts should be made domestically and at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to achieve justice for the victims of war crimes and genocide. Furthermore, it does not recommend the closing of the Office of the High Representative (OHR) until the Peace Implementation Council (PIC) can determine that the country's reforms have met the five objectives and two conditions set by the PIC.

The resolution recommends that the United States work closely with and support the EU in the transition to a European Union Special Representative (EUSR), upon closure of the OHR.

May 13, 2009, Manila, Philippines: The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) recently completed a series of forensic trainings for the investigators of the Commission of Human Rights (CHR) in the Philippines.

The trainings were held between April 24 and May 11, and coincided with the 22nd anniversary of the CHR. In total, 132 investigators representing all regions of the Philippines were trained in four sessions. The first two trainings were held at Clark, Pampanga with subsequent trainings in Cebu and Cayagan de Oro.

The cooperation between EPAF and the CHR is significant as both Peru and the Philippines struggle with impunity and cases of human rights violations. EPAF is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

The trainings involved a combination of lectures and hands-on fieldwork to expand the investigators' existing expertise in the field. Participants were encouraged to use logic and observation to systematically investigate a crime scene and to critically evaluate evidence they received from other sources.

Effective investigation is an important step in ending impunity, reducing the incidence of human rights violations, and getting justice for those affected, according to EPAF.

The trainings were organized in association with the Asia Foundation with financial support from USAID and AUSAID.

May 12, 2009, Jerusalem, Israel: Palestinian and Israeli human rights activists are gathering this week to mark the 61st anniversary of the Naqba ("day of catastrophe") on May 15.

The term is used by Palestinians to describe the expulsion of more than 750,000 Palestinians during the establishment of Israel in 1948. During the first Israeli-Arab war, more than 500 Palestinian villages were destroyed. Of the roughly 150,000 Palestinians who remained in the area that became Israel, tens of thousands were internally displaced.

On the 61st anniversary of the Naqba, Palestinian refugees are still unable to exercise their basic human right to return to their homes.

The Alternative Information Center (AIC), a joint Palestinian-Israeli activist organization and partner of The Advocacy Project, is commemorating the Naqba with a series of events this week at the AICafe in Beit Sahour, from 7 to 11 pm:

May 12: Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency & Refugee Rights will give a speech about Palestinian refugee issues and right of return in the peace process.

May 16: Three generations of refugees from Aida Refugee Camp will share their own experiences and perceptions of the Naqba and the right of return.

May 19: Discussion with members of Zochrot ("Remembering"), a group of Israeli citizens working to raise awareness of the Naqba and make it accessible to the Israeli public. A reading, with music, of poems and pieces from different experiences of resistance will follow.

In addition, from May 9-19, the art exibition "Good Morning Yafa" by Yusef Katalo, with paintings about the Naqba and the right of return, will be shown at the AICafe.

April 30, 2009, South Hadley, Mass.: The Advocacy Project (AP) university chapter at Mount Holyoke College will host a talk Friday (May 1) featuring Sadiqa Basiri Saleem, a Holyoke senior and prominent advocate for education in Afghanistan.

Ms Basiri Saleem, who lived as a refugee in Pakistan for 18 years, began her work in 2002 when she started informal classes for 36 girls in an abandoned mosque in her home village of Godah, in Wardak province. Last year, her organization, The Oruj Learning Center, supported the education of 2,870 girls in six schools.

Ms Basiri Saleem will discuss how her project evolved into a nonprofit organization; the economic, political, and cultural challenges in Afghanistan; as well as her future goals for the education of women in her home country. After graduating from Mt Holyoke in May, she plans to return to Kabul.

On Friday, she will be joined by Mary Moore, who worked at Oruj a few years ago through AP. Ms Moore will discuss her experience in Afghanistan and her work in bringing education to Afghan girls during the Taliban rule. Ms Moore is now the US Director of the Oruj Learning Center, in addition to being a journalist.

The talk, which will take place in Dwight Hall from 4 to 5 p.m., is free and open to all. Refreshments will be served.

AP's Mt Holyoke chapter, the first of its kind, was started in the fall of 2008 by Hibba Al-Adawy, who interned with AP in Washington last summer.

Hi Folks. Yes, it has been about 8 months since my last post (cliche alert: where the heck does the time go??), but today's post is important to me.

Last year, I donated 2 Flip Video Cameras to the WPIO, and Pascal, in particular, took to it like a fish in water. Below, I've posted an example of his first foray into making a video about the partnership between the WPIO and Amnesty International.

The Advocacy Project is now raising funds for all the 2009 Fellows to be able to bring Flip cameras with them to their partners this summer. I've already donated $10. Just go to The Advocacy Project's donation page: http://advocacynet.org/page/flip

And, again, thank you for all the support you gave to me last summer! There is more video to come from the WPIO. Stay tuned!

April 28, 2009, Washington, DC: Sadiqa Basiri Saleem, a prominent advocate for girls' education in Afghanistan, has won the prestigious Samuel Huntington Public Service Award to continue her innovative network of girls' schools.

Ms Basiri Saleem (shown at right) is the founder of the Oruj Learning Center, a partner of The Advocacy Project since 2004. Oruj began in 2002 when Ms Basiri Saleem started informal classes for 36 girls in an abandoned mosque in her home village of Godah, in Wardak province. Last year, Oruj supported the education of 2,870 girls in six schools.

For the past few years, Ms Basiri Saleem has been completing her undergraduate degree at Mt Holyoke College in Massachusetts. She is set to graduate in May.

The Samuel Huntington Public Service Award provides a $10,000 stipend to a graduating college senior to pursue public service anywhere in the world. The award allows recipients to engage in a meaningful
public service activity for one year before proceeding on to graduate school or a career.

The award is named for Samuel Huntington, former President and Chief Executive Officer of the New England Electric System, which later merged with national grid. Following his graduation from college and before attending law school, Mr Huntington taught in Nigeria, and was deeply interested in public service.

Earlier this year, Ms Basiri Saleem was also honored by women's organization Vital Voices at their annual Global Leadership Awards ceremony in Washington.

April 27, 2009, Lome, Togo: African civil society organizations are challenging their governments to contribute to the United Nations Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) process, and appealing to the international community to support their fight against small arms proliferation.

In a statement issued after a regional workshop on the ATT in Lome, Togo, Friday, civil society groups from Central, Northern and West Africa called for international regulations to effectively control weapons.

They also urged African governments to speak in detail about the feasibility, parameters and scope of an ATT, while Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) member states were asked to ratify the ECOWAS Convention on Small Arms and Light Weapons.

The Lome workshop was jointly organized by the United Nations Regional Centre for Peace and Disarmament in Africa (UNREC), the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) and the West African Action Network on Small Arms (WAANSA). IANSA is a strategic partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

Participants included civil society groups from Algeria, Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Chad, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Ghana, Guinea, Liberia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Tunisia and Togo. The workshop was meant to prepare the groups to participate in the regional governmental workshop on an ATT to be held in Dakar, Senegal, next week.

According to the statement, the workshop discussed the ATT process, why the world needs an ATT and the benefits to Africa, and the role of civil society in the UN process. The participants also learned how international law (including the UN charter and human rights law) applies to international arms transfers.

April 20, 2009, Czech Republic: Roma communities in the Czech Republic are facing increased threats as extremist groups step up attacks and demonstrations against the ethnic minority.

The latest attack came Sunday, when, according to media reports, a Roma couple and their 22-month-old toddler were badly burned after someone threw molotov cocktails into their home in Vitkov, a town in the northeast Czech Republic.

The Dzeno Association, a leading Roma rights group and partner of The Advocacy Project (AP), has covered the attack and reaction on its website.

Police are still investigating the attack, and have not determined whether it was racially motivated.

The incident has been sharply denounced by outgoing Czech Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek and President Vaclav Klaus. Vladimir Spidla, a member of the European Commission, also expressed concerns over the increasing level of aggression against Roma in the European Union (EU).

"The issue of personal safety of Roma is directly related to the broader problem of their being persistently discriminated against and marginalised in European societies," he said in a statement posted on the Dzeno website. "Unless both the EU and the Member States make significant efforts to overcome the exclusion of Roma, they will remain particularly exposed to attacks on their lives and property."

The arson attack comes amid rising political activity of far- right and neo-Nazi groups in the Czech Republic.

On the same night the home in Vitkov was burned, extremists held a highly- publicized march through the northwest Czech town of Usti nad Labem. Earlier this month, far-right groups organized a march (shown at left) through the Roma-populated area in Prerov, where 500 demonstrators chanted “Czechs come with us” as well as anti-Roma statements. Later, the demonstrators clashed with riot police.

Amnesty International delegates, on a research mission to the Czech Republic, observed the Prerov rally and reported on the clashes. Amnesty International has worked for years to combat anti-Roma discrimination and has documented cases of violent attacks against Roma.

About 300,000 Roma live in the Czech Republic, making up less than 3 percent of the population. However, they constitute one-third of the country's unemployed, and are also among the most vulnerable to racially-motivated violence.

April 17, 2009, Denver, Colo.: A photographic exhibit depicting a mass grave at Putis, Peru will be shown this weekend at the 10th Annual Symposium of the Center on Rights Development (CORD) at the University of Denver's Josef Korbel School of International Studies.

The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF), an Advocacy Project partner, exhumed the mass grave at Putis in May 2008. The photo exhibit, titled "If I Don't Come Back, Look for Me in Putis," is the visual testimony of Domingo Giribaldi, who documented EPAF's trip to Ayacucho for the public display of the clothing found in the grave. Over the course of one week, more than 300 people, including family, friends and neighbors from the area, arrived at the clothing exhibition to give testimony and assist in the search for their missing loved ones.

The largest of Peru’s mass graves, Putis marks one of the most brutal incidents in the country’s 20-year internal conflict. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that in December 1984, 123 men, women and children from the communities of Cayramayo, Vizcatampata, Orccohuasi and Putis were executed by units of the Peruvian Army and buried at Putis.

EPAF team members Ellen Salter-Pedersen and Hayden Gore will speak at the symposium about Putis, the current human rights situation in Peru, and the recent ruling in the trial of former Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori.

The symposium will take place at the Univeristy of Denver's Sturm College of Law, located at 2255 E. Evans Ave in Denver.

April 17, 2009, Arlington, Va.: Members of the Nepali diaspora met recently at the Arlington library to discuss ways to incorporate Dalit rights into Nepal's new consitution.

The Nepalese American Society for Oppressed (NASO) Community organized the event, which was attended by the Acting Ambassador of Nepal to the United States, Kali Prasad Pokhrel, as well as the heads of international Dalit organizations and other Nepali diaspora groups. NASO is an outreach partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

The program started with the presentation of a draft paper prepared by active members of NASO regarding the new constitution. Suggestions included making caste-based discrimination a crime in Nepal, guaranteeing the rights of Dalit in the constitution, enacting land reform for Dalit to help them economically, establishing a free education system, and creating a separate government body to handle caste-based discrimination.

Mr Pokhrel said that the Nepalese Embassy would deliver the suggestions put forward by NASO and its members to the Nepali Government before the constitution is crafted.

The website NepalDalitInfo covered the event. Click here for their full article.

April 15, 2009, Ayacucho, Peru: The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) will host a workshop for civil society Thursday on using the basic elements of forensic investigation in the search for the country's "disappeared."

The workshop, titled "The Contribution of Forensic Sciences in the Investigation and Judgement of Human Rights Violations," is being presented at 6 p.m. at the Coliseum of the Universidad Nacional San Cristobal de Huamanga. The program is made possible by the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross.

EPAF is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

During the workshop, EPAF staff members will teach basic elements of a forensic investigation, and help other civil society groups to understand the procedures and to strengthen their watchdog role in the process of finding Peru's missing.

The event will be attended by Dr. José Ochatoma, Decan of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the university; Dr. Javier González, President of the Public Ministry of Ayacucho; Dr. Marcial Jara, President of the Supreme Court of Justice; Dr. Jorge Fernández, Representative of the Ombudsman Office in Ayacucho; Rafael Barrantes, Representative of the International Comitee of the Red Cross; moderator Dr. Alejandro Silva, Project Director of Freedom House; and Juan Carlos Tello, Forensic Archaeologist of EPAF.

The event is free and open to the public.

April 9, 2009, Kathmandu, Nepal: The Asian Human Rights Commission has taken up the cause of a Nepali woman accused of witchcraft, after being informed of her plight by the Jagaran Media Center (JMC).

The woman, 45-year-old Kalli Kumari Bishwokarma of Pyutar village (shown at right), was assaulted and forced to eat excrement by other villagers until she "admitted" she was a witch. When JMC journalists heard about the case, they traveled to the village with a human rights team and rescued Ms Kumari BK, her husband Chet Bahadur, and their 17-year-old daughter.

JMC, a partner of The Advocacy Project, is pushing for the arrest of the attackers and calling on Nepal's elected officials, human rights groups, and civil society to demand justice for the victims.

The AHRC is aiding in that effort through a letter-writing campaign urging police and government officials to take action on the woman's behalf. Supporters can to send letters electronically through the group's online form.

A young woman entered the emergency room Tuesday with a bandaged arm. A machete wound. Her father accompanied her, but kept his distance. I barely paid attention, intent on averting a possible heart attack. One of my colleagues looked ill that morning. His son had similar symptoms a few weeks ago and almost died. Some gentle prodding proved to be the only persuasion necessary to take him to the Health Center.

As I was arguing with the doctor that a simple case of gastritis was just not what we were facing here, the young woman whimpered as she unwrapped her bandage less than four feet away. The bleeding had not stopped. As I watched her father’s notable distance, all I could think was, “Women don’t use machetes that much, much less cut themselves on their outer arm with them…” However, deliberately focused compassion has become my mantra. Still I felt for her, wanted to show her a breathing exercise that would help a bit with the pain, if she would only believe me.

But my focus at that moment was dealing with acute chest pain, in a town with no EKG or X-ray machine and no cardiologist. All we could do was take the pills and elixirs meant for his secondary health concern and leave. Tomorrow we would try another doctor. Since his son had passed out a few weeks ago and stopped breathing, I was sure his stress level was incalculable. As a survivor, he had lost children and wives before and certainly did not need to lose any more.

I accompanied his son to the capital after that first episode, to visit a gastrologist who kindly suggested his problem might be emotional. We took it no further. His step mother did not seem to care either way, happy for the fruit and snacks I brought for him to eat when she had nothing to offer.

This week, I was told the child has passed out several times since. No follow ups yet. No EKG. The step mother jokes about what she will serve at his funeral should something happen. Wouldn’t her life be that much easier with one less child that was not her own to feed? I might have passed out as well after hearing what would be served at my wake. This week is the anniversary of his real mother’s death.

Clearly, the anniversary weighs on my colleague as well. Before the massacres began in Rio negro, his first wife told him to save himself so he could tell their story, the story of the whole community. And he did. Not exactly a guilt-free situation.

Last week, I visited a basket weaver whom I adore. We had a brief interview. Candelaria. Her words are simple and direct and that is what I appreciate most about our conversations. Simple. Direct. She could not express enough the grief of having lost her mother in the Río Negro massacre. Her father survived and has done some good things in the community, but she suffered at his hand immeasurably, as did her mother. She was orphaned and subjected to great cruelty when all she wanted was her mother’s tenderness. She still craves it today. Tenderness.

What was lacking in her life, she gives tenfold to her children. They may not have food on occasion, but they have her and that is all that seems to matter in their house. Her baskets are a study in concentration. Since the moment we met, I have wanted so much more for her than she has. Deliberately focused compassion. My basket collection has proliferated over the past year because of it.

Another friend of mine reminded me last week that she arrived in Pacux on Mother’s Day in 1984. As a six year-old, she had lived in an army camp in San Cristobal, Alta Verapaz, after the massacres. After some archival research, I believe the camp was called Acamal. She said people were celebrating in Pacux when she arrived, but not the newcomers.
I can’t even imagine what Mother’s Day must have been like that year in Pacux. With so many women lost and so many orphans left behind, those women who did survive must have felt like walking miracles. Unfortunately, the soldiers at the Army base outside Pacux didn’t view them in quite the same light.

Mothers. Fathers. Daughters. Sons. Lately, I am wrapping my head around stories like these trying to conceptualize intangible reparations. Sort of an exercize. Reparation is the mot du jour around here. A just reparation. It’s central to so much of the work.
The numbers of hectares, houses and animals lost are more or less clear. But how do you repair the loss of a grotto where people worshipped, a sacred archaeological site where deer dances took place for hundreds of years, lost language and lost social ties, the massacre of every healer and tradition bearer in a community? Or a mother?

What reparation is there to offer someone who cries inconsolably every Mother’s Day for lack of tenderness? Or a man who comes close to a heart attack on the anniversary of his wife’s death? Or a community that no longer remembers aspects of their own religious practices?

Honestly, there is none.

April 7, 2009, Ayacucho, Peru: A photo exhibit depicting the efforts of the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) to identify victims of the 1984 massacre at Putis, Peru returned to the region this week.

On Friday, April 3, the new Mayor of Putis, Jorge Fernandez, and a representative of the Asociacion Paz y Esperanza, which supports the victims' families, attended the opening ceremony for the exhibit (shown below) in the city of Ayacucho.

The exhibit was presented by EPAF, along with the Human Rights Group of Ayacucho and the Movement "Para Que No Se Repita" (So
That it Never Happens Again).

EPAF, an Advocacy Project partner, exhumed the mass grave at Putis in May 2008. The photo exhibit, titled "If I Don't Come Back, Look for Me in Putis," is the visual testimony of Domingo Giribaldi, who documented EPAF's trip to Ayacucho for the public display of the clothing found in the grave.

The largest of Peru’s mass graves, Putis marks one of the most brutal incidents in the country’s 20-year internal conflict. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that in December 1984, 123 men, women and children from the communities of Cayramayo, Vizcatampata, Orccohuasi and Putis were executed by units of the Peruvian Army and buried at Putis.

The photo exhibit can be visited at the Cultural Centre of the University of San Cristóbal in Huamanga until April 12.

The objective of the exhibit is to sensitize the public opinion to the subject of the missing and their families. The exhibit was first displayed in Lima, and has since visited Washington, Denver and London.

April 6, 2009, Washington, DC: The Bosniak-American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH) is marking the anniversary of the start of the Siege of Sarajevo today by remembering the victims and urging governments of the world to take a stand against genocide.

BAACBH, a strategic partner of The Advocacy Project, issued this statement:

"The residents of the capital city of Sarajevo have historically lived in tolerance and diversity; in a city where Christianity, Islam and Judaism flourished side by side for centuries. Unfortunately, Sarajevo was the object of aggressor's siege whose goal was to destroy its multiethnic fabric and eliminate any semblance of religious and cultural cohabitation. Today, we remember the heroic perseverance that Sarajevo endured in its fight to maintain the spirit of peace and coexistance during the four years of its siege.

In order to prevent genocide in the future and in solidarity with the Genocide Prevention Month in April, BAACBH is remembering victims of Sarajevo and honoring the survivors. In paying tribute to this day, BAACBH pledges to advocate for justice, peace, and democracy because it believes that to rebuild the bonds of humanity, it is imperative that those responsible for genocide and ethnic cleansing be brought to justice. The struggle to seek justice for the victims of genocide must continue.

BAACBH strongly encourages the United States and the international community to recommit its efforts in the campaign against genocide and to bring to justice indicted war criminals, especially the fugitive Ratko Mladic. It is essential that justice prevail, because only justice can help bring some closure to victims' families and the survivors."

The Siege of Sarajevo (April 6, 1992 to February 29, 1996) was the longest siege in the history of modern warfare. It is estimated that during the siege, 85 percent of the 12,000 people killed and 50,000 wounded were civilians. The Siege of Sarajevo not only marked the start of the war of aggression in the Balkans, but also the beginning of genocide and ethnic cleansing throughout Bosnia and Herzegovina.

In 2003, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted the first commander of the Republika Srpska paramilitary force, Stanislav Galic, for crimes against humanity committed during the Siege of Sarajevo. In 2007, Dragomir Milosevic, the Serb general who replaced Galic as commander, was found guilty by ICTY as well.

April 3, 2009, Ayacucho, Peru: The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) is teaming up with the International Committee of the Red Cross to offer forensic investigation training workshops to Peruvian legal professionals working in areas affected by political violence.

The workshops are part of EPAF's goal to achieve a better understanding among the different actors (legal experts, technical experts, victims' families, authorities, and media) investigating the disappearances and serious human rights violations that occurred during Peru's long internal conflict. The conflict, which lasted from 1980 until 2000, left an estimated 69,000 dead at the hands of the Shining Path, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) and the Peruvian police and armed forces.

The workshops will be offered from April through June for employees of the Office of the Prosecutor and Office of the Judiciary. The first workshop will be conducted in Ayacucho, on April 17-19.

Each workshop will be accompanied by a forum on forensic investigation and human rights open to the general public. The first one will be held in Ayacucho on Thursday, April 16.

EPAF, a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP), is also trying to increase awareness of the disappeared and their families through a campaign to support the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearances.

So far, 80 countries have signed the UN convention, but only 10 have ratified it. EPAF recently joined the International Coalition Against Enforced Disappearance (ICAED), and is collecting signatures to urge the Peruvian Government to ratify the convention.

April 3, 2009, Washington, DC: The Obama administration has decided to seek a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, reversing the Bush administration's choice to shun the UN's premier rights body, according to a story in the Washington Post this week.

The decision was welcomed by human rights activists, who have been advocating US membership in the council since its creation three years ago. In December 2008, The Advocacy Project's Executive Director, Iain Guest, pubished an op-ed piece urging the Obama administration to join the Council.

The United States announced it would participate in elections in May for one of three seats on the 47-member council, joining a slate that includes Belgium and Norway.

The Human Rights Council is an inter-governmental body within the UN system whose mission is to strengthen the promotion and protection of human rights globally. The Council was formed in 2006 to replace the Human Rights Commission, which had lost international credibility.

In Congo, there is nothing like a presidential visit to give evidence as to why things here just are not working right now. This last week, people in Uvira began preparing for the visit of Joseph Kabila, the president of Congo.

Kabila’s father Laurent was president, but assassinated in 2001, and Joseph took office directly after, first as a “transitional” president. After 5 years, an election was organized and he took power officially. The election was supposed to be a significant landmark, denoting the division between war-torn Congo and Congo’s peaceful and rebuilt future. Kabila was elected on the basis of his plan called “Cinq Chantiers,” which essentially promised the following: 1) generation of jobs, 2) a massive effort to rebuild hospitals and public buildings, 3) the construction of navigable roads, particularly a large road from the northern border of Congo to the southern border, 4) providing electricity and clean water for all citizens, 5) construction of schools, and compulsory, free, primary education for children. In addition, his campaign promised the “pacification of the East.”

Considering what has been going on in Congo and they way people live day-to-day, it is self-evident that none of these promises have been realized. This is probably why the “Cinq Chantiers,” which means “5 Building Blocks/Sites” are now derisively called Kabila’s “Cinq Chansons,” or “5 Songs.” Sure, bits and pieces have fallen into place (Did you know that you can now spend days on end in Katanga Province without hearing gunshots? Also, don’t forget that there are also at least 60km of paved road between Uvira and Bukavu…) but for the most part things have stagnated and continued to devolve. Militias still run rampant through North and South Kivu, not to mention the ongoing war with the LRA Ugandan Rebels near the northern border. Add to the mix local officials with no regard for human rights or application of the law and government soldiers committing many of the same atrocities as the militias and you can get an idea of the general atmosphere. Administering the Congo is a big job, with a recent history that would challenge anyone to move forward from. Yet, this last presidential visit (the first since the 2006 election) really highlighted reasons why things aren’t getting done here, why standards of living are atrocious, and why peace hasn’t returned in any sustainable way.

Three days before Kabila’s visit, soldiers began lining the streets, taxing an “amende d’état” for any citizen audacious enough to cultivate their fields, open their shops, or even sell bananas from a basket on their head during the anticipation of Kabila’s visit. I was unlucky enough to be in a bus trying to return from Bukavu, and at the numerous roadblocks I saw countless citizens being harassed by the governmental soldiers, who collected $5 from anyone working during those days to feed their families. In Congo, $5 is no small amount of money. Men were instructed to wait on the side of the road. Women were asked to wear fabrics with Kabila’s face on it and form small groups to dance during the convoy’s passing. And mind you, this was three days in advance. Kabila’s people began spreading the rumour of his arrival on Monday or Tuesday, and he finally got here on Friday.

A speech from Kabila was expected. In fact, the football fields, which were used in recent years for executions of thieves and rebels, were prepared for his discourse and the thousands of people who would come to hear him speak. People on the radio commented that they were eager to hear what his plan of action realizing the promises he had made was. How was he going to cope with the surge of FDLR rebels in South Kivu? How come he claimed to have captured 5 FDLR bases this last month, when 3, and possibly 4, are still completely controlled by the FDLR? Why has there been no development of roads, and no clear effort to do so, in South Kivu since the election, except those hastily built by Chinese MONUC soldiers? Why have all government officials continued to violate the rights given to citizens in the Congolese Constitution, enacted upon Kabila’s election? Why has he continued to allow his own soldiers to rape, steal, and kill (the Goma retreat this Fall is a prime example-see the blog post below) without any significant visible effort to change this? Why does Uvira still go on without reliable electricity and drinking water? Why are there no hospitals capable of curing even basic illnesses…?

However, none of these questions had the chance to be asked. I expected a sort of “Q & A” opportunity, a chance for the president to interact and exchange, and possibly even explain some of the difficulties which have prevented him from doing his job. I realize that this is not possible in every town in Congo, but the East is HIS territory. It’s the East which overwhelmingly voted for him in 2006. Had Congolese in the East voted for his rival, Jean-Pierre Bemba, Kabila would have no authority, and no opportunity to make impossible promises. En plus, he was born here, having grown up less than 100km south of Uvira. Ironically, his home (Manono) is considered a major “red zone” and center of ongoing FDLR massacres and pillages. These things considered, one could expect him to feel at home, and to feel an obligation to speak with his constituency. I was shamefully naïve to even think this was a possibility; my friends commented that they have learned to expect little or nothing from their president, and it was just a matter of time before I’d get this through my head as well.

I got a good lesson in Congolese governmental accountability. There is none. Kabila’s “visit,” and the days preparing for his arrival, were justified by a convoy of hundreds of black SUVs brought from Kinshasa, one of which contained the president, preceded and followed by hundreds of “béret rouge” soldiers, the special presidential bodyguards. This convoy stopped to allow Kabila to walk and wave to all of us lining the streets for about 2km, surrounded of course by his heavily armed soldiers and bodyguards. He does, recently, have a lot of enemies here, so I can understand this precaution. After that, he got in his car and sped over the cleared roads out of town before nightfall. I don’t think he even had time to notice that we were without electricity and water (remember the “Cinq Chansons), and had been for the last week.

As he got closer and closer to his home territory due South, things got no better. In Makobolo, people tried to block the street just to get his cars to stop. They didn’t. In, Baraka, where a speech had also been announced but not realized, the convoy stopped, resumed again, and was summarily pelted with as many rocks as people could throw.

So, all our questions stay unanswered. And everyone, besides the rock throwers, goes back to life as normal in Congo. The rock throwers were imprisoned, but I heard most of them paid a “special tax” to the soldiers guarding the prison and were released just after the Roi du Zaïre left South Kivu.

Ned Meerdink

March 25, 2009, Washington, DC: This April, survivors from Darfur and five previous genocides will join advocates and people of conscience around the world to observe Genocide Prevention Month.

Survivors and advocates chose April as a month of commemoration because the tragedies of Darfur, Bosnia, Rwanda, Cambodia, the Holocaust and Armenia all have major anniversaries in April.

The month will launch March 31 with a sneak preview of The Last Survivor, a documentary to be released later this year about four survivors involved in anti-genocide advocacy. After the 20-minute screening, former CNN anchor Andrea Koppel will moderate a discussion among a group of survivors, anti-genocide advocates, policy experts, and the filmmakers.

The event will be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, March 31 at Sixth & I Historic Synagogue. Tickets are $6, and a portion of the proceeds will benefit the Genocide Prevention Project.

The Genocide Prevention Project has supported The Advocacy Project's work with BOSFAM (Bosnian Family), a group that works with Bosnian war survivors. BOSFAM has produced the Srebrenica Memorial Quilt, which will be shown during Genocide Prevention Month events in April.

AP has also signed on to a pledge to observe Genocide Prevention month. Through the pledge, more than 50 organizations from over 10 countries are calling on powerful nations of the world to make genocide prevention a priority and to take immediate action on the worsening situation in Darfur.

March 25, 2009, Washington, DC: The Advocacy Project (AP) is inviting supporters to the University of Maryland next Thursday for a presentation on indigenous villagers in Guatemala who are struggling to rebuild their lives almost 30 years after a brutal massacre.

The presentation, titled "Weaving a Life After Chixoy: Rebuilding the Social and Economic Fabric of Guatemala," will provide the history behind the Rio Negro Memorial Quilt, as well as review the state of the villagers' negotiations with the government for reparations.

The presentation will take place from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Thursday, April 2, in the Benjamin Banneker Room of the Stamp Student Union at the University of Maryland in College Park. Refreshments will be provided.

In 1975, the Guatemalan government's decision to build a large hydroelectric dam on the Rio Negro River required the "resettlement" of Maya Achi villagers whose lands would be flooded. Overall, 477 indigenous villagers who refused to abandon their land for the Chixoy Dam were killed by paramilitaries in 1982. About 13,000 people in 28 villages remain affected by the dam, and their umbrella group, COCAHICH*, is currently negotiating with the government to secure reparations.

Last year, with the help of AP Peace Fellow Heidi McKinnon, 15 survivors started the Rio Negro Memorial Quilt. All were displaced from their homes when the dam was built in the early 1980s, and all lost relatives in massacres that accompanied the dam's construction.

AP is helping to promote the quilt in the United States.

*COCAHICH stands for the Coordinator for the Communities Affected by the Chixoy Dam.

March 25, 2009, Belgrade, Serbia: A controversial bill barring many types of discrimination is expected to be passed in Serbia by the end of April, despite being pulled from parliamentary procedure earlier this month.

The draft law was temporarily pulled from parliament after the largest churches in Serbia objected to parts of the law protecting freedom of religion and freedom from discrimination based on sexual orientation.

Women in Black-Serbia, a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP), supports the draft law, and actively protested the withdrawal of the draft law as both unconstitutional and undemocratic. The group, along with other civil society organizations, held a march earlier this month stressing human and women's rights.

"Religious freedom means equal treatment of those who are religious and those who are not," said Stasa Zajovic, director of Women in Black in Belgrade. "We're fighting for freedom of choice, which means plurality of life styles, cultural models, equality of sexual choices, so we can be what we want instead of what a church, nation, army or party wants us to be."

At the march, more than 100 people gathered with peace flags and banners calling for an end to fascism, a strengthened secular democracy, equal rights for the LGBT (lesbain, gay, bi, transgender) community, and the protection of women's rights.

The march passed the offices of the national government and parliament, and ended in Republic Square in Belgrade. At Republic Square, many of the marchers gathered around the statue that dominates the square, while others lifted an enormous peace flag in its center.

The march was extensively covered by the local and national media and was afforded heavy police protection. The day's activities also included a press conference about the proposed anti-discrimination law.

Civil society experts say the law proposed law is in harmony with international conventions signed by Serbia and has received a positive assessment from the Council of Europe's Venice Commission, the council's advisory body on constitutional matters.

The law had been before Parliament for four years before it was withdrawn. Its adoption is a requirement for Serbia to be considered for membership in the European Union (EU).

March 13, 2009, Washington, DC: The Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH) is supporting Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson's recent call for a more active US role in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Rep. Johnson (D-TX), a member of the Congressional Caucus on Bosnia, sent a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressing concern about the deteriorating situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Rep. Johnson noted the failure to fully implement the Dayton Peace Accords and the lack of progress in constitutional reform as major stumbling blocks on the path to European Union and NATO integration.

"The current crisis in this country can be resolved with a vigorous diplomatic re-engagement by the United States working jointly with our European partners," Rep. Johnson stated in the letter.

BAACBH, a strategic partner of The Advocacy Project (AP), is supporting a proposed House Resolution promoting increased US involvement in Bosnia. BAACBH strongly encourages the US government to boost its efforts in Bosnia and calls on its supporters to advocate for such efforts.

March 13, 2009, New York: Supporters of The Advocacy Project (AP) are invited to join Beba Hadzic, the Founder and Director of Bosnian Family (BOSFAM), at a fundraising lunch in New York Thursday hosted by famed chef Lidia Bastianich.

The lunch will take place from 12 to 2 p.m. March 19, at Bastianich's midtown restaurant, Felidia. Tickets are $75, with a the proceeds going to support BOSFAM's work with women affected by the war in Bosnia.

Ms Bastianich, who specializes in Italian dishes, has been a fixture on PBS cooking shows since 1998. In 2007, she launched her latest show, Lidia's Italy, and has also appeared as a judge on the program Top Chef. She owns four restaurants nationwide and has also authored several cookbooks. Ms Bastianich was born in Istria, a region which is now a part of Croatia, and often contributes her talents to causes related to the Balkans.

BOSFAM, started in 1992 during the war of agression in the Balkans, provides a gathering place and source of income for women survivors of the conflict through traditional Bosnian carpet-weaving. Many of the weavers lost relatives in the Srebrenica massacre, and have since produced the Srebrenica Memorial Quilt honoring massacre victims.

Ms Hadzic is visiting the United States to show the quilt in the Bosnian diaspora and raise awareness and support for BOSFAM's work. Her trip is being sponsored by the Heinrich Boll Foundation of North America.

The fundraising lunch is supported by Heinrich Boll, Ms Bastianich, the Center for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University, the Bosniak-American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina, and AP.

Felidia is located at 243 East 58th Street in Manhattan. For more information or to RSVP, please contact AP Outreach Coordinator Alison Sluiter.

March 11, 2009, Washington, DC: Five Nepali organizations based in the United States have come together to form a new coalition to advance the concerns of marginalized communities in Nepal.

Called "The Coalition Advancing the Rights of Marginalized Peoples of Nepal," its aim is to foster a culture of peaceful dialogue and constructive debates on issues related to inclusive politics in Nepal.

The five founding organizations that make up the Coalition are Adhikaar for Human Rights and Social Justice, Alliance for Democracy & Human Rights in Nepal (ADHRN), Association of Nepali Teraian in America (ANTA), Federation of Indigenous Peoples of Nepal in America (FIPNA),and the Nepali-American Society for Oppressed Community (NASO). NASO is an outreach partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

The Coalition has expressed serious concerns about the process of drafting Nepal's new constitution, specifically whether it addressing the needs of marginalized communities such as Dalit, women, indigenous people, and Madheshis.

As its first major action, the Coalition will hold a series of public meetings in the United States where Nepalis of different groups and ethnic backgrounds will be encouraged to make suggestions on how the new constitution should be written. The Nepali government has requested input on the consitution from diaspora communities.

March 11, 2009, Huanta, Peru: The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) has begun the task of exhuming more than 50 bodies from a common grave in the town of Huanta, thought to contain victims from Peru's "dirty war."

Carmen Rosa Cardoza, an EPAF forensic expert, said the work will be carried out between March 9-23, at which time DNA samples will be collected from the bodies to compare them with that of relatives and try to make identifications. The samples will be sent to a lab in the United States, and it is possible that the results will not be known until the end of the year.

EPAF is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

Peru's internal armed conflict, which lasted from 1980 until 2000, left an estimated 69,000 dead at the hands of Shining Path, the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Movement (MRTA) and the Peruvian police and armed forces.

The current exhumations are from a 1984 incident known as "Pucayacu," for the town where 50 peasants were slain and buried by Peruvian soldiers, according to the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The National Criminal Court investigated the case, but decided to shelve it for lack of evidence, and the bodies were moved to a common grave in the cemetery at Huanta. Huanta is approximately 342 miles southeast of Lima.

This will not be the only case investigated by EPAF experts in the next two weeks. Between March 11 and 12, the remains of two peasants who were supposedly killed by police in the town of Suso, in the Ayacucho region, will be analyzed. At the request of the National Human Rights Committee, EPAF will also examine a skull to determine if it belonged to Angel Escobar Jurado, a human rights defender who disappeared after being arrested by police on February 27, 1990.

March 11, 2009, London, England: Members of the International Action Network on Small Arms (IANSA) are speaking out after 25 civilians were killed, 12 hours apart, in two separate shootings in the United States and Germany.

Ten people, including members of the gunman's family and a deputy sheriff's wife and child, were killed during four shootings in two rural towns in Alabama around 4 p.m. on Tuesday, March 10. Fifteen people, including 12 students and teachers at the Albertville secondary school in Winnenden, Germany, were shot dead around 9:45 a.m. today. In both cases, the gunmen also died.

IANSA, a strategic partner of The Advocacy Project (AP), is an international network of organizations united in the movement against gun violence.

Their full statement is below:

"Mortuaries in Alabama (USA) and Winnenden (Germany) are receiving the bodies of 25 innocent civilians today, simply because of the availability of firearms to two men who were unable to control their rage.

Rebecca Peters, Director of IANSA, said:
'Here we have two tragic examples, just 12 hours apart, of how guns in the civilian population present a health risk, even in countries at peace with prosperous economies. 1000 people die every day from gunshot wounds – yet only 25% of these people lose their lives in recognised conflict. These tragedies show us that no country is immune from gun violence. 75% of all guns in the world are in civilian hands – but when will governments take preventative action to stop misuse?'

Alabama: Ten people, including members of the gunman’s family, a deputy sheriff’s wife and daughter, were killed during four shootings in two rural towns in Alabama around 4pm local time on Tuesday 10 March. The gunman later turned the semi-automatic rifle on himself. IANSA member The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence said that Alabama state laws were some of the weakest in the United States, permitting the sale of guns without background checks and the carrying of weapons in public places, such as workplaces and college campuses.

Peter Hamm, Director of Communications at The Brady Campaign said:
'The gun laws in Alabama are abysmal. Most people don’t realize how few laws there are on the books restricting easy access to guns. As a result, we continue to make it too easy for dangerous people to get dangerous weapons. The United States needs tougher federal laws, but action at the state level can halt gun violence and pave the way for common sense federal gun laws.'

Germany: Fifteen people, including 12 students and teachers at the Albertville secondary school in Winnenden, near Stuttgart, were shot dead around 9.45am local time on Wednesday 11 March. The gunman, a 17 year old former pupil, is also dead, but it is not clear whether he was shot by police or killed himself. A Beretta semi-automatic pistol was believed to be the weapon used in the massacre. It is illegal to buy a handgun until the age of 25 in Germany, but the shooter’s father is believed to have kept an extensive gun collection at home. The law allows firearms to be stored in private homes, rather than only in strictly controlled storage at shooting clubs, as recommended by IANSA.

IANSA member Dr Peter Lock in Hamburg said:
'Today the town of Winnenden joins those of Freising and Erfurt, which have also lost children to mass shootings. These schools are now memorials to young lives cut short. IANSA members in Germany call on Angela Merkel to investigate the possibility of an outright ban on handguns. The German government cannot afford to simply press the snooze button on the alarm call again.'"

March 6, 2009, Washington, DC: The leader of a Bosnian women’s group is headed to Washington next week to share her experiences creating art and dialogue in post-conflict Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Beba Hadzic (below), the founder and director of Bosnian Family (BOSFAM), will be a keynote speaker March 10 at Bosnian Women’s Day on Capitol Hill. The event is being supported by the Heinrich Boll Foundation of North America, the Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia & Herzegovina (BAACBH), and The Advocacy Project (AP).

Ms. Hadzic founded BOSFAM, a longtime AP partner, in 1994 as a center for refugee women to gather, weave, and talk during the war of aggression in the Balkans. Today, BOSFAM continues this tradition while providing women with income-generating handicraft projects. The women of BOSFAM produced the Srebrenica Memorial Quilt, honoring victims of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

Bosnian Women’s Day will celebrate the courage of women and their important role in fostering multi-ethnic dialogue in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The event will take place from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, March 10, in the Congressional Meeting Room North at the Capitol Visitor Center.

In addition to Ms. Hadzic, the program will feature comments from Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-Texas); Elmina Kulasic, Executive Director of BAACBH; Sebastian Grafe, Program Director for Foreign and Security Policy and Transatlantic Issues at the Heinrich Böll Foundation; and AP Executive Director Iain Guest. The former Bosnian Ambassador to the United States, Dr. Bisera Turkovic, has also been invited to speak.

In the next few weeks, Ms. Hadzic and Ms. Kulasic will also travel to cities across the US to meet with Bosnian diaspora communities, show the memorial quilt, and speak about women’s empowerment.

March 5, 2009, Occupied Palestinian Territories: The Alternative Information Center (AIC) is now taking applications for the first Middle East International Political Camp, scheduled to be held in the Palestinian Territories from April 11 – 17, 2009.

The theme of the camp is “Bridges Instead of Walls,” as it aims to promote understanding of the conflict and encourage a positive exchange of ideas among Palestinians, Israelis, and people from the international community.

The AIC, a joint Israeli-Palestinian activist group, organized the camp, which will include lectures, conferences, and meetings with local grassroots associations and local politicians. The AIC is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

The camp will take a hands-on approach, bringing participants to see the living and political conditions in the Occupied Palestinian Territories for themselves, and providing them with an experience on the ground as opposed to an understanding based on media, propaganda or rumors.

The AIC hopes that camp participants will take this understanding back to their own countries, and that this new awareness will contribute to the peace process in a positive and constructive manner.

The camp is open to anyone, and the deadline for applications is March 25.

For the last three days, I have been working in outside of Bukavu (north of Uvira) with a local organization called the Association des Femmes des Medias du Sud Kivu (AFEM-SK), which works to develop the next generation of female journalists in Congo, offering young women practical field experience and access to the media which unfortunately isn’t readily available to women in Congo. Listening to the radio and reading through the small amount of print media available here, it is clear that Congolese media is a field largely populated by men, which leads to an often one-sided representation of current news and issues in Congo.

Because of the problems that have overwhelmed women in Congo concerning sexual violence and general second-class status, the approach of AFEM-SK is a necessary one in order to tell the entire story of what is happening in Congo. While making a field visit in Kaniola, the site of a recent massacre in which the soldiers (FDLR rebels) raped the village’s women after killing many of their husbands and their children, I saw one huge strength in AFEM-SK’s approach that I was not expecting: Speaking to a female journalist, in many instances, seems to make it easier for raped women (who often carry the well-known social stigma and shame after the incident) to tell their stories in a clear manner, to a journalist who might sympathize with their pain in ways in which a male journalist could not. As the women working for AFEM-SK are themselves all Congolese, born and raised, they are victim to the same threatening atmosphere and state-wide subjugation of women, and have the same type of fear concerning the rampant sexual violence in eastern Congo. Speaking to the rape victims profiled in Kaniola, I could see the victims relating their experiences in a brutally honest and candid manner, all in an atmosphere free from judgement or stigma. One woman, Bora, talked of being dragged into the forest and raped first by four FDLR soldiers, who then proceeded to rape her using broken-off branches of trees. While this was happening, other soldiers took her husband into the woods nearby and sodomized him. The physical pain has not subsided since, and she mentioned that the emotional pain endured is slowly eased by speaking of her experiences, in particular with other women.

The head of AEFM-SK, Chouchou Namegabe Dubisson, has also been awarded for her work in Congo by Vital Voices, and will be present in Washington D.C. with my friend Marceline. Chouchou has been active in journalism for many years, and is well known for her educational theatre pieces aired on Radio Mandeleo, which spoke of everything from how to protect women from HIV/AIDS to how to increase the amount of equality between women and men in the household. Since beginning AFEM in 2003, she has also worked with her staff to report on sexual violence in South Kivu, attempting to offer the perspective of raped women to audiences across Congo, in order to begin changing the mentality of those who accept rape in Congo as a given, and an unsolvable problem. With her experience, Chouchou also trains other women journalists, hoping to increase the amount of women present in Congolese media, especially in leadership roles. With a staff full of well-trained women journalists, fluent in the local languages as well as French, it seems that AFEM-SK is bound to succeed in promoting women in Congolese media. In addition, many of the staff members are graduates of Centre Lokole’s (Search For Common Ground) “Sisi Watoto” program for young journalists, and thus have gained lots of expertise at a young age even before working with Chouchou. Thus, AFEM-SK provides a valuable space for women graduated from the program, who are often, despite years of experience, blocked from gaining key positions in the media.

Parts of the video footage and victim profiles we took at the site of the Kaniola massacre will be shown at this year’s Vital Voices awards in Washington D.C. if you are interested in seeing the footage.

If there seems to be an overwhelming theme from these last few blog entries that sexual violence against Congolese women continues without any real promise of accountability or justice, I’d agree. However, local NGOs like SOS Femmes en Dangers and AFEM-SK work to change this, and from the last two weeks of work with both organizations, it is clear that the system, with proper pressure applied, can be changed. There are talented women in every town and village with the goal of protecting vulnerable populations. The media has continually proved itself to be an essential tool for forcing societal change, and hopefully increased recognition of those working for this will aid in the process and increase the safety of Congolese women. The FDLR are still here, but they know, as does everyone else, that there are many reporting on their violence and working to empower women to resist and force their society to change. While there is no hope for stopping sexual violence in Congo in its tracks, there is overwhelming evidence, like that which I saw in Kaniola, that there is a real opportunity to slow the tide and force the state to recognize the problem and condemn it, given the proper representation of the problem in the media by groups like AFEM-SK.

So try to get to the Vital Voices Awards in March (the 19th) if you have the chance, and hear these stories for yourselves and find out how you might be able to help Chouchou and Marceline, and in turn Congolese women in general.

Ned Meerdink

March 4, 2009, Occupied Palestinian Territories: Civil society groups in the West Bank and around the world are taking part in the the fifth international Israeli Apartheid Week (IAW) from March 2-8.

The theme of this year’s IAW is “Standing United with the People of Gaza” - in the wake of the Israeli military attacks on the people of Gaza earlier this year. Apartheid week will build upon the widespread protests witnessed during the military operation and seek practicable ways to hold Israel accountable.

The week will feature lectures, film screenings, art and photography exhibits, cultural events and demonstrations aiming at analyzing apartheid and gathering support for the growing international movement for Boycotts, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) until Israel complies with international law.

As part of IAW, the Alternative Information Center (AIC), a joint Israeli-Palestinian organization and partner of The Advocacy Project, held a discussion with Hazem Jamjoum Tuesday evening. Mr Jamjoum was part of the group at the University of Toronto that initiated IAW in 2005.

Now working with the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights in Bethlehem, Mr Jamjoum discussed the significance of IAW and the analysis of the Israeli regime as one committing the internationally-defined crime of apartheid.

Since its launch in Toronto in 2005, IAW has grown to become an important event both in the Palestinian Territories and worldwide. Last year, more than 25 cities participated in the week's activities, and 40 are scheduled to take part in 2009.

March 4, 2009, South Hadley, Mass.: The Advocacy Project’s (AP) first university chapter, at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, will host a panel discussion on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict on Friday.

Following the recent crises in Gaza, which claimed nearly 1,300 lives and wreaked destruction and injury on the region, the discussion aims to bring together informed, objective and concerned voices to better understand the conflict, and to emphasize the need for accountability for both Israeli and Palestinian violence.

The event, titled "Living Under Occupation: Human Rights in Gaza and the West Bank," will feature former AP Peace Fellow Willow Heske, who volunteered with the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center (DWRC) in the West Bank in 2008. DWRC is a nonprofit NGO that works to educate and organize Palestinian workers for equal pay, rights and opportunities.

A representative from B’Tselem, an Israeli organization that documents human rights violations in the occupied territories, Mitchell Plitnick, will also speak about his organization’s work.

The panel discussion is part of "Salaam/Shalom: Paths Towards Peace and Justice in Israel and Palestine," a series of events organized by various Mount Holyoke organizations, including College Democrats, The Advocacy Project and Student Coalition for Action (SCA) to bring awareness about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to their campus.

AP's Mount Holyoke chapter was started in the fall of 2008 by Hibba Al-Adawy, who interned with AP in Washington this past summer.

I find it rather difficult to write about Chixoy reparations when I cannot actually write about reparations negotiations. The accord is a closed political process. It is moving along with ups and downs, but it is not to be commented upon at the moment.

The complication of all of this silence for COCAHICH and the affected communities is that their story and struggle can become lost in the midst of so many other pressing debates in Guatemala. I noticed that not long ago at a meeting on the proposed Xalalá Dam.

I recently attended a press conference in Guatemala City for the release of a report on the effects of the next proposed megaproject on the Chixoy River, Xalalá Dam. The report was written by the Copenhagen Initiative on Central America and Mexico, CIFCA, and can be found here. During the press conference, I listened to the K’ekchi community members describe how they do not want to have their lives and lands affected in the same way as those poor people from Río Negro and other villages were affected by the Chixoy Dam. For one participant, Hugo Ramirez, Chixoy was like a mirror showing him a story he did not want to see repeated. Who would blame him?

Their listed concerns and demands as a community were clear: the dam would affect their rights to food, health, and a life lived with dignity. Xalalá would violate their rights to protect indigenous lands and would have serious environmental consequences. Their opposition stems first from the fact that the communities affected by Chixoy Dam have still not received a proper indemnification or reparation. Beyond that they understand that the laws are designed to support large multinationals and the proposed energy production would not serve the population of Guatemalan. All true, but most of it is not new. Their demands are the same demands made the Chixoy communities since the 1970s.

My interest in attending was to understand the case better and see where COCAHICH and these communities could help one another. No representatives from the Chixoy communities were officially invited to attend the meeting and share their experiences, so I went to observe and make connections where possible.

If there is one lesson learned from the structure of ADIVIMA and COCAHICH, it is that at a certain point in these campaigns, the communities themselves need to take the lead. I would not say that has happened yet with Xalalá from what I have seen and heard. Nearly sixty NGOs were in some way involved in the Xalalá report written by CIFCA, which is necessary and has its value. However, when one hears from the indigenous community organizations themselves that they don’t have money to travel to meetings or pay for capacity building workshops in their own communities, it makes one wonder what is being done by that “forest of NGOs” as panelist Maximo Bá commented during his presentation on the CIFCA project.

I do not intend to criticize, merely to point out a concern regarding the process thus far. There is much strength to be gained from a united movement when confronting megaprojects, and much to be lost if every community in Guatemala faced with the next Chixoy or Xalalá tried to take on that fight alone.

This last week, I have been in Fizi Territory, which is the province directly south of Uvira, where I am now living. Although Fizi is really only about 200km (about 125 miles) from Uvira, Congo never fails to turn what should be a relatively simple trip into something altogether different. Our original plan was to get to Fizi 10 or 11 hours after leaving from Uvira.

The lack of roads between Uvira and Fizi was not surprising, but what was unexpected was the week of rain that preceded the trip south, turning the dirt tracks to deep mud. After going only about 50km toward Fizi in a UN Land Rover, we were pretty much swallowed into a big hole, with mud up to the car doors. After a couple hours spent trying to get the car moving again, we realized that this was futile, as the tracks only got worse after Mianda (the closest village to where the Land Rover was stopped). So, we abandoned the Land Rover with the driver, hoping that another NGO would come along to help tow him out of the hole. The 4 of us left on foot bringing along 60 liters of gas and the video equipment, which we were using to document the programs of SOS Femmes en Dangers in Fizi for a short film to be shown at this year’s Vital Voices GLA Awards (see blog posting below concerning the work of Marceline and SOS Femmes en Dangers). We were lucky enough to find an NGO motorcycle along the route, who offered to move us 1-by-1 towards our final destination in Kazimia. Thus, 10 hours as predicted quickly became 30, not including the night we passed in a village in between the abandoned car and Kazimia. The people in the village (called Kikonde) where we stayed that night were surprised to see 4 unknown mud covered people coming into their village, but they were more they were really generous, and found us some food (smoked fish and fou-fou) and a place to sleep.

Finally arriving in Kazimia about a day late, I started making rounds right away to let all the necessary people know I was in the village and that I would be taking video. When arriving in Congolese villages not accustomed to having foreigners walking around, the first thing you always have to do is meet with the representatives from the militias, local administrators, intelligence officers, etc. so that they can help you stay safe (by letting you know if there is any fighting in the area and where not to go) and also so that they are completely aware that you are authorized to be working in the area, thus making it harder for them to harass you, put you in prison, order you out of the village, etc. It might seem strange to let shady types know where you are and what you are doing, but my experience tells me that if I am upfront and make sure each potential problem group knows I am there, things go a lot better. Taking video in Congo is always a sensitive subject, especially when filming something shameful to the Congolese government like their inability to protect their women from rape and other violence, which was the nature of the video we shot. Thus, a little “grease” money is always in order, and 3,000 Congolese francs (about $4) usually does the trick to get you full access and a signed letter from each local official and militia leader more or less authorizing you to be filming. It’s a shame that this is the case, but it is what it is and anyone working in Congo knows that all efforts to resist the occasional bribe to get things moving will eventually be trumped by reality and the fact that most officials and soldiers here are unpaid, and used to extracting their salary wherever possible. They are definitely okay with making your life difficult and your work impossible without a small payout.

That accomplished, we were finally able to start filming, albeit about 1 day and a half behind schedule.
The projects SOS Femmes en Dangers we were to film were located in Kazimia, Mboko, and Makobolo, and all were really impressive but difficult to stomach at the same time. In Mboko, we visited and interviewed some of the 125 women spending the day at Marceline’s reception center for recently raped women. The women were encouraged to see that even a small amount of international attention was being focused on the struggle of Congolese women to recover from often brutal rapes, but were realistic in asserting that despite their denunciations of rape by militias, government soldiers, and civilians, the government is largely incapable of protecting them. The sheer number of women at the reception center was a testament to their solidarity and will to defend themselves, but also to the fact that the presence of sexual violence in Congo is continuing without signs of slowing down. At the reception center, one of Marceline’s co-workers who manages the center (we profiled and interviewed her as well) told us that besides the rampant raping of women, Congolese society views women as having “…11 arms. Enough to do all of the work at the house, cultivate the fields, and raise the children while the many men pass their time doing nothing.” She added that constant denunciation of the poor treatment of Congolese women could eventually have a positive result in improving their situation, but that this was impossible without addressing the fact that often raped women are left by their husbands and thus live without support. One woman we interviewed spoke on similar lines, telling us that she was recently raped by four FDD soldiers (Burundian rebels) and that after her husband heard of the rape, he threw her out of the house.

SOS Femmes en Dangers responds to the need for income generation among women abandoned by their families by offering centers like the one we visited in Kazimia, where a sewing workshop and communal field has been established. Through these two operations, women are given options and small amounts of income (they sell the clothes they make and the food they harvest) with which they can continue to live and support their children. The women interviewed at the sewing workshop commented that the work was going well and that they felt increasingly empowered to have a form of income, but concluded that the lack of enough machines and fabric was really holding the center back from helping the huge numbers of raped and abandoned women trying to work at the workshop. Marceline’s field worker told us that while over 300 have arrived to try to get into the program, only about 50 or 60 at a time can do so due to the space and material limitations. The market is there, but the input (capital) is lacking.

One of the stories of recently raped women we heard repeated over and over was that they are most vulnerable when they are tending their fields. Because of the long work day, they will often leave their houses at 4 am, a time when those traveling the road are still vulnerable to militias/rebels/robbers who are generally more active between the hours of 11 pm and 6 am in the rural parts of Congo. Arriving at the fields to endless work, women often are forced to pass the night in their fields, where they build temporary shelters to avoid the long walk home late at night and to make it easier to begin work early the next day. Te respond to this, SOS Femmes en Dangers has purchased community fields, not far from the main track through Kazimia and Mboko, where women are safer to cultivate and encouraged to do so in large groups, as they are less vulnerable in larger numbers. This year’s mavuno (harvest) of corn, manioc (used to make fou-fou), and ground nuts is predicted to be a good one, and will allow the women cultivating the communal fields to generate income in a safer atmosphere than their previous fields located in isolated regions far from the center of the village.

So, it is obvious that the problems for Congolese women are nowhere near their end, but if any positive can be drawn from my short time in Fizi this last trip it is that the women here refuse to submit silently to their abuse. An attitude of “silent shame” is being replaced by a more proactive one, and that process is definitely expedited by the work women like the those we met in Fizi are fearlessly undertaking. If you could see the region, you’d realize that there is no protection for women besides their solidarity. “Remote” does not begin to describe it. As Marceline discusses regularly with women concerning how to decrease their vulnerability, walking to the fields together is a start, supporting those who are raped without prejudice helps, and rallying together against those abusers of human rights will go a long way in time.

There were lots of other visits worth noting, but I’ll just say quickly that we saw great things being done in the most difficult of situations in Fizi. The women we spoke to were empowered, organized, and fighting for increased independence and increased recognition of their human rights, which are regularly violated in what has traditionally been a lawless place. I had gotten some emails asking for more information on SOS Femmes en Dangers and Marceline, so hopefully this blog has responded to those. I should be in FIzi again with Marceline and her co-workers towards the 8th of March, where we are making one final field visit before her trip to Washington D.C. to be present at the Vital Voices Awards. You can see her profile here on the vital Voices website if you need more information, and thanks for reading the blog. I’m hoping to turn some of the interviews taken in Fizi into profiles to be used for an upcoming SOS Femmes en Dangers advocacy campaign which we are trying to organize or April. If you’d be interested in receiving the profiles or campaign information sometime in April, please feel free to comment on the blog and I’ll get back to you.

Ned Meerdink

February 27, 2009, Washington, DC: The voices of victims from the Bosnian region of Prijedor were heard Thursday through a multimedia exhibit displayed at the US Capitol.

The exhibit, titled "Prijedor: Lives from the Bosnian Genocide," included facts, photographs, and first-person survivor accounts of the concentration camps and massacres that took the lives of thousands of Bosniaks and Croats in 1992. The event was attended by US Rep. Russ Carnahan, (D-Mo.), who chairs the Bosnian Caucus in Congress; professors from Fontbonne University in St. Louis, who put together the exhibit; and members of the Bosnian diaspora from St. Louis.

"This exhibit vividly captures the suffering of people who did not deserve to die," said Elmina Kulasic, Executive Director of the Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH), which organized the event.

BAACBH is a strategic partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

More than 4,000 people were killed at Prijedor during the war of agression in the Balkans, but the victims were buried in unmarked graves, and few people know their stories.

"This is an important story," Mr. Carnahan said. "It's important that we teach that survivors have a story to tell. Victims that are no longer with us have a story to tell. The whole world has something to learn from these tragedies."

Mr. Carnahan is supporting a resolution in the US House of Representatives that encourages constitutional reform in Bosnia and Herzegovina and continued US involvement in the region.

Visit Congo for even a day, and you will see that one of the dominant problems in Congolese communities is the abuse of children by those in positions of authority. Soldiers, local officials and administrators, police, and teachers, all employed by the state, are ideally people children here can trust or appeal to for help in difficult situations. However, as is often the case in Congo, the ideal is a far cry from reality.

This last Sunday, I was at a meeting of various local organizations, which I and a friend from an NGO called the Centre d’Ecadrement des Jeunes pour le Developpment Rurale (CEJEDR) had organized to announce the presence of various associations formed by children (here, they call these associations “Club d’Enfants”) which work to support children whose rights are violated by persons in positions of authority. The discussion centered around the regular violations of children’s rights experienced daily in Congo, from teachers who rape their students to soldiers who imprison children refusing to carry their munitions and act as porters for their brigades. The goal was to settle on a strategy, how we might be able to protect children from the violations, and of equal importance, how we might be able to ensure the security of children in the associations who wished to speak against an authority who had committed a crime against them.

The associations attempt to create a space for children to discuss these violations, and denounce them in a public setting in hopes of causing authorities to think twice before committing crimes against children, as the associations will share this knowledge with NGOs and trusted community members. At the head of each organization is a police officer, local administrator, NGO representative, or community member who the associations have decided is trustworthy and able to aid in their protection. All complaints of violations are relayed through this representative or “facilitator”, who then helps the children to decide how best to respond to the violation and how best to prevent such a violation from happening in the future.

In attendance was the Public Information Officer for MONUC (the United Nations Peacekeeping Mission in Congo), who commented to the audience that such associations could go a long way in reducing violations against children, and added that in societies in conflict, children are regularly the victims of large numbers of human rights violations at the hands of various actors in the conflict. Naturally, the audience began to ask the MONUC representative how he can claim to support children’s rights when the MONUC force in our area (the Kivus) has regularly been implicated in violations of children’s rights, such as buying and selling minerals mined by child labor and regularly visiting under-aged prostitutes (as young as 14). In my view, these questions really underscored the desperate need for a local effort among community members, as even the UN peacekeeping force is a potential perpetrator in violations of children’s rights.

The development of children’s associations has become a controversial subject in eastern Congo, as those violating the rights of children have traditionally done so in an atmosphere of impunity. The associations make public the violations, and put the violators at rick of punishment. Fear and shame regularly prevent raped girls, for example, from informing authorities and NGOs of the incident. In addition, the retribution of the perpetrators against victims who denounce them publicly is often as dangerous and mentally/physically damaging as the violation itself. Teachers will kick students who accuse them of their crimes out of school or beat them violently in front of their classmates for their “insubordination”. Soldiers will continue to add to the ever-growing number of imprisoned children. Local officials will speak badly of those issuing complaints against them, and cause them to be ostracized in their quartiers and villages.

That being said, it is not much of a surprise that the organizer of the event has, since the meeting, has been continually badgered by the local “intelligence” organ of the Congolese state called ANR (think, KGB). It appears that an empowered group of students and community members might expose violations committed by ANR as well, which are all but few and far between. Those concerned with a better informed public are regularly tracked down by ANR and offered two choices: their silence and the cessation of their organizing or a possible prison stay. Luckily, we were able to appeal to MONUC to speak with ANR and keep them from pursuing my friend, and ensure the staff of ANR that they will be watching them closely to ensure the CEJEDR representative is protected. Hopefully the children’s associations will continue to be operational, even if it is necessary to do so in a clandestine manner for safety’s sake.

The meeting was certainly a good briefing on the role local NGOs can play to protect children. All of the invitees were enthusiastic to offer their advice on the best ways to protect children who wish to help others avoid violence and exploitation, and those in attendance had a wealth of expertise on the subject manner. Just as the discussions were making progress, the meeting was dispersed quickly as we started hearing gun fire nearby and got to our homes quickly, learning that the Mai-Mai militia here had started a battle with the Congolese FARDC in the area. Ironic to think of a large group of organizers, most completely unpaid, speaking about protecting children’s rights in their community while outside the door the government (the FARDC and Mai-Mai are both, technically, part of the Congolese government) continues destroy Congolese communities and ensure that protecting their human rights will always be an up-hill battle.

Ned Meerdink

February 25, 2009, Lima, Peru: The Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF) has identified the first victims of a 1984 massacre in Putis, Peru, giving some answers to families of the “disappeared” after 25 years of uncertainty.

The identifications are based on the results of the DNA analysis performed by EPAF in collaboration with the BODE Technology Group. A preliminary report on the identifications was delivered to prosecutors on Monday, February 23.

So far, EPAF has identified 23 victims, including 15 women and 8 men. Five of the identified victims are under 14 years old.

"This is the largest collective identification…ever conducted in the country," said Jose Pablo Baraybar, Executive Director of EPAF. "That it took place in the context of political violence investigation gives hope to thousands of families that after all these years it is still possible to get answers and guarantee their right to know."

The Putis massacre is one of the most horrific episodes of Peru’s two-decade internal conflict. The Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission found that in December 1984, 123 men, women and children were executed at Putis by units of the Peruvian Army.

According to testimony given to the Commission, soldiers gathered the villagers, many of whom had hidden in the mountains for fear of rebel attacks, and convinced them to move to Putis, where they could create a new settlement. The soldiers gathered the men at gunpoint and ordered them to dig a hole behind the church, telling them it would become a trout farm. Men, women and children were then shot and buried in the hole they had dug themselves.

A forensic team from EPAF exhumed the grave in May 2008, and subsequently held exhibits of the clothing and items found within it. Hundreds of people attended the clothing exhibitions, identifying items belonging to their missing loved ones.

Advocacy Project (AP) Executive Director Iain Guest and Peace Fellow Ash Kosiewicz documented the exhumation, and AP produced a film for EPAF titled “If I Don’t Come Back, Look for Me in Putis.”

In total, about 69,000 Peruvians lost their lives during the country’s long and violent struggle between two insurgent groups (the Shining Path and the Tupac Amaru Revolutionary Army) and the government. More than 15,000 of the victims disappeared, and of these many were targeted by the police and armed forces. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission estimated that there are more than 4,000 clandestine burial sites in Peru.

In the case of Putis, it is likely that not all the victims will be identified. Beyond the difficulties of an investigation taking place 25 years after the fact, more than half of the Putis victims are thought to be children. Children are harder to identify, since their remains are less resistant to degradation.

However, the work continues, and each victim identified is important. EPAF is dedicated to the search, recovery, and identification of the 15,000 Peruvians still missing, and to raising awareness about what happened to them and their families.

EPAF’s work is made possible by the collaboration of the BODE Technology Group and Creative Learning, as well as the financial support of the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) of the US State Department, and the support of the International Committee of the Red Cross in gathering ante mortem information.

February 24, 2009, Washington, DC: A multimedia exhibit on the Prijedor genocide will be shown on Capitol Hill Thursday.

The exhibit, titled "Prijedor: Lives from the Bosnian Genocide," includes documentary artifacts, photographs, and first-person survivor accounts chronicling the massacres that took the lives of thousands of Bosniaks and Croats in the city. According to the Sarajevo-based Research and Documentation Center (IDC), around 5,200 Bosniaks and Croats from the Prijedor are missing or were killed during the massacre period in 1992.

The opening reception for the exhibit, at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, will feature a speech by Congressman Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.), as well comments by Dr. Benajmin Moore of Fontbonne University and Amir Karadzic of the Union of Citizens of the Municipality of Prijedor. It will be held on the 2nd floor the Rayburn Office Building of the US Capitol Complex, located on Independence Ave. SE in Washington.

The event was organized with help from the Bosniak American Advisory Council for Bosnia and Herzegovina (BAACBH), a strategic partner of The Advocacy Project (AP).

For more information or to RSVP, please contact BAACBH Executive Director Elmina Kulasic.