A Voice For the Voiceless

MISSION

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

From the Field, July 6, 2004

Summer Interns and AP Director Report from Partners Abroad

The Advocacy Project's summer interns, graduate students from Georgetown and Tufts Universities, are reporting on-line about their work with partners abroad in Afghanistan, Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Ecuador, Guatemala, Italy, the Palestinian territories and Sri Lanka. AP Director Iain Guest is also traveling and working with partners this summer, and issuing his own reports.  

Excerpts of some of the most recent blogs follow, and will be sent weekly.  Read an overview of all 2004 programs.
 

Pia Schneider (Georgetown University) is working with Bosfam, a support
group and weaving center for women in Eastern Bosnia.

”…writing about my life here at Bosfam and in Bosnia would not be complete without writing about the people I have grown very of fond of and with whom I interact on a daily basis – the staff and weavers of Bosfam.  

…Adnama – Adnama can best be described as one big smile. When she comes to Bosfam, there is laughter everywhere. I call her luda Adnama as a joke – crazy Adnama. Her joy is infectious and very much needed on certain days.

Zifa – …She always has a smile for me and asks me daily if I slept alright. A few weeks ago I saw her crying for the first time – when I inquired why I was told that her brother and nephew had just been identified and will be among those buried on July 11, 2004, the ninth anniversary of the massacre.

Nura – … She is angry and it shows. She lost her father, brother, husband and brother-in-law after the fall of Srebrenica, or rather they are still missing. She …cannot understand how there are so many people in the world who have forgotten about her as  she seeks the help she needs to rebuild her life.

Tima – … last week her world fell apart. Her husband was identified and with that, all her hopes were destroyed – I suspect that although these women have known that their family members are dead, hearing it directly from ICMP (the institute for the commission of missing persons) makes it a reality and almost unbearable. “

Stacy Kosko (Georgetown University) is working with Dzeno Association, an NGO working to promote awareness of, and strengthen, Roma culture in Prague, The Czech Republic.

“…[Dzeno director Ivan Vesely] fought for an end to communism, but at that point, he had still not become a human rights activist. Then in 1990, he and a friend were attacked by skinheads. They were badly beaten. “I knew fascists, yes. But skinhead? What is it?” Here Mr. Veselý began what has become his life’s work: human rights, with a focus on the Roma, better known in Europe as “gypsies.”

The college-educated man explained to me that he realized he had two choices in life. One was a good, ordinary career. “And if someone ask ‘Are you Roma?’ I would say ‘I don’t know.’” The other choice was to become an activist. “I can say ‘Okay, I am Roma, and what I’m doing is my defense.’”

…And so Ivan Veselý, with Deborah Harding, the vice

President of the Open Society Institute, founded the Dženo Foundation. They raised money for the education of Romany students and they organized cultural events. They sent the first Roma activists to Bosnia to report on the condition of the Romany people during the war and they started a Roma information center. In Ivan’s words “We tried to open another view on Roma Issues here” because “if you’d like change you must personally be working for change in this system.”

Michael Keller (Georgetown University) is working with the Home for Human Rights (HHR), a human rights organization in Colombo, Sri Lanka.

The past few days have been very exciting for me here in Sri Lanka. One morning I watched two Home for Human Rights lawyers submit fundamental rights applications to the Sri Lankan Supreme Court, alleging that the rights guaranteed by the Constitution were denied to two of their clients.

One Tamil man now living in Germany came home to attend his father’s funeral in Jaffna and was detained upon arrival for no justifiable reason, thus missing the important ceremony he was required to carry out. The other client was a Tamil who was denied entrance into a university despite the fact that his high exam scores should have guaranteed him a spot. The proceedings themselves were exactly what I would expect from the Sri Lankan authorities: boring, tedious, and quite British – with plenty of bowing, silly outfits, and “My Lord” punctuating every sentence.

Carmen Morcos (Georgetown University) is working with Rights Action in Guatemala, a human rights organization working throughout the country.

“…A few weeks ago, when President Reagan passed away, my family and friends recounted the whole funeral procession and ceremony to me. And although I know how loved he was by many, it’s hard for me not to think of the US’s foreign policy during the 80s, particularly towards Guatemala. All the massacres and violence that my work revolves around occurred in the 80s, under the counterinsurgency umbrella, which was mainly funded by the US government.

Even if I go back home and jump right back into my American lifestyle, at least I’ll know that a little part of me has changed. I’ve realized that direct contact work, particularly with indigenous communities, is something I love. Who knows, maybe my future career path will bring me back to Guatemala. And if not Guatemala, then to some other developing country to work directly with the people. And not just sit behind a desk and talk on the phone with large institutions.”

Melinda Willis (Tufts University) is working with TAMPEP, the Turin, Italy branch of the Transnational AIDS Prevention Among Migrant Prostitutes in Europe Project.

"TAMPEP has a very individualized, project-oriented way of working. The right hand doesn’t always know what the left is doing. When I first arrived, I thought I was just experiencing the usual “new kid” issues compounded by the language differences. Later, I realized that a major reason I was having such a hard time seeing the big picture was because there were so many people to seek out to get it. Getting all of the information on TAMPEP's work was definitely time-consuming, and at times frustrating. After 5 weeks, I finally feel as though I have a good grasp on what is behind all of the office buzz.

…It’s clear that with so many irons in the fire, there is little time for anyone here to take on the added work of maintaining the site and newsletter I am charged with launching. So I am adding a grant proposal to my workplan to acquire funds to hire someone full-time to take on these tasks. The best case scenario is that in a few weeks, they will have at least a small presence on the Internet with more help on the way."

Iain Guest has worked with the International Roma Women's Network (IRWN) this summer, and Bosfam, AP's partner in Eastern Bosnia. His most recent reports center concern the legal and humanitarian aftermath of the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

"…In courtroom 3, [of the International Criminal Tribunal] a trial chamber of three judges is hearing a motion by Vidoje Blagejovic, who was a senior commander in the Bosnian Serb Army that oversaw the Srebrenica massacre. Blagejovic has asked to give a statement, and this trial chamber is hearing his request. This is the reason for my presence. It will, I hope, round off my own short portrait of the Srebrenica tragedy.

In contrast to the Milosevic hearing this morning, which attracted a huge audience, I count two journalists, one Very Important Person, and four unimportant persons like myself. Two are related to people working at the tribunal. Whatever his role at Srebrenica, Blagejovic clearly does not attract much attention from the outside world, but I’m feeling quite keyed up at the prospect of seeing in person one of those who desecrated the valley I have just visited.

…As I take down the names and facts, I remind myself that accountability is – like the identification of victims - one of the keys to the reconstruction of the place I have just visited. They can rebuild Srebrenica’s houses, exhume the graves, identify the victims and start their small businesses, but if those who were responsible for the massacre are not brought to justice it will all be for naught. The abstract hatred that we discussed earlier could yet again find a specific target. There is much at stake in Courtroom 3.”