September 18, 2009, East Lansing, Michigan: Students of the Vesta Cooperative House at Michigan State University have raised nearly $800 for an alternative fuel project started by a local enviromentalist in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

The money was raised last Friday at a party organized at the cooperative. The party was organized by Ros and Jordan Meerdink, the sister and brother of Peace Fellow Ned Meerdink, who has been working in the DRC for more than a year.

Their efforts were featured in an article in the university’s newspaper.

The funds raised at the party will go toward the purchase of presses that will allow local Congolese women to produce briquettes of alternative cooking fuel — easing deforestation and providing them with badly-needed income.

The briquettes, which are made of organic waste such as banana peels and sugar cane, were pioneered by Clement Kitambala, a Congolese environmental advocate and friend of Ned Meerdink.

Mr Kitambala began exploring alternative fuels after realizing that “makala” – traditional charcoal made from eucalyptus trees – was putting pressure on the forests and the finances of local villagers. Makala is essential for daily cooking, but it involves cutting down eucalyptus trees, digging a series of large holes, and burning the eucalyptus with other branches and mud in the holes for several days until the charcoal is created.

Mr Kitambala’s briquettes are easier to light, burn longer and at a higher temperature, cost less, and require only small amounts of wood. To make the briquettes, about 50 kilograms of organic waste is processed into a pulp and mixed with water to make a dough. The mixture is then put in the press and compacted into briquettes, which are left in the sun to dry for a day or two. A batch of about 500 briquettes produces cooking fuel for a family for about two weeks.

A briquette press in the DRC.

A briquette press in the DRC.

September 4, 2009, Lima, Peru: Hundreds of Peruvians gathered Aug. 28 in Lima’s historic Plaza San Martin to literally open their umbrellas for the relatives of the country’s disappeared.

The “flash mob” demonstration, organized by the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF), was meant to call attention to the need for an institutional framework, or “humanitarian umbrella,” that promotes and protects the relatives’ right to know the truth about the fate of their loved ones.

EPAF is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP), and Peace Fellows Jessica Varat and Zach Parker helped to organize the event.

At 1:15 pm, participants began to arriving in the Plaza San Martín and took their places forming concentric circles in front of the Hotel Bolivar. Minutes later, Jose Pablo Baraybar, the Executive Director of the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF), thanked the crowd for their participation and emphasized the need to support the families of the disappeared in their efforts to identify and recover the remains of their loved ones. This support is of special importance, he stressed, given that only 769 sets of remains have been exhumed since the end of the armed conflict, and only 238 of these have been identified (just 1.5 percent of the estimated 15,000 disappeared in Peru).

Immediately thereafter, the assembled crowd opened their umbrellas one by one in a solemn gesture of protection for the families of the disappeared. Once the final umbrella opened, the participants broke the circle formations and joined together in a symbolic act of union and solidarity. The entire activity took place during 10 minutes of complete silence.

In addition to the demonstration in Lima, people around the world showed their solidarity by sending in photos of themselves opening umbrellas to the event’s blog.

EPAF and AP wish to thank all those that participated in the first Open Up Your Umbrella! campaign by attending the demonstration in the Plaza San Martín or by sending in photos of themselves with their umbrellas. The campaign continues, so if you have not yet done so, please send your photo to openupyourumbrella@gmail.com.

For more pictures from the Open Up Your Umbrella! flash mob, visit their blog.

People open umbrellas as part of the flash mob in Plaza St. Martin in Lima

People open umbrellas as part of the flash mob in Plaza St. Martin in Lima

August 21, 2009, Ayacucho, Peru: The Second Office of the High Prosecutor for Human Rights for the Province of Ayacucho recently returned 92 sets of human remains from victims of the Putis massacre to their family members and community. The return took place in the Auditorium of the Public Ministry in Ayacucho.

The Peruvian Forensic Anthropolgy Team (EPAF), an Advocacy Project partner, exhumed the mass graves at Putis in May 2008 — the first step in identifying the remains of massacre victims. The Putis massacre occurred after hundreds of villagers were displaced from their homes in late 1984 and rounded up by soldiers. A group of 123 villagers were taken to Putis and shot on December 13, 1984.

This week, Dr. Javier González, President of the Council of Public Prosecutors, indicated that the Public Ministry is doing all they can under the law to identify the perpetrators of this terrible and degrading crime against humanity. Further, he stated that the Public Ministry does not seek revenge through its investigtion but rather acts “to ensure that what happened in Putis never happens again.”

The Executive Director of EPAF, José Pablo Baraybar, made a brief presentation in order to explain EPAF’s work at Putis and share the principal conclusions that resulted from the forensic investigation. He also thanked the population of Putis for their support during the exhumation process and expressed his satisfaction at finally being able to return the remains of the victims to their family members. Finally, he thanked the authorities of the Public Ministry for placing their confidence in EPAF and reiterated his support for any attempt to find out the truth about what happened in Putis and provide a full response to the demands of the families.

Twenty-eight of the 92 victims recovered were identified thanks to support EPAF received from the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor of the US State Department.

A woman from Ayacucho sits with the remains of Putis massacre victims

A woman from Ayacucho sits with the remains of Putis massacre victims

August 18, 2009, Basildon, UK: The Dale Farm Travellers are considering moving north to an industrial site in central Essex, according to local UK newspaper the Daily Gazette.

The Travellers, who are set to be evicted from their homes in Basildon after years of legal wrangling, have asked the local council if the new site, neat Witham, is suitable to relocate several families who stand to lose their homes.

Read the full story here.

August 10, 2009, Basildon, UK: Residents of the Traveller community at Dale Farm and their supporters gathered today at noon outside Bailsdon Centre to protest the planned eviction of more than 100 Traveller families.

Carrying the flags of the United Nations, the Romani nation, and many countries, the group demonstrated outside of town hall, urging a freeze on the Basildon Council’s forced eviction plans.

The Travellers contend the eviction will cost more than 3 million pounds, and say it amounts to ethnic cleansing of the Gypsy community. 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.

During the protest, the Travellers presented a legal memorandum outlining the Council’s obligation under international law to seek an alternative to bulldozing their community. The memorandum, drawn up by the Geneva-based Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions, with the help of the Univeristy of Essex Faculty of Law, says Dale Farm families have a strong claim under international law to be resettled — and not thrown out on the road, as the council intends.

Last week, the Council was told by the UK Government that it must provide land for a minimum of 62 caravan pitches, to enable Traveller families refused permits
to live on their own properties to take up legal residence in Basildon.

“We hope commonsense will prevail,” said Dale Farm Housing Association president Richard Sheridan. “It would cost the councilnothing to leave us in peace in our own homes.”

So far, talks with Basildon officials, continuing this week, have produced no offer of accommodation or land.

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 Dale Farm Housing Association is a partner of The Advocacy Project (AP). AP has supported the Travellers since 2005 and previously sent two Peace Fellows to volunteer at Dale Farm.

August 5, 2009, New York, NY: Bharati Chaturvedi, director fo the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, published an op-ed piece in the New York Times Tuesday about the plight of wastepickers in India.

The piece focused on the difficulties faced by informal recyclers during the global recession, as the prices of scrap metal, paper and plastic have fallen. She argued that wastepickers should be integrated into the formal economy, where they can have insurance and reliable wages.

Chintan is a partner of The Advocacy Project. Peace Fellows Ted Mathys and Jacqui Kotyk are volunteering with Chintan in Delhi this summer.

Read the op-ed here.

July 28, 2009, Parsippany, New Jersey: Advocacy Project (AP) Interns Alissa Perman and Julie Zimmerman presented the Rio Negro Memorial Textile at the Guatemala Adoptive Families Event in New Jersey Saturday, July 25.

The event is held for US families who have adopted children from Guatemala, and aims to promote multicultural unity and lasting connections between the two countries.

The Rio Negro Memorial Textile is a collaborative project between AP and weavers from the resettlement village of Pacux in Rabinal, Baja Verapaz, Guatemala, who were displaced by the construction of Chixoy Dam in the early 1980s. 

Overall, 477 indigenous villagers who refused to abandon their land for the 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.

All of the weavers involved in the textile project are massacre survivors themselves or children of survivors.  Click here to learn more about the textile and the weavers behind it.

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

AP interns Julie Zimmerman (left) and Alissa Perman show off the Rio Negro Memorial Textile on Saturday.

AP interns Julie Zimmerman (left) and Alissa Perman show off the rio Negro Memorial Textile on Saturday.

July 23, 2009, Washington, DC: Bharati Chaturvedi, director of the Chintan Environmental Research and Action Group, has won a 2009 Knowledge of the World Award from her alma mater, John Hopkins University.

The Knowledge of the World Award is “intended to honor alumni who exemplify the Johns Hopkins tradition of excellence and have brought credit to the university and their profession in the international arena through their professional achievements or humanitarian service.”

Ms Chaturvedi graduated from Hopkins’ School of Advanced International Service with a Masters in International Public Policy in 1997. She founded Chintan, now a 23-person organization that focuses on issues of urban poverty, consumption, and sustainable development for people working and living in India’s informal waste sector.  In partnership with wastepickers, Chintan pioneers ways to improve living conditions — from offering local sanitation improvement strategies to advocating against toxic materials being imported into India’s recycling dumps.

To learn more about Ms Chaturvedi’s work and the award, click here.

July 21, 2009, New York, NY: Mira Said of the Democracy and Workers’ Rights Center (DWRC) in Palestine visited New York this week to appear on a morning radio program and will give a talk on the Palestinian labor movement.

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

Ms Said was interviewed on WBAI’s “Wake Up Call” this morning, and is scheduled to speak at office of 1199SEIU, a health care workers’ labor union, later tonight. You can listen to a clip of the radio program here.

Ms Said’s visit was organized by Eliza Bates, who volunteered as a Peace Fellow with the DWRC in 2007. The visit produced great publicity for DWRC, which was largely unknown outside of Palestine.

July 21, 2009, Lima, Peru: Three organizations working to identify the disappeared in Latin America have joined together in a regional initiative to share experiences and improve the process.

The Latin American Initiative for the Identification of “Disappeared” people (LIID or ILID in Spanish) focuses on finding a solution for the identification of the remains of thousands of people who were forcibly “disappeared” in Latin America for political reasons. 

LIID currently includes projects by three Latin American organizations that apply forensic sciences to the investigation of human rights violations: the Guatemala Forensic Anthropology Foundation (FAFG), the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) and the Peruvian Forensic Anthropology Team (EPAF). 

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

Genetic projects that processed large amounts of samples were effectively used to bring solace to the thousands of families of victims from the conflict in the Balkans and the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.  The LIID believes it is critical to use these scientific advances in resolving similar problems in Latin America. In addition, considering the existence of the common need in the region, the initiative will help to minimize errors and optimize human and financial resources.

In the United States, the Washington Office for Latin America (WOLA) is providing major support to LIID by helping facilitate contacts with donors and policymakers.