September Meeting

DC Women’s Human Rights Action Team Monthly Meeting
14 September 2005

Agenda

October 22nd and 23rd Amnesty International Regional Conference in Philadelphia
Mid-Atlantic Regional Conference will be held 21-23 October 2005 in Philadelphia. It is an opportunity to work with other activists and have our opinions heard. Everyone in the group is invited to come. The conference is a great way to learn about Amnesty. Janel passed around a sign-up sheet to see who is interested. We can possibly carpool and share rooms. The last day to get the special room rate of $109 is 30 September 2005. Full details about the conferences, i.e. workshops, will be sent out over the listserv. We do know that there will workshops on passing local resolutions on CEDAW and Women’s Health, HIV/AIDS and reproductive rights. There will also be a keynote speech by Turkish Women’s Human Rights Defender.

October 24th and 25th - House parties for the Lifetime movie on Trafficking
Lifetime Television did a movie on trafficking, starring Mira Sorvino. Mira Sorvino is an Amnesty spokesperson for the SVAW campaign. Amnesty is urging all of its volunteers to host house parties for the premiere of the movie on October 24th. DC WHRAT wants to put together a screening, possibly three (one in DC, one in Virginia, and one in Maryland). Any DC WHRAT member can volunteer to host a party in their home. There are toolkits with actions and discussion topics to use during the house party. The event is open to anyone (members and non-members). A sign-up list was passed around to see if anyone was interested in hosting. People can also email the coordinating committee members if they are interested. Erica will coordinate planning for the parties. If anyone has any questions, please email Erica.

November 25th - December 10th - 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence
DC WHRAT would like to plan a series of events for the 16 days of activism. It starts on November 25th and ends on December 10th, International Human Rights Day. One year DC WHRAT did a series of little events, such as a vigil or letter-writing. In meantime, an event organizing group will be formed. A sign-up list was passed around to see if anyone was interested in hosting. People can also email the coordinating committee members if they are interested. Janel is coordinating the planning

9/14 DCWHRAT Meeting and Teach-in on VAWA

Please join us for our monthly meeting on Wednesday 14 September 2005 at 7pm. We will first discuss Action Team business and at 7:45pm we will start the teach-in. The meeting will be held at the Amnesty International office (600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, metro Eastern Market).

For the teach-in, we will be discussing the Violence Against Women Act, which is up for renewal this month. We are honored to have Allison Randall from the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV) share her expertise on this historic law. Allison will talk about the reauthorization of the VAWA. She will talk in particular about the new housing provisions in VAWA.

Here is the agenda for the meeting:

-Update on the sexual and reproductive rights resolution

-October 12th and November 9th - Speaker suggestions of October and November meetings

-October 22nd and 23rd Amnesty International Regional Conference in Philadelphia

-October 24th and 25th - House parties for the Lifetime movie on Trafficking

-November 25th - December 10th - 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence

-Planning a panel on sexual and reproductive rights for 2006 Annual General Meeting

Please remember: Wednesday 10 August 2005 at 7pm (DC WHRAT general business), 7:45pm VAWA Teach-in
Amnesty International Office (600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE) Eastern Market Metro

For more information please email Erica at ericachandra@hotmail.com. We hope to see you there!