Please join us for DC WHRAT's monthly meeting, May 18, 2005 at 7pm at Amnesty International (600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE). Please note the meeting will be held on the third Wednesday of the month, instead of the second. We have alot of things to talk about. The agenda is below:
Feminist Convergence (DC WHRAT's conference): Brainstorming and Initial Planning
Stop Violence Against Women (SVAW) Campaign: Future strategy and presence/activity/presentation at Regional Conference (Oct 21-23)
Potential Lobby day related to the re-authorization of VAWA, October 2005
Participating in local Pride events
Discussion: Reproductive Rights and Amnesty International, Drafting DCWHRAT's position
More importantly we will have a special presentation from one of our members. Heather Anderson, a DC WHRAT coordinating committee member and Program Officer with Planned Parenthood Global Partners, will provide an account of her recent trip to Mali, Africa. She will share her perspective on the state of reproductive health and rights in Mali, informed through her meetings with elected officials, local NGOs and time in the various communities. Heather will also share pictures from her visit.
We hope to see you all there!
Friday, May 06, 2005
Thursday, April 14, 2005
Upcoming Event: A Discussion with Hawa Aden Mohamed
Amnesty International DC Women’s Human Rights Action Team Presents
A Discussion with Hawa Aden Mohamed
Founder of Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development And
Recipient of Amnesty International’s Ginetta Sagan Award
Please join us for an informative discussion with Hawa Aden Mohamed about how FGM is a form of violence against women,
the work she is doing to combat it, and how we can help.
April 18, 2005 at 7:00pm
Mid-Atlantic Regional Office of Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Fifth Floor
For more information, please contact Anne Ellsworth at anne_ellsworth2002@yahoo.ca or Erica Morgan at ericachandra@hotmail.com. No RSVP is necessary.
HAWA ADEN MOHAMED, SOMALIA
2005 RECIPIENT OF THE GINETTA SAGAN AWARD
Hawa Aden Mohamed was forced to flee from Mogadishu in 1991, when her country collapsed into civil war. Her flight led her to a new life in Canada, but within five years she chose to return to Somalia to continue the work for women and children that begun a decade before.
In the 1980s Ms Mohamed founded the first Woman’s Adult Education Development Center in Somalia, to help bring literacy and economic independence to Somali women. Ms Mohamed also established the Refugee Women’s Relief and Development Centre in response to the huge influx of refugees into Somalia.
On her return to Somalia in 1995, Ms Mohamed settled in Kismayo, a city of over 80% displaced and destitute population, where she established the Jubba Women’s Development Centre (JWDC), with a mandate to promote women’s health and social, political and economic development. However, she was forced to flee Jubba in 1999 when militia groups invaded the city and destroyed the center. Ms Mohamed relocated in Galkayo, where she continues her work, founding the Galkayo Education Center for Peace and Development (GECPD). The centre serves over 500 women and children in many towns and villages with medical care, vocational and income-generating trainings, support for more than 50 orphans, and the only public school for girls in the area.
Since its establishment GECPD has worked for the total elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which is widely practiced in Somalia, addressing the problem through public advocacy campaigns and educational efforts to reach key stakeholders, including religious and political leaders, teachers, parents, doctors, traditional birth attendants, and female circumcisers. As a result of GECPD’s efforts FGM is no longer a taboo topic but widely discussed and even mandated in the teaching curricula of public schools.
With respect to her courageous work against FGM, Ms Mohamed will receive the 2005 Ginetta Sagan Award by Amnesty International at the organization's annual general meeting in Austin, Texas on Friday, April 8. The award is given for outstanding contributions to the human rights of women and children.
FGM is a dangerous procedure, by which women have their entire external genitalia cut, scraped, or burned out. This often has dire physical, sexual, and mental consequences. The procedure is usually performed in unsanitary conditions, using objects like broken glass, tin can lids, blunt knives, scissors, or razors. Victims are not given anesthesia or antibiotics and rarely have access to medical treatment. FGM often results in infection, shock, hemorrhaging, abscesses, benign nerve tumors, cysts, excess scar tissue, progressively enlarging scars, and sterility of women. Because FGM is practiced as a group rite on many girls at once using the same cutting implement, it can easily cause the spread of HIV and other communicable diseases.
Amnesty International USA’s Ginetta Sagan Award
Ginetta Sagan was a founder of Amnesty International USA. A member of the Italian Resistance, she was imprisoned and tortured during World War II. The Ginetta Sagan Fund Award recognizes individual accomplishment, often in the face of personal danger. It is designed to bring increased international scrutiny to human rights violations and to enable the recipient to live and work freely.
A Discussion with Hawa Aden Mohamed
Founder of Galkayo Education Centre for Peace and Development And
Recipient of Amnesty International’s Ginetta Sagan Award
Please join us for an informative discussion with Hawa Aden Mohamed about how FGM is a form of violence against women,
the work she is doing to combat it, and how we can help.
April 18, 2005 at 7:00pm
Mid-Atlantic Regional Office of Amnesty International USA
600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE, Fifth Floor
For more information, please contact Anne Ellsworth at anne_ellsworth2002@yahoo.ca or Erica Morgan at ericachandra@hotmail.com. No RSVP is necessary.
HAWA ADEN MOHAMED, SOMALIA
2005 RECIPIENT OF THE GINETTA SAGAN AWARD
Hawa Aden Mohamed was forced to flee from Mogadishu in 1991, when her country collapsed into civil war. Her flight led her to a new life in Canada, but within five years she chose to return to Somalia to continue the work for women and children that begun a decade before.
In the 1980s Ms Mohamed founded the first Woman’s Adult Education Development Center in Somalia, to help bring literacy and economic independence to Somali women. Ms Mohamed also established the Refugee Women’s Relief and Development Centre in response to the huge influx of refugees into Somalia.
On her return to Somalia in 1995, Ms Mohamed settled in Kismayo, a city of over 80% displaced and destitute population, where she established the Jubba Women’s Development Centre (JWDC), with a mandate to promote women’s health and social, political and economic development. However, she was forced to flee Jubba in 1999 when militia groups invaded the city and destroyed the center. Ms Mohamed relocated in Galkayo, where she continues her work, founding the Galkayo Education Center for Peace and Development (GECPD). The centre serves over 500 women and children in many towns and villages with medical care, vocational and income-generating trainings, support for more than 50 orphans, and the only public school for girls in the area.
Since its establishment GECPD has worked for the total elimination of Female Genital Mutilation (FGM), which is widely practiced in Somalia, addressing the problem through public advocacy campaigns and educational efforts to reach key stakeholders, including religious and political leaders, teachers, parents, doctors, traditional birth attendants, and female circumcisers. As a result of GECPD’s efforts FGM is no longer a taboo topic but widely discussed and even mandated in the teaching curricula of public schools.
With respect to her courageous work against FGM, Ms Mohamed will receive the 2005 Ginetta Sagan Award by Amnesty International at the organization's annual general meeting in Austin, Texas on Friday, April 8. The award is given for outstanding contributions to the human rights of women and children.
FGM is a dangerous procedure, by which women have their entire external genitalia cut, scraped, or burned out. This often has dire physical, sexual, and mental consequences. The procedure is usually performed in unsanitary conditions, using objects like broken glass, tin can lids, blunt knives, scissors, or razors. Victims are not given anesthesia or antibiotics and rarely have access to medical treatment. FGM often results in infection, shock, hemorrhaging, abscesses, benign nerve tumors, cysts, excess scar tissue, progressively enlarging scars, and sterility of women. Because FGM is practiced as a group rite on many girls at once using the same cutting implement, it can easily cause the spread of HIV and other communicable diseases.
Amnesty International USA’s Ginetta Sagan Award
Ginetta Sagan was a founder of Amnesty International USA. A member of the Italian Resistance, she was imprisoned and tortured during World War II. The Ginetta Sagan Fund Award recognizes individual accomplishment, often in the face of personal danger. It is designed to bring increased international scrutiny to human rights violations and to enable the recipient to live and work freely.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Mission
Amnesty International Women’s Human Rights Program
And the DC Women’s Human Rights Action Team
Formed in March 2003, Amnesty International USA’s Washington DC Women’s Human Rights Action Team (Action Team) is a group of community activists committed to organizing around local and global women’s human rights issues. Activists with all skills and levels of experience from the DC metro area are welcome at our monthly meetings and special events.
As an initiative of the Women’s Human Rights Program at Amnesty International USA, the Action Team builds upon the work of AIUSA in defending and promoting women’s human rights by organizing locally around issues affecting women in our community and worldwide.
Amnesty International defends the human rights of women by:
*Mobilizing activists to protect women human rights defenders against imprisonment, torture, unfair trials, “disappearances,” political killings and the death penalty;
*Defending women and girls against violence resulting from gender-based discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation;
*Holding governments accountable for preventing and punishing acts of gender-based violence perpetrated both by the state and by private actors;
*Working to obtain political asylum for women fleeing persecution either by governments or by private individuals in cases where their government fails to protect them; and
*Collaborating at the grassroots level with other human rights and national women’s NGOs.
The Action Team was created in order to further these objectives on a local level.
The team coordinates speaker events, film screenings, education campaigns, and trainings to raise awareness and educate around women’s human rights issues.
Meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month at 7pm at Amnesty International USA office.
Contact Information
600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington DC 20003
Metro: Eastern Market
DCWHRAT@yahoo.com
http://dcwhrat.blogspot.com
And the DC Women’s Human Rights Action Team
Formed in March 2003, Amnesty International USA’s Washington DC Women’s Human Rights Action Team (Action Team) is a group of community activists committed to organizing around local and global women’s human rights issues. Activists with all skills and levels of experience from the DC metro area are welcome at our monthly meetings and special events.
As an initiative of the Women’s Human Rights Program at Amnesty International USA, the Action Team builds upon the work of AIUSA in defending and promoting women’s human rights by organizing locally around issues affecting women in our community and worldwide.
Amnesty International defends the human rights of women by:
*Mobilizing activists to protect women human rights defenders against imprisonment, torture, unfair trials, “disappearances,” political killings and the death penalty;
*Defending women and girls against violence resulting from gender-based discrimination, including on the basis of sexual orientation;
*Holding governments accountable for preventing and punishing acts of gender-based violence perpetrated both by the state and by private actors;
*Working to obtain political asylum for women fleeing persecution either by governments or by private individuals in cases where their government fails to protect them; and
*Collaborating at the grassroots level with other human rights and national women’s NGOs.
The Action Team was created in order to further these objectives on a local level.
The team coordinates speaker events, film screenings, education campaigns, and trainings to raise awareness and educate around women’s human rights issues.
Meetings are held the second Wednesday of every month at 7pm at Amnesty International USA office.
Contact Information
600 Pennsylvania Avenue SE
Washington DC 20003
Metro: Eastern Market
DCWHRAT@yahoo.com
http://dcwhrat.blogspot.com
Friday, February 25, 2005
Celebrate International Women's Day!
Violations at Home and Abroad: Women’s Human Rights and Violence Against Women
Please join Amnesty International USA Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, the DC Women’s Human Rights Action Team, and the National Capital Chapter of the US Committee for UNIFEM (UNIFEM/USA/NCC) as we observe International Women’s Day 2005 with a cocktail reception followed by the Premier Screening of two documentaries highlighting women’s human rights struggles at home and abroad, and a speaker panel to discuss these issues in more detail.
Where: City Museum of Washington, DC
(DC Independent Film Festival)
801 K Street, NW at Mount Vernon Square
Please join Amnesty International USA Mid-Atlantic Regional Office, the DC Women’s Human Rights Action Team, and the National Capital Chapter of the US Committee for UNIFEM (UNIFEM/USA/NCC) as we observe International Women’s Day 2005 with a cocktail reception followed by the Premier Screening of two documentaries highlighting women’s human rights struggles at home and abroad, and a speaker panel to discuss these issues in more detail.
Where: City Museum of Washington, DC
(DC Independent Film Festival)
801 K Street, NW at Mount Vernon Square
Washington, DC
When: March 8, 2005 from 5:30 to 9:30pm
Reception: 5:30 - 6:15pm
Music, wine, and hors d-oeuvres
Films: 6:15 - 7:55pm
Broken, Battered, and Bruised (12 minutes)
Directed by Debra Hussong
The Peacekeepers and the Women (92 minutes)
Directed by Karin Jurschick
Panel: 8:15 - 9:30pm
Violation at Home and Abroad: Women’s Human Rights and Violence
When: March 8, 2005 from 5:30 to 9:30pm
Reception: 5:30 - 6:15pm
Music, wine, and hors d-oeuvres
Films: 6:15 - 7:55pm
Broken, Battered, and Bruised (12 minutes)
Directed by Debra Hussong
The Peacekeepers and the Women (92 minutes)
Directed by Karin Jurschick
Panel: 8:15 - 9:30pm
Violation at Home and Abroad: Women’s Human Rights and Violence
Against Women
Speakers: Ashley Garrett, International Organization for Migration
Ann Jordan, Global Rights
Mohamed Mottar, Project Protection
Tickets: Reception Only: $10
Films & Panel Only: $9/$7 (students and seniors)
Combination Ticket: $15
For more information, please contact Caroline Slobodzian of UNIFEM/USA/NCC at cslobodzian@mail.com, or Jennie Simpson at jenmsimpson@gmail.com. Many thanks to the DC Independent Film Festival for partnering with us to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day. For more information on the DC Independent Film Festival and a schedule of events, please visit www.dciff.org.
Speakers: Ashley Garrett, International Organization for Migration
Ann Jordan, Global Rights
Mohamed Mottar, Project Protection
Tickets: Reception Only: $10
Films & Panel Only: $9/$7 (students and seniors)
Combination Ticket: $15
For more information, please contact Caroline Slobodzian of UNIFEM/USA/NCC at cslobodzian@mail.com, or Jennie Simpson at jenmsimpson@gmail.com. Many thanks to the DC Independent Film Festival for partnering with us to commemorate this year’s International Women’s Day. For more information on the DC Independent Film Festival and a schedule of events, please visit www.dciff.org.
Friday, February 18, 2005
EVENT: Violence Against Women In Conflict: Darfur, Sudan
Please join Amnesty International, the International Network of the Women's Information Network, our distinguished speakers, and members of thecommunity for a panel discussion on the impact of the armed conflict inDarfur on women and girls and what people can do to help.
Where: George Washington University Marvin Center, 3rd floor Ballroom (80021st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052)
When: February 23, 2005 from 7-9 pm
Speakers Include:
Adotei Akwei Director of Campaigns Unit, Amnesty International USA
Ann-Louise Colgan Director for Policy Analysis and Communications, AfricaAction
Marie Clarke Brill Director for Public Education and Mobilization, AfricaAction
Katherine Brantingham Administrative and Program Support Coordinator, USDASudan Group
For more information, please contact dcwhrat@yahoo.com
Hosted by: Amnesty International's DC-Women's Human Rights Action Team,George Washington University Amnesty International Chapter and TheInternational Network of the Women's Information Network
Where: George Washington University Marvin Center, 3rd floor Ballroom (80021st Street, NW, Washington, DC 20052)
When: February 23, 2005 from 7-9 pm
Speakers Include:
Adotei Akwei Director of Campaigns Unit, Amnesty International USA
Ann-Louise Colgan Director for Policy Analysis and Communications, AfricaAction
Marie Clarke Brill Director for Public Education and Mobilization, AfricaAction
Katherine Brantingham Administrative and Program Support Coordinator, USDASudan Group
For more information, please contact dcwhrat@yahoo.com
Hosted by: Amnesty International's DC-Women's Human Rights Action Team,George Washington University Amnesty International Chapter and TheInternational Network of the Women's Information Network
Monday, February 07, 2005
Upcoming Conference
The 12th Annual American University Conference on Lavender Languages and Linguistics, Feburary 11-13, 2005
Since the first Lav Lgs conference in 1993, common themes in conference discussion have been two-fold: how lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered persons and queers use language in everyday life, and how language gets used against us by others.
Unlike the case at the larger professional meetings, Lav Lgs program is organized to facilitate face-to-face conversation and to allow discussion to continue throughout the three-day conference period. Indeed, participants work hard each year to maintain a non-attitude environment at all conference events, thereby enabling conversations between established scholars and those just beginning to explore lavender language interests, and between academics, public intellectuals and community activists. Conflicting points of view about language, gender and sexuality often arise during these discussions, but conference participants are not demeaned or devalued in order to secure such exchange.
Registration is $10 for employed persons, and $5 for students, those between jobs, and others with limited income. Preregistration is not required.
Conference registration and all conference activities take place on the 6th floor of the Butler Pavilion and in the Mary Graydon Center nearby. The Butler Pavilion and the MGC are fully accessible conference facilities.
For the program, abstracts and more info, visit the website: http://www.american.edu/cas/anthro/lavenderlanguages/registration.cfm
Since the first Lav Lgs conference in 1993, common themes in conference discussion have been two-fold: how lesbians, gay men, bisexuals, transgendered persons and queers use language in everyday life, and how language gets used against us by others.
Unlike the case at the larger professional meetings, Lav Lgs program is organized to facilitate face-to-face conversation and to allow discussion to continue throughout the three-day conference period. Indeed, participants work hard each year to maintain a non-attitude environment at all conference events, thereby enabling conversations between established scholars and those just beginning to explore lavender language interests, and between academics, public intellectuals and community activists. Conflicting points of view about language, gender and sexuality often arise during these discussions, but conference participants are not demeaned or devalued in order to secure such exchange.
Registration is $10 for employed persons, and $5 for students, those between jobs, and others with limited income. Preregistration is not required.
Conference registration and all conference activities take place on the 6th floor of the Butler Pavilion and in the Mary Graydon Center nearby. The Butler Pavilion and the MGC are fully accessible conference facilities.
For the program, abstracts and more info, visit the website: http://www.american.edu/cas/anthro/lavenderlanguages/registration.cfm
Tuesday, February 01, 2005
Amnesty International Second Annual DC Citywide Meeting
Join Amnesty International Activists from DC for the Second Annual DC Citywide Meeting
Saturday, February 26th
George Washington University
Monroe Hall, 2nd Floor
2115 G Street, on G Street Between 21st and 22nd Streets
Closest Metro Stop: Foggy Bottom-GWU
10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
THIS EVENT IS FREE!The Citywide Meeting is a great opportunity to meet other AI activists and take part in workshops that will help your group be more effective! Theworkshops will focus on fundraising, leadership development, coalitionbuilding, and recruitment and retention. There will also be a special plenary session focusing on violence against women in Darfur, Sudan. Pre-registration is not necessary, but very appreciated. To register orfind out more information contact Eric Sears at esears@aiusa.org or202-544-0200 ext. 243.
Saturday, February 26th
George Washington University
Monroe Hall, 2nd Floor
2115 G Street, on G Street Between 21st and 22nd Streets
Closest Metro Stop: Foggy Bottom-GWU
10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.
THIS EVENT IS FREE!The Citywide Meeting is a great opportunity to meet other AI activists and take part in workshops that will help your group be more effective! Theworkshops will focus on fundraising, leadership development, coalitionbuilding, and recruitment and retention. There will also be a special plenary session focusing on violence against women in Darfur, Sudan. Pre-registration is not necessary, but very appreciated. To register orfind out more information contact Eric Sears at esears@aiusa.org or202-544-0200 ext. 243.
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