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!

August Meeting

Please join us for this Wednesday (10 August 2005) at 7pm. We will be discussing Feminism and the Human Rights movement. Our very own Janel Kasper-Wolfe will facilitate the discussion. 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).

Here is the agenda for the meeting:

Recruiting for new CC members - 5 mins

End of Summer/Fall ideas for planning - 20 mins
-August gathering at NOW
-September teach-in on VAWA
-October 22nd-23rd - Regional Conference
-October 24th-ish- Host house parties in support of Amnesty's Lifetime show on trafficking
-November 25th- December 10th - 16 Days of Activism
Discussion on feminism as related to women's human rights - 45 mins

Next meeting - September 14th

One last thing, we will hosting a Meet and Greet happy hour on 24 August 2005 at the National Organization for Women (1100 H Street NW, Metro Center metro). It will be a good way to meet each other socially. We hope to see you there.

May Meeting

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!

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.

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

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

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

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.