Groups directory

Peace and Reconciliation for Northern Uganda

The Hub — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:12:22 -0700

For two decades the people of northern Uganda have suffered the effects of a brutal war between the rebel group, Lord’s Resistance Army, and the Government of Uganda. The Lord’s Resistance Army has targeted civilian areas of Northern Uganda resorting to barbaric tactics of murder, mutilation, rape, mass burnings of villages and camps, sexual enslavement, and abduction of civilians – especially children – as forced combatants.

Over a million civilians have fled the Lord’s Resistance Army and resulted in a majority of the population of Northern Uganda living in crowded and unhealthy displaced persons camps.

This has been one of Africa’s longest running civil wars but now there is the prospect of an end to the fighting.

For more information, contact:

New York: Gerald Martone, (212) 551-3061, Gerald.Martone@theIRC.org
Washington DC: Shannon Meehan, (202) 822-0166 x 24, Shannon.Meehan@theIRC.org
Uganda: Julien Schopp, + 256 41 286 212, Julien.Schopp@theIRC.org

24 Hours for Darfur

Krillian — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 08:08:46 -0700

24 Hours for Darfur is a grassroots video-advocacy campaign that uses the internet to mobilize people around the world to demand action to end the genocide in Darfur. Our mission is to focus international, national, and local media attention and popular political pressure on Darfur, catalyzing political actors to stop the genocide and provide adequate humanitarian support to its victims.

Through our website and outreach networks we will solicit thousands of thirty- to sixty-second videos, filmed by (1) individuals in front of their webcams, (2) student and community activist groups around the world, and (3) our partner production companies filming on the streets of New York and other cities.

Submissions will be uploaded to our website as well as to YouTube and other relevant sites, generating media attention; building pressure on politicians; flooding public forums with dialogue on Darfur; and exploding the assumption that the world is content to sit by while Darfur is ravaged.

We will compile and edit submissions into 24 hours of rolling footage, to screen at the steps of Congress, in front of the UN building in New York, and at strategic locations around the world so that our politicians can no longer turn a blind eye to suffering in Darfur. We will demand responses from politicians, encouraging them to post their platforms on Darfur to YouTube and our website, submit to public scrutiny, and solicit feedback from the global community.

ActionAid UK

ActionAid — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 01:56:47 -0800

Our vision
A world without poverty and injustice in which every person enjoys the right to a life with dignity.
Our mission
To work with poor and excluded people to eradicate poverty and injustice.
Our goals

poor and excluded people and communities will exercise power to secure their rights
women and girls will gain power to secure their rights
citizens and civil society across the world will fight for rights and justice
states and their institutions will be accountable and democratic and will promote, protect and fulfil human rights for all.

After massive protests in Burma, world refuses to let dust settle

Ryan Schlief — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:41:11 -0800

Beginning August 19, 2007 there was a series of peaceful protests across Burma as monks, activists and ordinary citizens challenged misrule and repression. On September 26, the Burmese military government responded with violence. Thousands were detained, hundreds disappeared and the country is in the grip of repression.

Meanwhile, in eastern Burma, a 45-year catastrophe has reached one of its worst moments, as the country's military junta escalates its attacks against the area's ethnic minorities. The government's efforts to assert control over ethnic border areas have emptied over 3,000 villages in a decade, an average of almost one village each day over the past ten years. The forces of Burma's military junta, the State Peace & Development Council (SPDC), are mortaring villages, looting and burning homes to the ground, and destroying crops in an effort to obliterate the livelihoods of rural communities. Burmese soldiers are ordered to shoot civilians on sight.

Over 500,000 displaced people live in constant insecurity in eastern Burma, and over 30,000 more have been displaced because of this most recent offensive. Those who are captured by the Burmese army face forced labor, conscription, torture, rape and even execution. The rest are unable to return to their homes for fear of stepping on landmines laid after their escape. Instead, the displaced live in makeshift camps in the jungle, enduring some of the worst health conditions in any world crisis today.

Only broader international consensus and diplomatic pressure will bring an end to these human rights abuses, allow entry of adequate amounts of humanitarian aid, and provide a political solution and a transition to democracy for ethnic minorities and the broader population in Burma.

The video Shoot on Sight was filmed, produced and edited WITNESS' partner, Burma Issues. See the video below and other Burma-related videos and actions you can take.

Alive in Baghdad

Krillian — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 11:57:44 -0700

Alive in Baghdad is empowering Iraqis to share their stories with the world, and provides a place of education and interaction for global citizens interested in the real life political, military, economic and social situation in Iraq.

To this end, Alive In Baghdad seeks to:

• Generate and publish at least one short (3-7 minute) video from Iraq, made by an Iraqi civilian, each week, and make this video easily accessible to the world via the internet.

• Keep all previously published videos easily accessible to the public.

• Publish ongoing and up-to-date written blogs and videoblogs from Iraqi citizen journalists on www.AliveinBaghdad.org.

• Provide a user-friendly, encouraging and supportive environment for public interaction and education concerning Iraqi issues through on-site discussion boards, chat rooms and message threads.

Above all, Alive in Baghdad is devoted to empowering Iraqi citizen journalists to share their stories with the world in a personal, candid and non-bureaucratic way. We endeavor to cut through the red tape and politics of corporate news and deliver the real stories, from real people, everyday.

Alive in Mexico

Krillian — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 12:03:21 -0700

Alive in Mexico was formed to counter the sound-bite driven, “Live From” news model. Through the work of a team of Americans and Mexican correspondents on the ground, Alive in Mexico shows the country through the voices of Mexicans. Alive in Mexico brings testimonies from individuals, footage of daily life in Mexico, and short news segments from Mexico to you.

Amnesty International - Philippines

Ryan Schlief — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:21:37 -0700

Since its establishment, Amnesty International Philippines took action on several global and regional campaigns. It worked for thematic campaigns such as death penalty, juvenile justice, extra-judicial killings and disappearances mainly through legislative advocacy. AIPh has already been campaigning on women’s rights at that time. In the late 90s, the section campaigned for China (No One Is Safe) and Saudi Arabia (End Secrecy, End Suffering) and later on, for Burma and East Timor as longer term country campaigns. It has acted on Crisis Response for East Timor, Afghanistan and Iraq.

VISION AND MISSION

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’s vision is of a world in which every person enjoys all of the human rights enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments.

In pursuit of this vision, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL’s mission is to undertake research and action focused on preventing and ending grave abuses of these rights. AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL forms a global community of human rights defenders with the principles of international solidarity, effective action for the individual victim, global coverage, the universality and indivisibility of human rights, impartiality and independence, and democracy and mutual respect

CORE VALUES

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL forms a global community of human rights defenders with the principles of international solidarity, effective action for the individual victim, global coverage, the universality and indivisibility of human rights, impartiality and independence, and democracy and mutual respect

Art for Amnesty

WITNESS Becky — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:13:42 -0700

Art for Amnesty brings together international artists of all disciplines their patrons, management and friends in a collaborative effort to support Amnesty International’s work for human rights.

It is no coincidence that artists of all disciplines have been at the forefront of support for Amnesty. Hundreds of writers, playwrights, musicians, and poets have been adopted by Amnesty as Prisoners of Conscience—Vaclav Havel, Andrei Sakharov, and Paolo Coelho, among others. Artists have always valued the political freedoms Amnesty works to protect as an integral condition of their creative expression.

Art for Amnesty seeks to harness the creativity and commitment of international artists in major fundraising initiatives for the benefit of both Amnesty and the artists. It also seeks to streamline and co-ordinate approaches to international artists in a mannerwhich is beneficial to the artists and Amnesty.

Art for Amnesty is grateful for the wonderful support of artists worldwide, who lend their voices and talents to Amnesty’s avocation: justice for the marginalized and oppressed, affirmation of the individual in the face of persecution or indifference, and promotion of the universality and indivisibility of human rights.

Association of Nepal Kirat Kulung Language and Cultural Development

Ryan Schlief — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:10:40 -0700

Bloggers Against Torture

Sameer Padania — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 09:49:03 -0800

BOMB Magazine

The Hub — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 15:17:18 -0700

BOMB Magazine has been publishing in-depth interview between artists for over a quarter of a century. What BOMB published then is relevant now: An international magazine with more than 80,000 readers and over 70 professional artists, writers, actors, directors, and musicians serving on
its editorial board, BOMB has reinvented the interview as an intimate and intellectually revealing dialogue.

Bulatlat

bulatlat — Sun, 17 May 2009 08:49:37 -0700

Bulatlat is the Philippines's top alternative online publication. It has been publishing independently since 2001 and has produced a body of work whose themes and topics range from human rights to the state of the economy. Bulatlat specializes in reporting on human rights, political, labor, health, economic, indigenous peoples, armed conflict, among other issues.

Burma Issues

Ryan Schlief — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 01:02:31 -0700

The Peaceway Foundation was formed in February 2002. It operates as an umbrella organisation, under which is a project called Burma Issues. BI has operated since 1990. The formation of the Peace Way Foundation allowed us to be a recognised and registered organisation with the Thai Government. By becoming a Foundation our organisation has obtained legal status and ensured greater security for the work we do. One of the aims in forming the Foundation was also to allow us to expand our work and our ideology into other areas and countries, not to be secular in our work, but to strive to help build a global grassroots movement.

The organisation was initially founded in 1990 and acts as a private, non-profit organisation devoted to a peaceful resolution to Burma's struggle for human rights and democratic rule. We are non-partisan and do not advocate, campaign for or represent any leaders, political parties or ideologies as solutions to Burma's civil strife.

The Peaceway Foundation is unique in that we focus on the marginalised communities living in the war zones of Burma as the target group for building a peace based on justice for everyone. Our approach is based on concepts of community organising and empowerment of these marginalised communities. We are firmly committed to nonviolent forms of peacemaking and conflict transformation.

Center for the Right to Health

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:39:11 -0700

Centre for Environmental Research & Development Inc.

Ryan Schlief — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:29:29 -0700

Centre for Minority Rights Development

cemiride — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 02:50:53 -0800

CEMIRIDE provides a voice for the minorities and indigenous peoples, a voice through which they can articulate their needs and aspirations, and see these needs expressed in their rights, respected in the countries of their abode, thereby allowing them to enjoy all their humans rights, as members and part of, not only their respective societies, but the global society at large. CEMIRIDE is an active player in national, regional and international efforts to improve the position of minorities and indigenous peoples.

Chintan

Ryan Schlief — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:22:35 -0800

India, along with most of the developing world, is undergoing an extraordinary transformation, driven by both globalization and urbanization. Despite its role as a key player in world affairs, India is home to 300 million people who live on less than a dollar a day. A special characteristic of the urban Indian dynamic is the work of hundreds of thousands of informal sector waste-recyclers: waste pickers, waste buyers and waste reprocessors. They ultimately carry the burden of providing critical recycling services to major cities in India, where consumption generates tons of waste every day.
Our main approaches involve capacity building for dignified livelihood generation for the informal sector engaged in environmental service provision, inclusion of the urban poor in policy making, research and advocacy on issues of environmental justice and environmental governance, and education and awareness-raising for children and adults, ranging from school children and their parents to policy makers. We work in partnerships, constantly learning and evolving through our work.
Chintan envisions a world in which members from all sectors develop partnerships that ensure environmental and social justice through sustainable consumption, a dignified existence for the poor, and a toxic-free environment.
Chintan’s mission is to facilitate the participation of citizens in the empowerment of their communities and to advocate for local and national policies that ensure social equity and environmental safeguarding.
Capacity-Building:
• Enabling the informal waste recycling sector to organize itself to live and work under dignified, safer, non-hazardous conditions.
• Entering into partnership with both community organizations and the public sector to create livelihood opportunities.
Research & Advocacy:
• Advocating for policies that ensure social and environmental justice through publications, campaigns, networks, and partnerships with the poor.
• Raising environmental health issues in the media and in communities with the aim of reducing toxics use by the private and public sector.
• Providing an online information portal with Chintan-sponsored and outside research on sustainable consumption, toxics, underprivileged communities and individuals, and other related topics.
Education:
• Providing informal and formal education opportunities for children that enable them to successfully transition from child laborers to full time students who have equal opportunities in life.
• Offering environmental justice education for children and adults, focusing on issues that directly concern them and finding practical solutions to ongoing problems.

Coalition of Institutionalized Aged and Disabled

Coalition of Institutionalized Aged and Disabled (CIAD) — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 18:52:59 -0800

Adult homes, or adult care facilities, provide room and board to people in New York State who are 18 years-of-age or older and have a physical and/or psychiatric disability. Adult homes originally served an elderly population, but since the 1960s, younger people with psychiatric disabilities have also lived in adult homes; they are generally discharged into the homes from hospitals because they have no other place to go. Statewide, approximately 500 adult homes house about 35,000 people; in New York City, about 50 adult homes house about 9,000 people. Adult homes are licensed and regulated by the New York State Health Department.
CIAD organizers visit New York City adult homes regularly to educate residents about their rights and help residents establish strong resident councils. CIAD works statewide to advocate for policy initiatives and reforms of benefit to residents.
CIAD videos are screened inside adult homes at residents' rights trainings and resident council meetings, shown to elected representatives and agency officials, and cablecast on Manhattan Neighborhood Network's (MNN) public access channels. CIAD's media work is supported by an MNN Community Media Grant and a major grant from the New York Community Trust.

Coastal Development Partnership (CDP)

Ryan Schlief — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:01:48 -0700

Congo Global Coalition

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:55:40 -0800

Congo Global Action is a global alliance of humanitarian, human rights, environmental, and faith-based organizations, students, members of the Congolese Diaspora, and other grassroots movements.

We have come together to advocate with one voice for people of the Democratic Republic of Congo and urge increased local and international response for the post-war and post-election situation in the Congo.

Over twenty-five organizations have officially become members of the coalition since its founding in 2006, including the International Rescue Committee.

Together the Congo Global Action coalition forms a movement far greater than the sum of its parts and a momentum that generates action, policy change, and increased funding for the people of the Congo.

Members of the coalition share their talents and expertise to create an effective high-level policy effort with a groundswell of grassroots support.

Congo Global Action is planning three grassroots conferences in 2007. Each conference will feature keynote speakers, teach people about the Congo, and help participants become advocacy leaders.

Each conference will include a Lobby Day and a major media-attracting event to raise awareness about the Congo. The conferences will be held in March 2007 in Brussels, Belgium, in October 2007 in Washington, DC, and in January 2008 in Nairobi, Kenya.

If you would like to contact us, email drc.coalition@yahoo.com

Corporate Accountability International

CorporateAccountabilityInternational — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 12:37:48 -0700

Culture Project

Culture Project — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 12:29:47 -0700

A venue for acclaimed, prize-winning performance, Culture Project is also a magnet for today's best talent including Meryl Streep, Danny Glover, Mary J. Blige, Robin Williams, Marisa Tomei, Bob Balaban, Rinde Eckhert, Montel Williams, Frank McCourt, Staceyann Chin, Lynn Redgrave, Sarah Silverman, and other artists who share a passion for theater and public justice.

Educational Integration of Roma Children in Bulgaria

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:50:27 -0800

At an estimated 10 million people, Roma are the largest, yet most discriminated-against minority in Europe. In Bulgaria, 70 percent of young Roma, (approximately 30,000 children), attend sub-standard schools in segregated Romani neighborhoods. Inadequate material conditions and the poor quality of education provided by unmotivated teachers contribute to low attendance rates of Roma pupils. Altogether, they alienate Romani children from schools and perpetuate the cycle of illiteracy, unemployment, and poverty.

In the year 2000, Romani activists from the Bulgarian town of Vidin spearheaded the first initiative for educational desegregation in Europe. Instead of attending ghetto schools in the Roma neighborhood, 100 Romani children enrolled in the town’s mainstream schools. Six years later, more than 3,000 Romani children are bused daily to integrated schools in eight Bulgarian towns. Students in the desegregation programs now go to school regularly, get higher grades, and have better prospects for continuing on to higher education.

Contact the Minister of Education and Science of the Republic of Bulgaria, urging him to fully endorse and implement nation-wide policies in support of educational integration of Romani children.

Contact the Chair of the Education and Science Committee of the National Assembly of the Republic of Bulgaria, urging him to support the passage of the Desegregation Bill.

End Extraordinary Rendition and Torture in the World Community

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:53:36 -0800

Human rights groups and several public inquiries in Europe have found the U.S. government, with the complicity of numerous governments worldwide, to be engaged in the illegal practice of extraordinary rendition, secret detention, and torture. The U.S. government-sponsored program of renditions is an unlawful practice in which numerous persons have been illegally detained and secretly flown to third countries, where they have suffered additional human rights abuses including torture and enforced disappearance. No one knows the exact number of persons affected, due to the secrecy under which the operations are carried out.

"Outlawed: Extraordinary Rendition, Torture and Disappearances in the 'War on Terror'" tells the stories of Khaled El-Masri and Binyam Mohamed, two men who have survived extraordinary rendition, secret detention, and torture by the U.S. government working with various other governments worldwide. "Outlawed" features relevant commentary from Louise Arbour, the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, U.S. President George W. Bush, Michael Scheuer, the chief architect of the rendition program and former head of the Osama Bin Laden unit at the CIA, and Condoleezza Rice, the U.S. Secretary of State.

"Outlawed" places the post-9/11 phenomenon of renditions and the "war on terror" in a human rights context and calls for action end these human rights abuses.

Take action to end extraordinary rendition and torture in the world community.

End Slave Labor in Brazil

Tamaryn Nelson WITNESS — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:54:19 -0800

Every year, more than 25,000 workers are enslaved by landowners in rural Brazil, mostly in the Amazon region.

Despite the fact that Brazil pledged to eradicate slave labor by the end of 2006, there is still a long way to go. Current inspections barely cover half the complaints received from runaway slaves, and although 4,000 workers are released each year, no landowner has ever been imprisoned for the crime of slavery. The few criminal charges ever pressed remain at a standstill because of a debate over whether they should be tried in state or federal courts. Rampant impunity combined with a lack of economic opportunities continues to force tens of thousands of men to enter the cycle of slavery each year.

ACT NOW and tell President Lula that slave labor must end once and for all by signing the linked petition below.

End Slavery

The Hub — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 07:45:20 -0700

Through Free the Slaves’ research, first published in Kevin Bales’ Disposable People, our conservative estimate is that there are 27 million people in slavery today. This means that there are more people in slavery today than at any other time in human history. Slavery has existed for thousands of years, but changes in the world’s economy and societies over the past 50 years have enabled a resurgence of slavery.

Three trends have contributed most to the rise of modern-slavery.

The first, a recent population explosion has tripled the number of people in the world, with most growth taking place in the developing world. The second, rapid social and economic change, have displaced many to urban centers and their outskirts, where people have no ‘safety net’ and no job security. The third, government corruption around the world, allows slavery to go unpunished, even though it is illegal everywhere. In this way millions have become vulnerable to slave holders and human traffickers looking to profit through the theft of people’s lives. This new slavery has two prime characteristics: slaves today are cheap and they are disposable.

An average slave in the American South in 1850 cost the equivalent of $40,000 in today’s money; today a slave costs an average of $90. In 1850 it was difficult to capture a slave and then transport them to the US. Today, millions of economically and socially vulnerable people around the world are potential slaves. This “supply” makes slaves today cheaper than they have ever been. Since they are so cheap, slaves are today are not considered a major investment worth maintaining. If slaves get sick, are injured, outlive their usefulness, or become troublesome to the slaveholder, they are dumped or killed.

Since slavery feeds directly into the global economy, it makes sense that we would be concerned by the ways in which slavery flows into our homes through the products we buy and the investments we make. Slaves harvest cocoa in the Ivory Coast, make charcoal used to produce steel in Brazil, weave carpets in India—the list goes on. These products reach our stores and our homes.

In addition, there may be people held in slavery in your community. Slavery happens in nearly every country in the world, and the US and Europe are not immune. Research that Free the Slaves conducted with the University of California, Berkeley found documented cases of slavery and human trafficking in more than 90 cities across the United States.

End Torture Now

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:58:04 -0800

On September 6, 2006, President Bush asked Congress to pass the Military Commission Act of 2006. This Act - among other things - sought to re-define U.S. obligations under Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions, international treaties signed by every country in the world. Common Article 3 places an absolute prohibition on inhumane treatment of detainees during an armed conflict.

Specifically, the President wanted Congress to replace the absolute prohibition on inhumane treatment of Common Article 3 with a "flexible" standard, which would assess on a case-by-case basis whether particular conduct would amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment. Human Rights First criticized the Administration's proposal for adding ambiguity to an otherwise clear standard of Common Article 3, and would open the door to more Abu Ghraib-style abuses.

In response to the administration's proposal, more than 45 retired senior military leaders wrote to members of the U.S. Senate expressing their opposition to redefining Common Article 3 on the grounds that it would compromise the safety of U.S. Service men and women. They were joined by Former Secretary of State Colin Powell and former U.S. Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Vessey, Hugh Shelton, and William Crowe, who also sent letters expressing their opposition to redefining Common Article 3.

Spearheaded by Republican Senators John McCain, John Warner, and Lindsey Graham, the Senate Armed Services Committee passed an alternative bill, sponsored by McCain, Warner, and Graham, that preserves Common Article 3. The Administration then agreed to negotiate with the key Senators, and a compromise was reached on September 21, which preserved the meaning and requirements of Common Article 3. Human Rights First welcomed this aspect of the compromise. Human Rights First opposed the final version of the Military Commissions Act, however, because it contained a number of provisions that raised serious concerns about compliance with the Geneva Conventions and with fundamental fair trial and due process principles. Among the most troubling aspects of the Military Commissions Act are provisions that purport to:

* Grant unprecedented and unchecked authority to the Executive Branch to label as “unlawful enemy combatants”, and possibly to detain indefinitely, an overly broad range of people, including U.S. citizens and legal permanent residents inside the United States

* Deny independent judicial review, through habeas, of detentions of U.S. legal permanent residents and non-citizens

* Limit the sources of law to which the courts may look and the scope of review on appeal

* Narrow the scope of the War Crimes Act and seek to eliminate accountability for past violations of the law

* Permit evidence obtained through coercion to be used in the military commission proceedings, with certain limitations

* Permit the introduction of classified evidence against the accused even if the accused has not had the opportunity to review and challenge the “sources, methods, or activities” by which the government acquired the evidence.

* Restrict full disclosure to the accused of exculpatory evidence

* Give the Secretary of Defense authority to deviate from time-tested military justice standards for fair trials

Despite the urging of Human Rights First and other groups and individuals to reject the bill, U.S. Congress passed the Military Commissions Act on September 29, 2006. The Act was presented to President Bush on October 10, 2006 and signed into law on October 17, 2006.

Every Human Has Rights: Speak Out

Every Human Has Rights — Sun, 09 Dec 2007 08:47:36 -0800

TELL YOUR HUMAN RIGHTS STORY HERE

Many of the world's foremost human rights organizations have come together to bring the Every Human Has Rights campaign to life, to send the message that it's time for people all over the world to reclaim the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and realize their own rights.

The Every Human Has Rights Campaign was initiated by The Elders, and is run in partnership with Action Aid, Amnesty International, Center for Women's Global Leadership, CIVICUS, GCAP, Global Centre for the Responsibility to Protect, Internews, Realizing Rights, Save the Children, UNICEF and WITNESS.

The WITNESS Hub is working with the Every Human Has Rights campaign to grow the global digital databank of human rights stories, in text, audio and video. Upload your human rights stories from around the world.

We want to hear from you, wherever you live.

Step 1: Login or create a Hub account

Step 2:Click here to post your human rights story in audio or video form. Add the tag 'Every Human Has Rights' on the upload form, so anyone searching The Hub can easily find your stuff.

Step 3: You will receive a confirmation email when your media is live on the Hub. Once you have confirmation of a successful upload, send a note with the URL to the Every Human Has Rights campaign team at everyhumanhasrights@theelders.org, or feel free to use the form below.

Have you already uploaded content
If you have already submitted a video to The Hub and would like it to be included as part of the campaign, let us know by emailing us at everyhumanhasrights@theelders.org or by using this form on the Every Human Has Rights campaign website.

Federation of Women Lawyers - Kenya

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:48:29 -0700

The organization was started in 1985 after the 3rd UN Conference on Women, which was held in Nairobi , Kenya .

Currently, there are more than 500 registered FIDA Kenya members. The Secretariat is located at Amboseli Road off Gitanga Road in Nairobi . The Kisumu Legal Aid Clinic, was opened in 1997. It is located in Milimani estate, off Tom Mboya drive. The Mombasa Legal Aid Clinic was open in 2003 and is located on Kizingo East Road, next to Lakeside Apartments, Off Mama Ngina Drive.

FIDA Kenya works to achieve its mission through four main programmes namely. Strategic Leadership Programme, Legal Aid Services Programme, Women Rights Monitoring and Advocacy Programme and the Finance and Administration Programme

FORUM-ASIA

FORUM-ASIA — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 11:11:13 -0800

FORUM-ASIA is committed to building an alternative society that is peaceful, just, equitable and ecologically sustainable where all human rights of all individuals, groups and peoples -- the poor, marginalised and discriminated people in particular -- are fully respected and realised in accordance with internationally accepted human rights norms and standards.
To enhance FORUM-ASIA’s coordinating and leading role in building a stronger human rights movement that is rooted locally and globally through effective engagement with state and non-state actors and cooperation among human rights organisations and civil society organisations in Asia.

GCAP Whiteband

gcapwhiteband — Thu, 02 Oct 2008 05:50:13 -0700

The Global Call to Action against Poverty (GCAP) is a growing alliance of trade unions, community groups, faith groups, women and youth organisations, NGOs and other campaigners working together across more than 100 national platforms. GCAP is calling for action from the world’s leaders to meet their promises to end poverty and inequality.

Green Movement of Sri Lanka

Ryan Schlief — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 23:03:05 -0700

What Green Movement of Sri Lanka does:

-Policy lobbying and advocacy

-Corporate crime watch

-Vigilance on policies of donor agencies on mega-projects

-Conduct Alternative People's Tribunals(APTs) to get address real community problems

-Campaign for sustainable development and environment management

-Provide legal aid to poor and marginalized communities

-Strengthen institutional linkages and strengthen local networks for lobbying

-Build international linkages and assist in international lobbying

-Document and preserve indigenous knowledge systems

-Promote sustainable farming systems

-Enhance community resilience through strengthening environment friendly livelihoods

-Lobby for consumer rights

-Work towards community based disaster risk reduction

-Work on adaptive and reductive methods for ensuring climate stability

-Work for the empowerment of women, youth and children

-Rebuild disaster damaged communities
Work for peace through reconciliation processes

-Lobby for the rights of persons with disabilities

-Lobby for the rights of small scale farmers

HIV/AIDS in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC)

The Hub — Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:48:19 -0800

Take Action Now

The silent storm of HIV/AIDS is ravaging communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) where over 1.3 million people are living with HIV/AIDS. Some one hundred thousand people have died of AIDS and more than 930,000 children have lost one or both parents to this preventable disease that, if not tackled directly by government policy, has the potential of evolving into a raging pandemic. To date only 5% of those needing anti-retroviral treatment are receiving it.

"Awaiting Tomorrow" tells the story people living with HIV/AIDS in the war-torn Eastern region of the DRC and advocates for the provision of: free HIV/AIDS testing, medical care and medication, including home based care, nutritional and psychological support; outreach on testing and prevention particularly targeting youth; awareness raising and legislation to end discrimination against all affected people; and the building of infrastructure to make critical medical assistance accessible.

The Congolese government, supported by the international community, must comply with their international obligations to take all necessary measures to guarantee the rights of persons living with HIV/AIDS, including the right to health and the right to information on prevention, testing and treatment and the promises made through the Millennium Development Goals. Act Now to call on President Joseph Kabila and the Congolese Government to immediately address this emerging crisis.

Human Rights in China

Tina — Tue, 08 May 2007 15:03:09 -0700

Human Rights in China (HRIC) takes a strategic approach to enlarging China’s independent civil space by engaging a broad cross-section of citizens, activists, government officials, lawyers, scholars, corporate leaders and media sources inside and outside China through rigorous thematic research, advocacy and communications work

Institute for Global Justice

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:51:15 -0700

Investigate Chechnya's Disappearances

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:47:51 -0800

Chechnya has been deeply scarred by years of fighting between separatists and Russian federal forces. In the Chechen Mountains the conflict has forced families from their homes and is gradually destroying the unique culture of these communities. Thousands of people across Chechnya have disappeared, been imprisoned or tortured.

Please write to the following individuals to urge them to take action and investigate the disappearances:
President Vladimir Putin, Mr. Yuri Chaika, Prosecutor General of the Russian Federation, and Mr. Valery Kuznetsov, Prosecutor of the Republic of Chech

KODAO Productions

Ryan Schlief — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 21:14:00 -0700

KODAO Productions has four (4) core programs: Film and Video Production, Radio Production, Training and Education, and Outreach and Networking. Through these programs we aim to: produce and distribute audio-visual and related materials that reflect relevant and timely issues for the Filipinos both here and abroad; promote the varied and concerted efforts of the Filipino people for cultural and economic development; and train and develop filmmakers, scriptwriters, and production staff from regional organizations towards the creation of a national network of small audio-visual production units.

LICADHO Canada/Platapus

Licadho Canada — Fri, 21 Nov 2008 09:18:47 -0800

Licadho Canada observes politically or socially tense situations to reduce the threat of violence and obtain a truthful story of events.

We learned to be efficient observers through attendance at various events including trials, demonstrations, political rallies, municipal elections, International Human Rights Day, International Labour Day and through the example of experienced LICADHO monitors and personnel.

Networking – connect people and Communities to organizations/groups with the aim of capacity building, providing resources, and empowerment.

LICADHO Canada stands in Solidarity with many sectors of society, including grassroots organizations, unions, students, non-violent activists, and traditional artists and musicians.

Awareness and Advocacy – Inform the international community about Cambodian human rights issue and encourage positive action to support Cambodia and all oppressed nations.

LICADHO Canada provides information to members, partners and media including newsletters, information packages, documentaries, reports, web-links, human rights t-shirts, net-working, petitions and appeals. We have a firm commitment to convince the international government to re-evaluate their responsibilities and approach to Cambodia.

Listen to Our Voice: Making the Case against Torture in Papua

Ryan Schlief — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 08:01:37 -0700

After her son was suspected of participating in protests lead by university students against a mining corporation, the Indonesian police apprehended Anselina Temkon from her home.

She was allegedly beaten with a gun, her hands burnt with cigarettes and, with a gun to her head, the police allegedly told her they were going to take her to a nearby town and “finish her off” if she did not disclose the whereabouts of her son.

Police reportedly detained Anselina for four days without access to visitors.

Anselina’s case is among the 242 individual cases of torture in Papua from 1998-2007 reported by human rights organizations. Not one perpetrator has been punished: in fact, only one case has ever been brought to court.

WITNESS partner SKP and others are trying to change this. SKP is the Office of Justice and Peace and is an advocacy organization a part of the Catholic Diocese of Jayapura, in the main city of Papua.

SKP and other organizations in Indonesia collectively submitted a report to the UN Committee against Torture in May on the widespread use of torture by the police and security forces. The Government’s obligations under the UN Convention against Torture were being reviewed at that time.

Strengthening its written submission and personal testimonies, SKP screened its video on torture in Papua, Listen to Our Voice, to members of the Committee. It responded with specific recommendations to the Government of Indonesia to ensure justice for torture survivors and to prevent the further use of torture in Papua.

More must be done, however, to ensure the Government of Indonesia follows through on these recommendations. Watch the interviews filmed by Franciscans International in Geneva with Rika from SKP and Anselina below and read the shadow report on torture in Papua at the SKP website. We will let you know when the video, Listen to Our Voice, is available on the Hub.

Background

Located on the western half of the island of New Guinea, Papua historically has been connected with the diverse lands of Melanesia. Papua remained a Dutch territory after Indonesia declared independence from the Netherlands in 1945. For more than a decade, the Government of Indonesia, considering the land as part of its rightful domain, rejected the efforts by the Netherlands to decolonize Papua en route to its own independence.

International pressure and tensions between Indonesia and the Netherlands resulted in a 1962 agreement between the two parties in which the land was placed under a United Nations trusteeship before being transferred to Indonesia one year later.

The agreement mandated Indonesia to enable all adult resident nationals in Papua to participate in an act of self-determination. The Act of Free Choice was held in 1969 and about 1000 Papuan representatives voted unanimously for inclusion within Indonesia.

Questions concerning the legitimacy of the referendum, among other issues, form the core of the independence movement and fuel low-level armed resistance. The influx of migrants from other parts of Indonesia and the loss of land due to development projects have greatly influenced calls for Papuans to have a greater voice in their own affairs.

Papua, split as of 2004 into two provinces, is a sparsely populated, resource-rich land comprising about one-fifth of the total landmass of Indonesia. Three-quarters of its 2.7 million inhabitants live in rural areas.

Malaysiakini

indra05 — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 08:29:29 -0800

As of July 2008, Malaysiakini is the most read news website and the most popular Malaysian website.

Malaysiakini’s editorial position is built on fast, accurate and independent news, and well informed and diverse views.

Malaysiakini’s Letters section has generated active participation from readers of all races and religions and of various ideological backgrounds, creating an open and well-informed arena of public debate unseen in Malaysia since the 1960s. Discussion on taboo subjects such as migrant workers, AIDS, Islam and racial quota systems has generated a new understanding on these issues.

Our editorial position is consistently supportive of justice, human rights, democracy, freedom of speech and good governance.

Malaysiakini is unique in the Malaysian context as it is one of the few independent media organisations in Malaysia. It is not linked to any political party or commercial interest.

Malaysian Trade Union Congress (MTUC)

Ryan Schlief — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:09:25 -0700

The MTUC came into existence at a time when the First Emergency was declared against insurgent communist activities. At this critical time, workers had no organisation to look after their interest, protect them and also to represent their views generally. A few union leaders who believed in free democratic trade unionism convened a conference of trade union delegates on 27th and 28th February, 1949.

National Human Rights Commission of Thailand

Ryan Schlief — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 22:00:25 -0700

As a result of struggles for political reform and democracy, particularly over decades the major social and academic movements in Thailand between 1996 and 1997, the 1997 Constitution was promulgated with the full guarantee of human dignity and all basic rights as well as fundamental freedoms for people. The National Human Rights Commission of Thailand (NHRC) was established under Section 199 and 200 of the Constitution as a mechanism to guarantee the respect for human rights as stipulated therein. The 11 full-time Commissioners will be elected by the Senate from a short list of 22 people with extensive human rights experience, gender balance and pluralistic background. The Commission's statutory term of office is 6 years, and each Commissioner shall serve for only one term.

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:17:55 -0700

Olympics pressure Government of China to address long-standing grievances in Tibet

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 10:03:44 -0700

In their bid to host the 2008 games, the Government of China pledged, among other items, to improve human rights and uphold media freedom. The violent unrest in Tibet in March, the dramatic curtailing of basic rights, including media freedom, in Tibetan areas and the global protests against the Government's policies in Tibet have tarnished the Government’s intended unveiling of a more open and free China.

As the opening ceremonies in Beijing approach, human rights organizations around the world claim the Government of China has not upheld all its Olympic campaign promises, and they are seizing the opportunity to focus attention on the human rights record of the Government.

Recent events in the run-up to the Olympic Games beginning 8 August have only added to the deep-rooted grievances of many Tibetans toward the Government of China.

The most violent protests Tibet has seen in nearly two decades, the March protests in Lhasa, followed by protests in other Tibetan areas, claimed at least 100 lives according to the Tibetan Centre for Human Rights & Democracy. Official reports from the Government media list at least 18 persons died primarily belonging to the Han ethnic group.

The subsequent lockdown and reports of extra-judicial or summary killings, arbitrary detention and forced disappearance in Tibetan areas has led nearly 70 human rights organizations throughout Asia-Pacific to petition the United Nations Human Rights Council for a special session on human rights in China.

Amnesty International in June published a report demanding the Government release the whereabouts of the Tibetans detained in the March unrest and allow independent observers entry into Tibetan areas. Check out Amnesty International’s videos related to human rights in China below.

While recognizing domestic journalists “already operate under far greater constraints,” in July a report on media freedom in China by Human Rights Watch highlighted the challenges placed on foreign journalists reporting on the Olympics. The report specifically called on the Government of China to lift all restrictions on the access to and the operation of foreign media in Tibetan areas. The organization stated, "...the gap between government rhetoric and reality for foreign journalists remain considerable. Their working conditions today, while improved in some respects, have deteriorated in other areas, dramatically in the case of Tibet."

The Hub shows there is vibrant activity is taking place online as well as on the streets. Activists are uploading videos documenting torch relay protests, calls to action and footage from the 'March to Tibet' - by Tibetans from Dharamsala, India to Tibet. Watch the videos below and elsewhere on the Hub and click the SHARE button to distribute the videos you like best to your friends, family and networks. Then encourage them to get active with the Actions below!

Stop back at hub.witness.org/tibet for more videos, more updates and more actions!

Organization for Visual Progression

Organization for Visual Progression — Thu, 07 May 2009 16:15:32 -0700

The Organization for Visual Progression (OVP) is dedicated to providing individuals and organizations with the opportunity to create and utilize visual media in their advocacy efforts and social justice campaigns.

Our goals are threefold: to amplify voices, amplify issues, and to promote alternative media infrastructures.

We amplify voices by offering intensive visual media advocacy trainings to community leaders, NGO representatives and university students working to bring about progressive social change in areas marginalized by established media infrastructures. OVP also supports participants in the production and distribution of visual media productions.

We amplify marginalized issues by collaborating with university students, communities and social justice organizations in the creation, distribution, and contextualization of visual media productions.

Our ultimate goal is to promote alternative media infrastructures that allow people and organizations excluded from existing media infrastructures to communicate with target audiences.

Panos

Krillian — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 13:55:54 -0700

Why communication? Our approach to development

The capacity to receive information, to debate, and to express one’s own ideas and needs is a right in itself and an essential part of people’s ability to lift themselves out of poverty and participate in the life of their society.

Communication is part of the fabric of societies. By receiving, giving and discussing information and ideas we are able to make decisions and form opinions – parents decide if their child will go to school, an HIV positive person decides whether to declare his or her status, and individuals decide how to vote in an election.

Communication enables health services to ensure the supply of medicines in their clinics, farmers to find out the price of their crops, and diaspora communities to send remittances back home. Communication underpins development.

Participatory Development Initiatives (PDI)

Ryan Schlief — Sun, 21 Sep 2008 20:42:48 -0700

Objectives
• Mobilizing and organizing the local communities to empower them to take initiatives for their equal and active participation in the development process
• Building the capacities of the local communities/ Community organizations to develop their organizational strength and leadership skills
• Promoting sustainable livelihoods, community based natural resource management and disaster management and mitigation, education and health through community awareness and community based development processes
• Engaging in awareness, mobilization and policy advocacy on the local, national and international socio-economic, policies, plans, programs and projects affecting the poor communities, their lives and livelihoods
• Conducting community based participatory research, information and knowledge sharing and networking to strengthen the civil society partnerships and alliance building for participatory and sustainable development

People's Vigilante Committee on Human Rights (PVCHR)

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:18:54 -0700

Physicians for Human Rights

PHR — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 07:26:46 -0700

Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) was founded on the idea that health professionals are uniquely qualified to investigate human rights violations around the world. PHR works with health professionals across the globe to stop egregious human rights violations, motivated by the simple, unwavering belief that health is a universal right to which all are entitled. The organization is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. In 1997, Physicians for Human Rights was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Please oppose vigilante groups such as the Minuteman Project

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:51:15 -0800

There have long been vigilantes harassing border crossers and communities, but this year has seen an alarming increase in their activity and visibility. For example, in April, a new group called the “Minuteman Project" stepped into the national spotlight when several hundred recruits gathered in Arizona to patrol the border. Only months later, they are expanding their activities into California, Texas and several other states
throughout the country.

Although the Minuteman Project and other vigilante groups have been very skillful at portraying themselves as no more than well-meaning "neighborhood watch groups,” their efforts to “protect” our borders include taking the law into their own hands and using fear, intimidation and violent tactics. Moreover, many of these groups have documented ties to known hate groups.

Please write to your Congressional Representatives and Senators, urging them to take a stand against vigilante groups such as the Minuteman Project, making clear that their activities are not welcome in any community.

Protect Refugee Victims in the US

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:56:01 -0800

Thousands of the world’s most vulnerable people, refugee victims of terrorism, are unable to get the protection they so desperately need in the U.S. today because of the overly broad application of the Patriot Act and REAL ID Act.

Victims of terrorism who were forced under threat of death or serious bodily injury into providing food or shelter to terrorist groups are now defined as having provided “material support” to terrorists. Others who supported the U.S. - or who the U.S. supports - are being defined as terrorists themselves.

While the goal of stopping terrorists is vitally important, the amendments to the Patriot Act went too far. They now have the effect of denying protection to victims of terrorism and to allies of the United States.

Groups affected by this “material support” provision include, among others, Hmong and Montagnards who fought with the U.S. military during the Vietnam era.

Congress is considering legislation to amend these harsh and unfair provisions without weakening the anti-terrorism provisions of U.S. immigration law and without compromising U.S. security interests, but they need to hear from you.

You can help by writing to members of the Senate and the House of Representatives and urge them to fix the laws that are denying protection to thousands of refugees.

Protect Women from HIV!

The Hub — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:08:25 -0700

For four years now, the US global AIDS program has been required to spend a minimum of one-third of all funding for the prevention of HIV on abstinence-until-marriage programs that have been overwhelmingly rejected by the international public health community as ineffective. This requirement means that rather than funding comprehensive prevention programs that enable all people to make safe choices that reflect the reality of their lives, the US is funding ideologically driven programs that leave people at risk of HIV. These programs fail to address the critical factors—such as early marriage, violence against women and children, and lack of access to information, skills and tools to practice safer sex—that drive extremely high rates of infection among married women and adolescent girls throughout Africa, Asia, and Latin America.

The PATHWAY Act would both remove the one-third abstinence-until-marriage spending requirement (known as the "abstinence earmark") and require the US government to develop a comprehensive and integrated HIV prevention strategy that addresses the vulnerabilities of women and girls. Your Representative needs to hear from you about the PATHWAY Act today!

Protect Women Rights Defenders

The Hub — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 09:10:48 -0700

Around the world, women are promoting human rights as advocates, social workers, nurses, counselors, grassroots activists, journalists, teachers, and lawyers. Their activism is vital as they effectively advance the rights of all people by challenging inequality and repression. As women taking a leading role in human rights promotion they challenge traditional gender roles in patriarchal societies.

As a result, women human rights defenders are sometimes more vulnerable to hostility and reprisals than their male colleagues. They are targeted because of their gender and because of their work on women’s rights by government agents; non-state actors, such as organized crime rings, extremist religious groups, and paramilitary groups; community members, including religious leaders; and family members. Speaking out against abuses of women’s rights, they often challenge ingrained cultural beliefs and attitudes about the role of women in their societies. Because the changing role of women is often highly contested within societies, when women take action to defend their rights, they may be perceived as a threat to social stability and the status quo.

As a result, women human rights defenders are subjected to gender-specific threats and attacks that include:

* Sexual harassment and violence, including rape
* Specific forms of torture, including forced psychiatric treatment
* Physical abuse, including beatings, disfiguration, and murder
* Threats of divorce or disownment
* Discrimination, including by male human rights defenders
* Verbal abuse, including use of the term “feminist” in a derogatory sense
* Sexuality baiting: attacking a woman defender’s reputation by using the most pejorative labels available, such as "whore"

Verbal abuse of women defenders is widespread and can seriously impede women’s ability to continue their work. Often more difficult to document and prove, verbal harassment typically goes unreported, uninvestigated, and unpunished. But the devastating impact of verbal abuse and threats should not be minimized.

Another form of gender-specific intimidation includes the targeting of women activists’ children and families as a way to exert additional pressure to stop their human rights work. Colombian human rights defender Soraya Gutierrez Arguello, for example, received a package containing a decapitated doll whose body had been quartered, burned in several areas, and covered in red nail polish to make it appear bloodied. An attached handwritten note read: “You have a lovely family. Look after them, don’t sacrifice them.”

Lesbian and gay rights activists may face particularly harsh treatment. In September 2004, Fannyann Eddy, a lesbian rights activist in Sierra Leone, was brutally raped and murdered in her office; police have not classified the attack as a hate crime. In some countries, the human rights and women’s movement have difficulty accepting lesbian activists, leaving them exceptionally vulnerable to attack.

In addition, women human rights defenders are not immune to the threats their male colleagues face, and the impact of these attacks can be greater for women defenders. For example, after receiving death threats, women defenders have described greater difficulty relocating to safer environments due to their familial responsibilities.

Important steps are now being taken by human rights and development organizations around the world to recognize and protect women human rights defenders. A global campaign called Defending Women Defending Rights was initiated in 2003, and culminated in the International Consultation on Women Human Rights Defenders, held in Colombo, Sri Lanka, in late 2005.

The campaign advocates for:

* Recognition of women human rights defenders for the critical work they do to further human rights and treatment of them as equal partners and leaders in the defense and promotion of human rights;
* Acknowledgment and understanding of the gender-specific concerns of women human rights defenders;
* Protection of all women human rights defenders in accordance with the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and other international instruments and mechanisms.

Refugee and Migratory Movements Research Unit

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:09:30 -0700

Refugee Law Project

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 10:30:54 -0700

The Refugee Law Project (RLP) was established in November 1999 as an autonomous project within the Faculty of Law of Makerere University in Uganda, with the aim of protecting and promoting refugees' rights. Since then we have grown rapidly and become an important resource for refugees and asylum seekers in Uganda. We seek to combine this direct service provision with research and advocacy as well as with education and training of other stakeholders. Through this combination of activities we have rapidly gained a national and international reputation as a critical and independent voice on matters relating to refugees and IDPs, as well as associated questions of conflict and transitional justice in Uganda.

The RLP is now made up of three departments and a staff of around 30, depending on the number of volunteers and interns. We seek to work in such a way that the activities of each department are complementary to and in synergy with those of the others, thus maximising the possibility of effective, targeted actions. For example, through its direct service provision to refugees the Legal Aid & Counselling Clinic might receive information that refugees in a certain area not being treated fairly according to their rights. The Research & Advocacy Department would then visit the camp to examine the situation and determine the necessary actions to take. After an evaluation, the Education & Training Department could be called upon to conduct trainings to camp administrators to work through issues related to the rights of refugees or more progressive interpretations of existing laws. At each stage, the flow of information between departments allows the RLP to take coherent, concrete steps to help improve the lives of displaced persons in Uganda.

Shell on Trial: Human Rights & Oil

Caitlin Clay — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 08:37:02 -0800

In 1995 Ken Saro-Wiwa - a non-violent activist who fought against the environmental destruction caused by Shell's oil drilling in the Niger Delta and for a more equal share in the wealth produced from the oil for his people - was tried and hung by the Nigerian government in a trial internationally condemned as a sham. Since 1996 Saro-Wiwa's family have been suing Shell Oil for its alleged collusion with the Nigerian government. This trial is scheduled to start in New York City on May 27, 2009. This group follows the trial and gives background information on the conditions caused by oil drilling in Nigeria.

Small Places Tour

chloe — Wed, 25 Jun 2008 09:58:24 -0700

The following are just a few of the ways artists and bands can become involved with the Small Places Tour and the work of Amnesty International. Nothing is too great or too small. We just ask that you get involved:

• Designate a concert (or concerts) as a Small Places Tour event
• Donate all the proceeds from a concert
• Take part performing in a major Amnesty Hub Concert around the world
• Contact and recruit other artists to participate in Small Places events
• Auction off life experience events (have lunch with, get a guitar lesson from, win a pre-show sound check/acoustic performance for you and your friends, be band’s live photographer, etc.)
• Auction off one of a kind items (autographed set lists, autographed guitar/drum heads,etc from actual gigs, handwritten lyrics, personalized gold/platinum record awards
• Auction off meet & greets in each city of their tour
• Auction off premium seats for concerts during their fall tour
• Designate a single, live tracks, non-LP track or a collection of bonus tracks exclusive to Amnesty and donate the proceeds from any downloads of the song(s).
• Booths / tables at concerts and festivals. While this won’t raise immediate money it will help annual membership drive numbers.
• Website links and banner ads from the artists’ website myspace pages to the Amnesty site.
• Promote the UDHR 60th Anniversary & Amnesty campaigns in blogs and urge fans to sign-up.

Speak Africa

Bukeni Waruzi — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 00:00:00 -0700

African Youth gathered under "Speak Africa" to mobilize their energy and resources for an effective advocacy and activism to speak out on issues harming Africa where young people are the main victims: Corruption, HIV/AIDS, Unemployment, Sexual violence, Armed conflicts, Freedom of expression, etc.

Speak Africa is organizing a training on Advocacy and Activism in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, from August 22-26. Participants are from Angola, Ghana, Egypt, Ethiopia, Mozambique and Somalia. They're young people whose age is ranged between 15-25.

They're learning advocacy strategies and activism. Most of them are young journalists, advocates and activists.

Trainers are from WITNESS, YMCA, BBC-WA and AUFCC.

Stop Cluster Munitions

The Hub — Wed, 24 Oct 2007 08:40:13 -0700

Cluster munitions are weapons that include cargo containers and submunitions. The cargo containers are fired, launched or dropped by aircraft or land-based artillery. The containers open over a target area and disperse large numbers of the submunitions that are designed to explode when they hit the target. Most of these submunitions are fragmentation weapons that include a shaped charge so that they are effective against soldiers as well as armoured vehicles. The vast majority of cluster munitions contain hundreds of submunitions that are unguided and that cover one square kilometre with explosions and shrapnel.

Cluster munitions pose a problem for civilians during attacks because they cover such a wide area with explosions and shrapnel. The ‘footprint’ of a cluster munition can be one square kilometre. This means that when they are used in or near populated areas they cannot distinguish between military targets and civilians located within that footprint. Most modern conflicts have involved considerable fighting within urban settings. Most modern military forces include cluster munitions as a major component of their war fighting strategy. This means that cluster munitions are likely to cause serious problems for civilians during future conflicts.

This is not the only problem cluster munitions pose. Because of the large number of submunitions in each weapon as well as the number of submunitions that fail to explode as intended, areas bombarded with cluster munitions become contaminated with unexploded ordnance. These unexploded submunitions can explode when children pick them up and play with them, they can explode when people hit them with a tool while farming and sometimes they are sensitive enough to function like a landmine. The presence of such unexploded submunitions puts lives and livelihoods at risk for a long time after a conflict.

No treaty covers cluster munitions specifically. Other weapons with indiscriminate effects, such as landmines and firebombs, are the subject of specific rules that complement and reinforce the general rules of international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflict. Because of their wide area effects and the large numbers of unexploded ordnance they leave after a conflict, many groups, such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, have called for specific rules on cluster munitions.

Most countries have strongly opposed the development of new rules on cluster munitions because they say the existing rules are enough. However, if international humanitarian law is adequate and armed forces are implementing it then why is there such a humanitarian impact of cluster munitions whenever and wherever they are used? NGOs have argued that if you’ve got a problem and you have a law that is supposed to stop it, but you still have a problem then something is either wrong with the law or wrong with the implementation of the law.

In any case, new rules on cluster munitions would reinforce the existing rules that apply to all weapons. Cluster munitions pose specifc problems under the following three rules of customary international humanitarian law to which all parties to all conflicts must adhere:

Distinction – this rule prohibits indiscriminate attacks. Indiscriminate attacks are attacks that are not directed at a specific military objective; attacks that use weapons that cannot be directed at a specific military objective; and attacks that use weapons whose effects cannot be limited and that strike civilian as well as military objectives. Indiscriminate attacks are also attacks that treat distinct military targets located in populated areas as one target, the clear example being the carpet-bombing of large cities during WWII.

Proportionality – this rule means that the concrete military advantage gained from an attack must be greater than the damage to civilians foreseeable at the time of the attack. It is a complicated rule that is interpreted differently by different armed forces.

Feasible precautions – this rule means that all feasible precautions must be taken to minimise incidental loss of civilian life, injury to civilians and damage to civilian objects. This includes warning civilians about the threat of unexploded submunitions.

STOP ELDER ABUSE AND GUARDIANSHIP ABUSE

stopelderabuse — Thu, 21 May 2009 15:49:43 -0700

We are Elder Abuse Victim's Advocates - Our Elderly and Vulnerable Citizens are falling victim to abuse and financial exploitation and the systems set up to protect them are not working. In fact, under guardianship, perpetrators are abusing the elderly and exploiting their estates after all their rights are taken away from them and they cannot defend themselves. We are working for National Oversight and Reform of the systems that should be protecting the vulnerable and are not and for National Reform of the gaurdianship system to prevent the exploitation of the elderly and the abuse of them and their families.

Students for a Free Tibet (SFT)

sftwitness — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 09:30:22 -0700

Students for a Free Tibet (SFT) works in solidarity with the Tibetan people in their struggle for freedom and independence. We are a chapter-based network of young people and activists around the world. Through education, grassroots organizing, and non-violent direct action, we campaign for Tibetans’ fundamental right to political freedom. Our role is to empower and train youth as leaders in the worldwide movement for social justice.

Students For A Free Tibet India

Shibayan — Tue, 26 May 2009 04:25:07 -0700

Students for a Free Tibet, India (SFT India) is the India National Network of Students for a Free Tibet International, which has over 650 chapters in more than 35 countries. We are a Non-Profit Organization funded entirely by our members and supporters.

Founded in the year 2000 from a very humble beginning as a loose network of few young activists and students based in Dharamshala campaigning for Tibet’s Independence, SFT India has grown as nation-wide network of youth, campaigning for the Fundamental Rights of the Tibetan people, and we are still growing. It is from our grassroots network that we gain our strength.

To ensure the effectiveness of our grassroots network, we create awareness and sensitize the world on the just cause of Tibet. We believe that young people can and must take responsibility to change our world for the better.

Sudan: The Challenges of Peace

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:52:01 -0800

While the conflict in Sudan’s western region of Darfur continues to rage, there are more hopeful signs for peace in the South and East of the country after the signing of two landmark peace agreements.

The first of these, the ‘Comprehensive Peace Agreement’ (CPA), was signed on 9 January 2005 between the Government of Sudan and the southern-based Sudan People's Liberation Movement, formally ending one of Africa’s longest and bloodiest conflicts in which more than 2 million people are estimated to have died.

Meanwhile, the ‘East Sudan Peace Agreement’ was signed in October 2006 between the Government of Sudan and the East Sudan Front, marking the end of a low-level insurgency that has simmered since the early 1990s.

It is hoped that both of these agreements will help bring peace, security and long-term development to some of Sudan’s poorest and most troubled regions.

Plenty of challenges remain before these goals can be achieved. The implementation of the CPA has slipped heavily behind schedule. Huge efforts are required to support the millions of refugees and internally displaced that are planning to return home to the South. Many of the areas of return have been marginalized for years and there is a lack of even the most basic health and education facilities.

Take Action: help Iraqi Refugees

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:52:58 -0800

More than two million refugees from Iraq have fled to neighboring countries, mostly in Jordan and Syria. Another two million Iraqis are displaced within Iraq due to violence and persecution. The needs of these uprooted people are enormous.

Many fleeing Iraqis have no legal status in nearby countries and desperately need our help. Inside Iraq they need food, medicine, jobs, and a safe place to live.

The U.S. has a special responsibility to protect and assist these Iraqis. More Iraqi refugees should be allowed to resettle in the U.S. -- especially if they are at risk because they worked for Americans or they belong to religious, ethnic, or other persecuted groups. Also members of female-headed households, unaccompanied children, and refugees that have close family members in the U.S. should have the opportunity to apply for resettlement.

While resettlement in the U.S. will be available for only a tiny fraction of vulnerable Iraqis, coming to the U.S. may save their lives and give them and their families a future. The U.S. should also help other countries keep their doors open to Iraqi refugees fleeing persecution and violence by sending more lifesaving assistance.

The U.S. Senate has recently approved the "Refugee Crisis in Iraq Act" as an amendment to the Defense Authorization bill. This important bill provides for admission to the U.S. of many vulnerable Iraqis - including those targeted because of their association with the U.S. - and calls for more protection and aid for Iraqis that have been displaced. The next step for this bill is a conference between key Senators and Representatives.

Please urge your Senators and Representatives to support the Senate-passed provision on Iraqi refugees that is part of the Defense Authorization bill.

Take Action Now -- Click the Links Below

Teachers 4 Justice Now

jenisis — Wed, 20 May 2009 10:02:49 -0700

Through the use of mass media we inform the public about the Civil and Human Right violations presently being perpetuated in NYC's Rubber Rooms; the 13 temporary reassignment centers maintained by the NYC Department of Education.
Through the use of mass media we inform the public about the Civil and Human Right violations presently being perpetuated in NYC's Rubber Rooms; the 13 temporary reassignment centers maintained by the NYC Department of Education.
Teachers 4 Justice Now actively seeks financial support and other forms of help and publicity in order to provide a legal recourse in US Federal Court for the violation of our Constitutuional Rights and for confinement in unsafe Rubber Rooms

The Advocacy Project

theadvocacyproject — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 13:58:50 -0700

We believe that social change is best achieved by those who are most directly affected. Through AP's fellowship program, graduate students from North America and Europe, known as Peace Fellows, volunteer to work in the field with advocates in about 40 developing countries to strengthen their voices and develop effective advocacy tools.

The 1Sky Campaign

Oneskycampaign — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 07:23:48 -0700

Right now, across the country, scores of organizations, leaders and everyday citizens are ready to tackle global warming. The movement is building at an astonishing pace—but to bring about the truly revolutionary change that's needed, we have to come together.

1Sky was created in 2007 to focus the power of millions of concerned Americans on a single goal: bold federal action by 2010 that can reverse global warming. The 1Sky Solutions are grounded in scientific necessity—they are the bottom line of what's needed to dramatically reduce carbon emissions while maximizing energy efficiency, renewable energy and breakthrough technologies. They also represent significant economic promise. By pivoting to a clean energy economy, we can relieve our dependence on foreign oil, unlock the potential of sustainable industry and usher in a new era of prosperity and green jobs.

American citizens are building support for the 1Sky Solutions in key Congressional districts on a non-partisan basis, using cutting-edge communications, Internet and old-fashioned neighbor-to-neighbor outreach. To get our leaders to take action, the 1Sky community is bringing together an incredibly diverse range of individuals and organizations in a collaborative effort. With the help of many leaders and groups, 1Sky has already gained the support of elected officials, student and business groups, and faith-based institutions, as well as organizations focused on health, civil society and the environment—and now we need you.

Join us at www.1sky.org/join

The Asia Pacific Network of Sex Workers

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:54:12 -0700

The APNSW was formed in 1994 by members of some of Asia’s first organizations to work on health and human rights with sex workers, Empower Thailand, Sweetly Japan, Pink Triangle Malaysia, the Scarlet Alliance Australia and Sonagachi.

The Elders

Every Human Has Rights — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 12:54:09 -0800

We are moving to a global village and yet we don't have our global elders. The Elders can be a group who have the trust of the world, who can speak freely, be fiercely independent and respond fast and flexibly in conflict situations. The Elders are:

The Environmental Investigation Agency

Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:38:58 -0700

The EIA was established in 1984 to investigate, expose and campaign against the illegal trade in wildlife and the destruction of our natural environment.

Working undercover to expose international environmental crime -such as the illegal trade in wildlife, illegal logging and trade in timber species, and the world-wide trade in ozone depleting substances - EIA has directly brought about changes in international laws and the policies of governments, saving the lives of millions of rare and endangered animals and putting a stop to the devastating effects of environmental criminals.

EIA is a small organisation which relies on donations from the public, the support of our members, the efforts of volunteer fund-raisers and the support of charitable foundations. Yet our efforts have saved the lives of millions of animals.

EIA's focused and hard-hitting campaigns have made it one of the most successful conservation groups in the world.

Although ambitious, our campaigns and projects have defined and achievable goals to gain greater protection for wildlife and the environment. Our track record of undercover work, scientific documentation and representation at international conventions has earned EIA a world-wide reputation for highly effective and successful campaigning. We also continue to share these skills with local groups and government officials to help power them in the fight against environmental crime.

The Hub

The Hub — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 15:38:21 -0700

The Hub is a grassroots-driven, participatory media website that enables anyone anywhere in the world with access to the internet to upload, share, discuss and take action around human rights-related media and resources. Through the Hub, organizations, networks and groups around the world are able to bring their human rights stories and campaigns to global attention.

The Human Rights Centre

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 12:58:57 -0700

The Office of Justice and Peace (Sekretariat Keadilan dan Perdamaian/ SKP)

Ryan Schlief — Wed, 28 May 2008 13:35:34 -0700

SKP stands for Sekretariat Keadilan dan Perdamaian or the Office of Justice and Peace, an integral part of the Catholic Diocese of Jayapura in Papua, Indonesia. This office was established by the Bishop of Jayapura, Most Rev. Dr Leo Laba Ladjar OFM on 1 July 1998. Since 15 August 2005, the Diocese of Jayapura and the Franciscans Friars in Papua agreed to establish the Board of Founders to assume all responsibility of this ministry. This office focuses on five priorities including advocacy on the situation on human rights in Papua, research and documentation, inter-faith dialogue, peace and reconciliation and ecological justice.

Exposing human rights violations is just one side of the mission SKP stands for; another is the effort to look for solutions. It is our deep conviction that exposing problems/violations without a commitment to look for a solution is an odd activity and risks to be very counterproductive.

The Real News

Tina — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 16:24:54 -0700

The Real News will investigate, report and debate stories that help us understand the critical issues of our time.
We won't blindly follow wire services or official press releases that attempt to set the news agenda. We will cover the big stories of the day, but we will broaden the definition of what's important.

The movements for the rights of working people, women, children, immigrants, indigenous peoples, for freedom of religion and conscience, for moral and spiritual values and for peace and against racism are news. The health of our planet will be a story, day after day.

The Real News will give important stories the attention and sense of urgency they deserve.

The Victor Pineda Foundation

Hub Intern — Fri, 09 May 2008 07:24:07 -0700

Working with media and communications and empowering youth, the VPF hopes to achieve a world of inclusion and promote an understanding of the inherent dignity of all people.

Think Outside the Bottle

CorporateAccountabilityInternational — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 14:29:20 -0700

Think Outside the Bottle is a campaign working to promote, protect and ensure public funding for our public water systems. That means challenging corporations who undermine public confidence in tap water. It also means working with mayors, faith groups, restaurants, celebrities, campuses, and individuals to support public systems by opting for tap over bottled water.

Did you know?

*Seventy-four percent of Americans drink bottled water, and one in five drinks only bottled water.

*Worldwide, consumers spent $100 billion on bottled water in 2005.

*Each year more than 4 billion pounds of PET plastic bottles end up in landfills or as roadside litter.

*Making bottles to meet Americans’ demand for bottled water required the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil last year – enough fuel for more than 1 million U.S. cars for a year - and generated more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide.

learn more at www.StopCorporateAbuse.org

Torture and displacement in Northern Uganda

Wed, 05 Dec 2007 14:49:56 -0800

Two decades of armed conflict between the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) and the Ugandan government in the Northern Uganda, has caused some nearly two million civilians to be displaced from their homes. Ordered into so-called protected camps, Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) face heightened insecurity, appalling living conditions and the lack the means of subsistence. Abuses against these communities are rampant, the LRA has committed war crimes and gross violations of human rights including the abduction of over twenty thousand children, widespread maiming, rape and murder against the civilian population. These attacks have led to secondary displacement in which up to forty thousand children commute nightly from the camps to sleep in the relative safety of town centers.

While the LRA have been perpetrators of these crimes, the Ugandan People’s Defence Forces (UPDF), the national army, has also committed human rights violations against civilians that include arbitrary detention, extrajudicial killing, torture and rape. The UPDF whose mandate is to protect civilians, has not only failed to prevent attacks and abductions by the LRA, but has also perpetrated grave abuses against civilians in a climate of impunity.

Human Rights Focus (HURIFO) and WITNESS have collaborated on a video advocacy campaign to address the issue of torture and other cruel and degrading punishment committed against the IDP communities of Northern Uganda. Through the personal stories of torture survivors, the video advocates for official acknowledgement of these abuses, redress for torture victims, as well as implementation of legislative measures to strengthen national mechanisms against the use of torture. Please join us in this campaign to end torture against displaced persons by taking action.

TVEAP

TVEAP — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 23:19:36 -0700

TVE Asia Pacific: Moving images moving people

Television for Education -- Asia Pacific, trading as TVE Asia Pacific (TVEAP) taps the enormous power of moving images and digital media to communicate sustainable development and social issues. A regionally operating media foundation, it works closely with TV broadcasters, civil society groups and educational organisations in the Asia Pacific, home to half of humanity.

TVEAP supports Asian TV journalists and film-makers to tell their stories to local, regional and global audiences, while distributing independent video productions for education, awareness, advocacy and training. It also carries out media training, communication strategy preparation and media research.

Set up in 1996, TVEAP is a non-profit company in Sri Lanka governed by an international Board. Its educational work receives support from development donors, corporate sponsors and foundations but TVEAP content is produced on an editorially independent basis.

UDHR 60: What image opened your eyes to human rights?

Priscila Néri — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 07:14:34 -0800

WITNESS uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. Over the past 16 years, WITNESS has worked with thousands of human rights defenders and hundreds of groups in over 70 countries to empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change. Learn more about our work and see how we've helped to advance human rights here.

Uncensored Interview

Uncensored Interview — Mon, 15 Dec 2008 12:10:16 -0800

Much as WITNESS uses video and online technologies to open the world's eyes to human-rights violations, Uncensored Interview utilizes the same medium to access and promote a musician's point of view. Uncensored Interview is committed to being a resource for bands and artists, conscientious music fans and cultural activists to meaningfully engage about issues that impact them and the world. Each video serves as a building block towards constructing a greater dialogue within the online community, all with the goal of using emerging distribution outlets to engross, educate and spread awareness.

UNHCR - RLO

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:05:42 -0700

The UNHCR Regional Liaison Office for Africa (RLO) was opened in Addis Ababa in 1966 in order to establish strong relations with the then new Organization of African Unity and other international organizations based in Ethiopia. In 1969, UNHCR concluded a cooperation agreement with the OAU providing for mutual consultations on matters of common interest concerning refugees in Africa. More than forty years of partnership with the African Union has helped UNHCR to strengthen its collaboration with all members of the AU and more effectively address the problem of refugees in the continent.

Immediately after RLO’s establishment refugees starting coming to Ethiopia and the new office had to take on two major roles – the protection and assistance of refugees in Ethiopia on the one hand and its originally envisaged role of regional liaison. The office carries out these dual roles to this date. During the past four decades the office, in collaboration with the Ethiopian Government and other local and international partners, has assisted hundreds of thousands of refugees from Somalia, Sudan and other countries of origin. Today, Ethiopia hosts some 90,000 refugees from Sudan, Somalia, Eritrea in camps around the country and a smaller number of urban refugees from several other countries in the capital, Addis Ababa.

UNICEF - Kosovo

Ryan Schlief — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:12:09 -0700

Universal Action Now: AIDS Conference 2008 and Moving Forward!

Bukeni Waruzi — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 11:49:11 -0700

Part of the Cultural Programme for the AIDS2008 conference - an opportunity for the global activist/cultural community (including those who are unable to attend the conference) to participate in building a kaleidoscopic picture of human rights-based HIV/AIDS activism and media-making around the world.

WITNESS is a human rights organization that uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. As part of the AIDS 2008 conference, this Hub group has been created to draw on the power of media to advocate for an effective universal action against the contemporary human rights crisis: HIV/AIDS.

Countries have committed to fight this pandemic, they have listed it as one of the millennium development goals; to date nothing has been achieved, the spread of the virus is continuing and millions of infected people, all categories, are dying every day. The time has come to deliver treatment for all, to implement effective policies and to allocate enough resources to fight the pandemic.

US Campaign for Burma

BurmaCampaign — Mon, 10 Dec 2007 10:14:15 -0800

The United States Campaign for Burma is a U.S.-based membership organization dedicated to empowering grassroots activists around the world to bring about an end to the military dictatorship in Burma.

Through public education, leadership development initiatives, conferences, and advocacy campaigns at local, national and international levels, USCB works to empower Americans and Burmese dissidents-in-exile to promote freedom, democracy, and human rights in Burma and raise awareness about the egregious human rights violations committed by Burma’s military regime.

The leadership of USCB is comprised of seasoned human rights advocates, with experience both inside and outside the U.S. government. The board and staff, which include former Congressional staff, former Burmese political prisoners, and experienced advocates, are dedicated to increasing the profile of Burma and seeking solutions to the country’s decades-long conflict. The core strength of USCB — individual members, community chapters, student chapters, and affiliates across the United States — is Americans and Burmese dissidents-in-exile.

West Africa: On the Edge of Hope

The Hub — Thu, 18 Oct 2007 13:26:54 -0700

Over the past 16 years, spillover conflicts in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast have resulted in hundreds of thousands of deaths and uprooted millions of people across West Africa.

Although the fighting has eased and there is now an atmosphere of hope – particularly in newly democratic Liberia, which recently elected Africa’s first female head of state – the security situation remains fragile.

West Africa has been one of the world’s worst hot spots for the horrific practice of recruitment of children as soldiers. More than 8,000 children are still on the frontlines. The region’s drawn-out conflicts have kept most children out of school but now efforts directed at educating West Africa’s future leaders present a real opportunity for hope.

For more information contact Shannon Meehan (shannon.meehan@theIRC.org) in Washington, DC or Gerald Martone (gerald.martone@theIRC.org) in New York.

WITNESS

Chris Michael — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 11:46:13 -0700

WITNESS uses video and online technologies to open the eyes of the world to human rights violations. We empower people to transform personal stories of abuse into powerful tools for justice, promoting public engagement and policy change.

WITNESS was founded in 1992 by musician and activist Peter Gabriel and the Reebok Human Rights Foundation as a project of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (now Human Rights First). In 1988, Peter was part of Amnesty International’s Human Rights Now! Tour. He was struck by the stories he heard from survivors of human rights abuses and the lack of attention these stories received. Peter had brought along one of the first camcorder models and realized the potential of video as a tool against abuse; he noted that perpetrators of abuses were often brought to justice when photographic or video evidence of abuses existed.

In 1992, not long after video of Rodney King being assaulted by four Los Angeles police officers catalyzed interest in the use of video for concrete human rights change, WITNESS was born. Today, WITNESS is an independent nonprofit organization with offices in Brooklyn, New York, and human rights partners based around the world.

WITNESS partners fight for the rights of indigenous people, for an end to systemic gender violence and the use of children as soldiers, and for environmental protection where human communities are at stake. We work with diverse groups from all over the world, carefully selecting our partners based on the strength of their human rights work, the clarity of their mission, and the ability of video to enhance their campaigns. We make sure their voices are heard. Even more important, we help empower them by mobilizing a response to right the wrongs they document.

WITNESS is much more than a provider of technology. We know that images are important, but footage alone is not enough to stop human rights violations. WITNESS makes a difference because we train our partners to turn compelling testimony and images into powerful human stories and strategic advocacy campaigns that make a difference.

WITNESS videos have been used:
• to promote grassroots education and mobilization
• to corroborate allegations of human rights violations
• as a resource for news broadcasts
• to catalyze human rights advocacy via the worldwide web
• as evidence in court and quasi-judicial hearings
• to complement official written reports of human rights abuses
• as a deterrent to further abuse

WITNESS partner footage has appeared on major networks around the world, including CNN, ABC, CBS, PBS, and BBC. It is carried by satellite networks and film distribution companies and is frequently featured in film festivals worldwide. WITNESS also organizes like-minded coalitions to create powerful, wide-reaching campaigns. This approach enables many of WITNESS' videos to have an impact far beyond the modest resources we can provide.

WITNESS works with human rights groups through two initiatives: Core Partnerships, which are intensive 2-3 year collaborations built around specific issues, and the broader Seeding Video Advocacy initiative which consists of shorter term trainings conducted worldwide.

Making a difference

WITNESS Core Partner campaigns have achieved impressive successes in challenging policies and practices. Following are some recent examples:

* In the Democratic Republic of Congo: On March 23, 2006, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was arrested by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes, namely enlisting and conscripting child soldiers. The arrest warrant follows a major advocacy drive by partner AJEDI-Ka/PES including video distribution and screenings to key ICC officials.

* In the U.S.: The State Senate Majority Leader in California introduced sweeping legislation to overhaul the State’s juvenile prison system five days after “System Failure” by partner Books Not Bars revealing rampant abuses in the system was screened at the Capitol.

* In Senegal: The Minister of Women’s and Family Affairs pledged unprecedented funding for women landmine victims, and a regional hospital is providing prostheses free-of-charge as a result of a video by partner RADDHO revealing the devastating effects of these weapons of war.

* In Mexico: Days after partner ComisiÃ³n Mexicana screened “Dual Injustice” to court and Attorney General officials at the Chihuahua State level, high ranking officials were quoted in a leading national newspaper as saying the Public Ministry may drop charges against a young man tortured into confessing to the murder of his cousin, citing lack of evidence as the reason.

* In Sierra Leone: WITNESS partnered with the International Center for Transitional Justice to support local NGOs in Sierra Leone to develop and introduce a bill in Parliament that would implement all the key imperative recommendations issued by the country’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

For more information on our work, please see http://www.witness.org

WITNESS Media Archive

WITNESS Media Archive — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:08:32 -0700

The video collection comprises over 3000 hours of video from human rights defenders around the world. Footage includes witnes and victim testimonies, abuses caught on tape, interviews with key human rights defenders, evidentiary submissions, and footage of cultural events and daily life.

WomenLEAD

Ryan Schlief — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 08:21:58 -0700

Womenlead was founded on June 12, 2000 by nine feminist advocates with backgrounds in the fields of law and the social sciences. It was incorporated in August 24, 2000 at the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Womenlead is an organization by women for women.