DOCSLIB.ORG

Summer Newsletter 2012

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Summer Newsletter 2012 Summer 2012 Let’s Network! Hero’s daughter visits Oxford House Members who have visited the ZA office will Like Zimbabwe know that just along the passage is the Oxford Association on House chapel, a beautiful wood-panelled room Facebook and Join that in past times was regularly used for prayer and worship and today is also used for commu- in our debates nity events and activities. On the wall of the chapel are several plaques to past wardens of Oxford House, founded in 1884 as a Church of England university settlement. One of these is dedicated to Guy Clutton-Brock and his wife Molly, who took over Oxford House in 1940 and ran it through years of World War II. Their doors were open to all as a refuge from the bombing of London and the stress of the conflict. Friday 18 May saw the launch of ZA’s new cultural platform Sally Clutton-Brock, now Sally Roschnik, was Zimbabwe Unwound: A project creat ing non partisan and Guy and Molly’s only child, born and brought up empowering platforms for Zimbabwean Refugees and the wider in Oxford House before the family moved to community. Zimbabwe, then Rhodesia, and founded the non- Truly fantastic music from Mashasha and Sam, plus some racial co-operative, Cold Comfort Farm. They striking poems from Kennedy Madhorimbo, and Vivian Mara- lived in Zimbabwe until Guy was stripped of his vanyika taking us down memory lane with a DJ set of Zimbab- citizenship and deported by Ian Smith. After his wean Classical music made for a really memorable evening. death in 1995, he was declared a national hero of Great dance moves from unexpected people! Thanks to all who Zimbabwe . came and shared the fun, and thanks to Louisa, Aivet and other volunteers for their help. ( see photos on back page ) On 15 May, the ZA was delighted to welcome Sally Roschnik to Oxford House, and thrilled to discover that our office is probably located in what was at one time their family’s bathroom, in the flat that they lived in next to the chapel. Guy and Molly were always full of hope based on belief and trust in the people that they lived and worked among, in the East End of London and in Zimbabwe. It’s an inspiration to think that we are ZA Team in Paris, now running our office from the place where they France to attend once soaked away the strains of the day. We the Zimbabwe look forward to keeping in touch with Sally and through her with Molly, who celebrated her 100 th Europe Network birthday in February this year. Conference and Annual General Meeting with Zimbabwean civil society organisa- tions. Mandla enjoying the 1 June RefuTea at Refugee Council Let’s network 2012 Summer 1 Let’s Network! Join WOZA’s Jenni Williams wins Amnesty Terry Ranger’s Acknowledgement International award speech to Zimbabwe Achievers Award, http://www.swradioafrica.com 5 May 2012 Do you want to be a Tichaona Sibanda—04 April 2012 (on being given an award for the non-Zimbabwean who has contributed most to Zimbabwe ) member of Madam Chair and Comrades Zimbabwe I apologise for not being here tonight to receive this Association? award. It is too late in two senses – one that I am 82 and unlike the Great Leader unable to run – and the other that If you want to become a the event is taking place too late in the evening for me to member of Zimbabwe manage it. I am all the more sorry because this award Association, you can visit means a great deal to me. Ever since I first went to Zim- babwe in 1957 I have loved it deeply and tried to serve its our website people in any way I can. www.zimbabweassociation The 2012 Ginetta Sagan Amnesty International USA award has been given to WOZA founder and na- In fact when Judy Todd heard of the award she wrote .org.uk and download a tional coordinator Jenni Williams. to say it was unfair because I am not really a non- membership form. Send Zimbabwean. What I really am is a failed citizen. I applied for citizenship as long ago as 1959, when entitlement Williams becomes the second Zimbabwean woman the form to the address on was controlled by the Federal Government, but was re- to receive the award in four years. Girl Child Network the form with the correct fused. This enabled that Government to declare me a founder, Betty Makoni won it in 2008 for her work in Prohibited Immigrant in 1963. After 1980 I would have membership fee. training girls to succeed in school, thrive in the home applied for Zimbabwean citizenship had it been possible If you need more info on and society and resist sexual abuse and rape. to hold dual nationality but I had grown fond, as well as ashamed, of being British. Zimbabwean citizenship would how to become a member Amnesty International says winners of the award are have greatly simplified my life because I would not then please do call us on recognised for their work to protect the liberty and have needed to apply so many times for research lives of women and children in areas where human clearance to work in the National Archives! 02077398226 between rights violations are widespread. 10am & 4pm But I am proud to be in the company of other non- citizens – of Guy Clutton-Brock, whose citizenship was The award carries a grant of $10,000 and is named rescinded in order that he could be deported; of Garfield If you want to be after Ginetta Sagan, a former honorary Chair of the and Judith Todd who were stripped of citizenship on Board of Directors of Amnesty International USA, the spurious grounds that they could have applied for actively involved ask for who devoted her life to defending the rights of those New Zealand passports; even my great friend, Yvonne a volunteer registration who were unfairly persecuted by repressive govern- Vera, whose Zimbabwean passport was taken from her at ments. Bulawayo airport when she flew to Canada for desper- form. ately needed medical treatment. Guy is buried at Heroes Acre; soon after he was stripped of his citizenship and You can be active from Since 2003 Williams has led peaceful protests in- right to vote, Garfield Todd died and the regime wanted wherever you are: volving thousands of women and men, and they him too to be buried there; Zimbabwe is not ashamed to have all endured harassment, arrests and violence Lobbying claim Yvonne as one of its greatest writers. These are for demanding social and political reforms in Zim- very distinguished failed citizens. Writing for the babwe under the brutal rule of Robert Mugabe. newsletter At the moment I have almost finished my ninth book WOZA also encourages women and men to speak about Zimbabwe’s history. This is a memoir of my first ten out about issues they may be too fearful to raise years in Africa, 1957-1967, and will be entitled Writing alone, including domestic violence and rape. Revolt, meaning both recording the African revolt This year’s annual gen- A statement from Amnesty International said WOZA of those years and explaining how I came to write Revolt eral meeting will be has inspired tens of thousands of women and men to in Southern Rhodesia, 1996-7. Writing it has reminded special as the Zim- stand up for their rights to free speech and assembly me how I literally grew up in Zimbabwe; learnt to be brave; learnt to be engaged in great causes. It brings babwe Association will and the fulfillment of basic needs like food and edu- back to me all the heroic dead – my dear friend Sketchley be commemorating ten cation. Samkange, Leopold Takawira, Herbert Chitepo, Maurice years of hard work and Nyagumbo. If only some of them could have been here ten years of achieve- The statement went on to say: ‘In nearly a decade of tonight. ment. struggle and hundreds of protests, more than 3,000 All members and sup- WOZA supporters have spent time in police custody. So I have written all these books; founded the Britain porters are invited to Williams herself has been arrested 40 times includ- Zimbabwe Society; produced almost 300 asylum reports this event. We are going ing most recently in February during a demonstration and acted as chief witness at the key country judgements. I hope to go on doing what I can. This evening shows to have a choir and to mark WOZA’s 10th anniversary. She has been that even at 82 my contribution is still valued. For that other surprises. beaten, imprisoned without food or medical supplies thank you very much. and threatened with execution.’ Let’s network 2012 Summer 2 Kenya Airways - unwritten DO YOUR CHILDREN policy not to carry forced HAVE PROBLEMS AC- OPEN TUESDAYS removees CESSING HIGHER LEVEL The ZA office aims to be open on An increasing number of people who EDUCATION? IF SO, Tuesdays for members to drop in and have phoned Kenya Airway's to try PLEASE LET US KNOW . catch up on the latest news from Zim- and stay a removal have been told babwe; meet other members; make use the following! of the office facilities; brush up on com- puter skills; discuss volunteering oppor- When the Home Office serves re- Refugees with 5 year leave tunities; plan projects; use the ZA library moval directions on Kenya Airway's in to remain route to settlement Get involved! But call first ..
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Last Chapter of the Vietnam War: Normalization, Nongovernmental Actors and the Politics of Human Rights, 1975-1995
    University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Doctoral Dissertations Student Scholarship Spring 2017 The Last Chapter of the Vietnam War: Normalization, Nongovernmental Actors and the Politics of Human Rights, 1975-1995 Amanda C. Demmer University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation Recommended Citation Demmer, Amanda C., "The Last Chapter of the Vietnam War: Normalization, Nongovernmental Actors and the Politics of Human Rights, 1975-1995" (2017). Doctoral Dissertations. 153. https://scholars.unh.edu/dissertation/153 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Doctoral Dissertations by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. THE LAST CHAPTER OF THE VIETNAM WAR: NORMALIZATION, NONGOVERNMENTAL ACTORS AND THE POLITICS OF HUMAN RIGHTS, 1975-1995 BY AMANDA C. DEMMER B.A., State University of New York at Fredonia, 2010 M.A., University of New Hampshire, 2012 DISSERTATION Submitted to the University of New Hampshire in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History May, 2017 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2017 Amanda C. Demmer ii This dissertation has been examined and approved in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. in History by: Dissertation Director, Kurkpatrick Dorsey, Professor of History and History Graduate Program Director Lucy E. Salyer, Associate Professor of History Jessica M. Lepler, Associate Professor of History Lien-Hang T.
    [Show full text]
  • Download PDF File
    from the 33rd Annual Camden Conference The Media Revolution: Changing the World Nicco Mele , Nic Newman , Joshua Tucker , Jeff Jarvis , Courtney Radsch , Maria Ressa , Lydia Cacho Ribeiro , Jason Rezaian, Yeganeh Rezaian, Kathleen Hall Jamieson, David Brancaccio 2020 BOARD OF DIRECTORS Matthew Storin, President Karin Look, Vice President Don Abbott, Treasurer Wayne Hobson, Secretary John Doughty Peter Fitzgerald James Hengerer Peter Imber Elaine Keyes Eric Lebson Emily Lusher Merlin Miller Jane Nyce Sandra Ruch Charlotte Singleton Ward Wickwire About the Camden Conference ow in its 33rd year, this midwinter event in Midcoast Maine is routinely cited ADVISORY COUNCIL as an outstanding example of civic engagement, as it brings in experts from Richard Anderson Naround the world to discuss and debate issues of international import. This David Babski past February, speaker Kathleen Hall Jamieson of the University of Pennsylvania Ann Beaudry hailed the Camden Conference as “democratic engagement in action.” John Bird The three-day event plays out before a capacity audience in the beautiful Camden Bruce Cole Opera House and is live-streamed to locations in Portland, Belfast, and Rockland, as John Davidson well as Hanover, N.H. Each of the Maine locations includes a contingent of students Thomas M. Deford from high schools and colleges throughout the state, who study the topic as part of Leslie Fillnow their curriculum in the months prior. Additional social and substantive activities are Will Galloway planned for those students in the various locations over the course of the weekend. Charlie Graham The Camden Conference is primarily a volunteer organization with just two paid Kathleen Hirsch staff members.
    [Show full text]
  • Taking Better Account: Contemporary Slavery, Gendered Narratives, and the Feminization of Struggle
    Samuel Martı´nez Taking Better Account: Contemporary Slavery, Gendered Narratives, and the Feminization of Struggle Women are taking leading roles in redefining social concepts and global policy issues in areas such as development, democracy, human rights, world security, and the environment. This means not just looking at what have been called ‘‘women’s issues’’—a ghetto, or separate sphere that remains on the margins of society—but rather moving women from the margins to the center by questioning the most fundamental concepts of our social order so that they take better account of women’s lives.1 Not just ‘‘victims’’ but perpetrators and responders, too, are characters whose stories and personal details convey the gendered character of human rights reporting. Accepting this fact and considering that male responders and perpetrators feature in human rights narratives more often than female, it also follows that male as well as female gender constructs are encoded in human rights narratives. These prin- ciples—that gender is a salient dimension of the construction of all three figures in Makau Mutua’s triumvirate of ‘‘saint, savage and victim,’’ and that preconceptions about masculinity as well as femininity give texture and emotional depth to human rights representations—are the starting point for my reading of the gender of human rights narratives.2 A feminist reading, following Charlotte Bunch’s words in the epigraph, means not just looking at ‘‘women’s issues’’ but questioning fundamental aspects of the social order. Are there aspects of the global social order that, when taken for granted within human rights discourse, work in tandem with assumed aspects of small-scale social orders to relegate women and derogated minorities to silence and passivity? I present evidence that such exclusionary effects are real but operate subtly—blanket critique of human rights is not what I seek and it is not my point to style human rights the handmaiden of a new imperialism.
    [Show full text]
  • ZIMBABWE COUNTRY of ORIGIN INFORMATION (COI) REPORT COI Service
    ZIMBABWE COUNTRY OF ORIGIN INFORMATION (COI) REPORT COI Service 25 March 2011 ZIMBABWE 25 MARCH 2011 Contents Preface Latest News EVENTS IN ZIMBABWE FROM 22 FEBRUARY 2011 TO 24 MARCH 2011 Useful news sources for further information REPORTS ON ZIMBABWE PUBLISHED OR ACCESSED BETWEEN 22 FEBRUARY 2011 AND 24 MARCH 2011 Paragraphs Background Information 1. GEOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 1.01 Public holidays ..................................................................................................... 1.06 Map ........................................................................................................................ 1.07 2. ECONOMY ................................................................................................................ 2.01 Remittances .......................................................................................................... 2.06 Sanctions .............................................................................................................. 2.08 3. HISTORY (19TH CENTURY TO 2008)............................................................................. 3.01 Matabeleland massacres 1983 - 87 ..................................................................... 3.03 Political events: late 1980s - 2007...................................................................... 3.06 Events in 2008 - 2010 ........................................................................................... 3.23
    [Show full text]
  • Amnesty International, Human Rights & U.S. Policy
    AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL, HUMAN RIGHTS & U.S. POLICY Maria Baldwin A Dissertation Submitted to the Graduate College of Bowling Green State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY December 2006 Committee: Gary R. Hess, Advisor Franklin W. Goza Graduate Faculty Representative Robert Buffington Douglas Forsyth ii ABSTRACT Gary R. Hess, Advisor This dissertation assesses Amnesty International’s ability to influence U.S. foreign policy through an examination of its human rights campaigns in three different nations—Guatemala, the United States and the People’s Republic of China. While these nations are quite different from one another, according to Amnesty International they share an important characteristic; each nation has violated their citizens’ human rights. Sometimes the human rights violations, which provoked Amnesty International’s involvement occurred on a large scale; such as the “disappearances” connected with Guatemala’s long civil war or the imprisonment of political dissidents in the PRC. Other times the human rights violations that spurred Amnesty International’s involvement occurred on a smaller-scale but still undermined the Universal Declaration of Human Rights; such as the United States use of capital punishment. During the Guatemalan and Chinese campaigns Amnesty International attempted to influence the United States relations with these countries by pressuring U.S. policymakers to construct foreign policies that reflected a grave concern for institutionalized human rights abuse and demanded its end. Similarly during its campaign against the United States use of the death penalty Amnesty International attempted to make it a foreign policy liability for the United States. How effective Amnesty International has been in achieving these goals is the subject of this dissertation.
    [Show full text]
  • Confirmed Speaker Bios
    CONFIRMED SPEAKER BIOS Adotei Akwei is Managing Director for Government Relations for Amnesty International USA. Before rejoining AIUSA, Adotei was the Deputy Director for Government Relations, for CARE USA. As Deputy he worked on Climate Change, Emergencies, Countries in Conflict and Micro-finance in sub-Saharan Africa. Prior to taking this position he served as Regional Advocacy Advisor for CARE’s Asia Regional Management Unit, where he supported CARE country offices in the development and implementation of national level advocacy strategies, as well as helping develop and implement regional advocacy priorities. Before joining CARE, Mr. Akwei worked with Amnesty International USA for 11 years, first as the senior Advocacy Director for Africa and then later as Director of Campaigns. Mr. Akwei also served as the Africa Director for the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, now Human Rights First, and as the Research and Human Rights Director for the American Committee on Africa and the Africa Fund. Mr. Akwei received his Masters in International Relations from the College of William and Mary and his Bachelors from the State University of New York College at Purchase. He is originally from Ghana. Nada Alwadi is a Bahraini journalist, writer and researcher. She has been working in print media since 2003 covering politics and human rights issues in Bahrain and the Middle East. She holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication with an emphasis on women's political empowerment in the media. She was a Humphrey/Fulbright fellow at the School of Journalism in the University of Maryland. Alwadi covered the recent crackdown in Bahrain for several international media outlets, including USA Today, and as a Senior Journalist for the Bahraini daily newspaper Alwasat.
    [Show full text]
  • Amnesty International USA Lydia Cacho, Mexico's Leading Human
    Amnesty International USA Winter 2008 Supporting courageous women who risk their lives to defend the human rights of others. "Ginetta Sagan's name is synonymous with the fight for human rights around the world. She represents to all the triumph of the human spirit over tyranny." -President Bill Clinton- For more than three decades, the late Ginetta Sagan, recipient of the 1996 Presidential Medal of Freedom, fought for the lives and rights of prisoners of conscience throughout the world. A tireless crusader and eternal optimist, Ginetta's passionate dedication inspired generations of human rights advocates. In honor of her humanitarian achievements, Amnesty International USA created the Ginetta Sagan Fund in 1994, one of AIUSA's first permanently endowed funds and the only fund that specifically addresses the needs of women and children. The Ginetta Sagan Fund ensures the continuation of Ginetta's human rights legacy and brings worldwide attention to the abuses perpetrated on women and children. Lydia Cacho, Mexico’s leading human rights defender, receives the 2007 Ginetta Sagan Award for Women’s and Children’s Rights Risking her own life to defend women and children, the Mexican journalist was honored as the 2007 winner of the Ginetta Sagan Award for Women’s and Children’s Rights at the Amnesty International USA Annual Meeting in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The cash grant award of $10,000 recognizes Lydia’s commitment to protecting the most vulnerable groups of people in Mexico. She has sheltered women and children from abuse and challenged powerful government and business leaders who profit from child prostitution and pornography.
    [Show full text]
  • Sharing the Travail of Reeducation Camps, Expelling the Betrayer: the Politics of Deportation in a Vietnamese American Community
    The Japanese Journal of American Studies, No. 31 (2020) Copyright © 2020 Ayako Sahara. All rights reserved. This work may be used, with this notice included, for noncommercial purposes. No copies of this work may be distributed, electronically or otherwise, in whole or in part, without permission from the author. Sharing the Travail of Reeducation Camps, Expelling the Betrayer: The Politics of Deportation in a Vietnamese American Community Ayako SAHARA* INTRODUCTION: POLITICS OF DEPORTATION Deportation has become a hot issue in the United States, especially under the current Donald Trump administration, where it is a part of the president’s “America fi rst” agenda. Immigration raids and detention are the primary components of the new American “deportation regime.”1 The regime itself emerged with the application of principles of neoliberal governance to immigration in the late 1990s because of the surge in anti-immigrant sentiment and accelerated after the launch of the so-called war on ter ror in 2001. Trump has described undocumented immigrants as not only inassimilable but also criminal to justify the curbing of even legal immigration, besides clamping down on illegal immigration.2 The issue of deportation is about who should and should not be in a community. In the current deportation regime, “deportability” is initiated and imposed by state power; further, the process has been normalized and standardized.3 Deportability in the United States has been associated with criminality, which includes not only committing actual crimes within the United States or outside but also making bogus asylum claims. The US government, moreover, has a long history of denying and *Associate Professor, Ohtsuki City College 111 112 AYAKO SAHARA expelling those whom the government does not want.4 Law professor Daniel Kanstroom advises that the deportation trend should be understood in its long historical context.5 Deportation is not only a technology of government to emphasize national borders but a way for a community to expel their “others” to maintain their unity.
    [Show full text]
  • Alkisswani Defends Action Mitford Class Votes
    i riui sciay, October L, The American way Mitford class votes By Linda Mainly, ministration. Students in Jessica Mitford's "I'm sorry the administration is "Techniques of Muckracking" class caught in such a credibility gap," she Jai-1y yesterday voted in favor of going along said. "The administration is lying up Spartan and down the line." Serving San Jose State University Since 1934 with Superior Court Judge John Mclnerny's fingerprinting compromise According to Ron Bottini of the proposal. university relations office, President Though only 15 registered students Bunzel believes the exact words he used Financial forms voted, the vote of 9-4 with two ab- in talking to the Chronicle were that stentions could be an indication of how "Mitford has rejected the proposal at this time" and the Chronicle might needed for aid the 240 students in her "American Way" class might decide today. have misinterpretted him. Students applying for financial aid in Judge Mclnerny proposed Monday to Mitford told her class members prior the spring will be required to submit Mitford and attorneys for the ad- to the vote that it might not be such a federal income tax forms of both their ministration that Mitford give the court bad idea for her to go along with the parents and themselves, according to a a copy of her fingerprints in a sealed court compromise, that way the state university and college system envelope that would be turned over to students would be asurred credit for the administrator. the winner of the litigation. course and she would be paid.
    [Show full text]
  • USHMM Finding
    http://collections.ushmm.org Contact [email protected] for further information about this collection United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Interview with Ginetta Sagan September 23-4, 1999 RG-50.030*0458 This is a verbatim transcript of spoken word. It is not the primary source, and it has not been checked for spelling or accuracy. http://collections.ushmm.org Contact [email protected] for further information about this collection PREFACE The following oral history testimony is the result of a taped interview with Ginetta Sagan, conducted by Joan Ringleheim on September 23-4, 1999 on behalf of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The interview is part of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum's collection of oral testimonies. Rights to the interview are held by the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. The reader should bear in mind that this is a verbatim transcript of spoken, rather than written prose. This transcript has been neither checked for spelling nor verified for accuracy, and therefore, it is possible that there are errors. As a result, nothing should be quoted or used from this transcript without first checking it against the taped interview. This is a verbatim transcript of spoken word. It is not the primary source, and it has not been checked for spelling or accuracy. http://collections.ushmm.org Contact [email protected] for further information about this collection GINETTA SAGAN September 23-4, 1999 Beginning Tape One, Side A Question: This is United States Holocaust Memorial Museum interview with Ginetta Sagan, conducted by Joan Ringleheim, on September 23rd, in Atherton, California, in the home of Ginetta Sagan, and this is tape number one, side A.
    [Show full text]
  • International Agenda Vol
    The Caribbean: Concertina wire safeguards this otherwise gorgeous compound in Haiti, the poorest country in the Western hemisphere. The richest 10% of Haitians receive a total of 48% of the nation’s income, while the poorest 10% receive less than 1% of the income. Photo by Christopher Cavaliere, a professional photographer in Farmington Hills, MI, who participated in humanitarian trips to Haiti in 2011 and 2013. See pages 13-28 for coverage of Schoolcraft College’s year-long Focus Caribbean project. p. 3 Schoolcraft College International Institute International Agenda Vol. 13, No. 1 Winter 2014 International Institute (SCII) Published once per semester by Schoolcraft College the International Institute (SCII) 18600 Haggerty Road Livonia, MI 48152-2696 Editorial Committee: http://www.schoolcraft.edu/department-areas/ Chair: Randy K. Schwartz (Mathematics Dept.) international-institute/ Sumita Chaudhery (English Dept.) Helen Ditouras Gordy (English Dept.) The mission of the Schoolcraft College International Mark Huston (Philosophy Dept.) Institute is to coordinate cross-cultural learning Josselyn Moore (Anthropology/ Sociology Depts.) opportunities for students, faculty, staff, and the Suzanne Stichler (Spanish Dept.) community. The Institute strives to enhance the Yovana P. Veerasamy (French Dept.) international content of coursework, programs, and other College activities so participants better appreciate both the e-mail: [email protected] diversities and commonalities among world cultures, and voice: 734-462-4400 ext. 5290 better understand the global forces shaping people’s lives. fax: 734-462-4531 SCII Administrative Director: Material contained in International Agenda may be Cheryl Hawkins (Dean of Liberal Arts and Sciences) reproduced or quoted provided that the source is credited.
    [Show full text]
  • Betty Makoni Is 2008 Winner of Human Rights Organization's Ginetta Sagan Award for Women’S and Children’S Rights
    Amnesty International USA Contact: Suzanne Trimel, 212-633-4150 Tuesday, April 8, 2008 Amnesty International USA Honors Zimbabwean Woman Who Fights to Empower Girls and Keep Them in School -- Betty Makoni Is 2008 Winner of Human Rights Organization's Ginetta Sagan Award For Women’s and Children’s Rights (New York) -- On Saturday, April 26, Amnesty International USA will honor Betty Makoni, 37, a former high school teacher in Zimbabwe who has empowered hundreds of thousands of girls to stay in school, despite overwhelming violence and poverty in their homes and communities. Makoni, who herself was sexually abused at age six and saw her mother die from abuse at home, is changing attitudes in her country and helping girls resist exploitation by joining the Girl Child Network she formed a decade ago to support and uplift them. On the strength of Makoni's success -- 3,000 girls from her network have gone on to become doctors, lawyers, teachers and other professionals -- the program is being replicated elsewhere in Africa and in Canada, Europe and the United States. Makoni, who has exposed alleged sexual crimes against girls and has been threatened and detained as a result, will receive the 2008 Ginetta Sagan Award for Women's and Children's Rights during Amnesty International's Annual General Meeting in Arlington, Va. On the following Monday, April 28, Makoni will join hundreds of Amnesty International activists for a Lobby Day on Capitol Hill, which will focus on gaining new sponsors for the International Violence Against Women Act. The bipartisan legislation introduced in the U.S.
    [Show full text]