Mois : avril 2007

Linked with Women living under Muslim laws,
and with The Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « I am touched by the number of women and people who tell me I touched them through my work ».

Read: Scoping Study on Social Exclusion.

She says also: « Women Living under Muslim Laws (an NGO) views ‘Fundamentalism’, above all, as a political project. All forms of what is called ‘fundamentalism’ are ultimately political projects of appropriation of the public, social and personal spaces in which we exist – with the goal of gaining political and economic power. Sometimes such projects aim to maintain power and sometimes to challenge power. The critical element, however, in understanding these forces that are lumped together under the banner of ‘Fundamentalism’, is to analyze them from the perspective of power ». (full text).

Read: Asian Women in Muslim Societies, Perspectives & Struggles.

Farida Shaheed – Pakistan

She works for the Shirkat Gah Women’s Resource Centre, and for the Women Living under Muslim Laws WLUML.

The Women Action Forum (WAF) worker Farida Shaheed alleged that the government was fanning Talibanisation. She said General Musharraf was furthering the agenda of General Ziaul Huq. She said the government was depriving the masses of their basic human rights. “As lawyers and the masses struggle for the restoration of the basic human rights and democracy in the country,” She said. “Extremists take violent steps to undermine those rights.” Commenting on the assault on Dr Amina Butter, she said, it was condemnable. (full text).

Read: Militarization & Global Conflict – A Different Perspective.

And she says: « Further, many « fundamentalist » projects would not be able to exist if they did not have linkages and were not supported by other groups that you would not normally consider to be « fundamentalist. » These forces exist at the national and local level. At home, for example, we can see that the bankruptcy of the political parties has helped to bring about and give force to extremist elements by creating a void – a space filled by extremist elements.

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Linked with Women on Waves, and with An Interview with Rebecca Gomperts.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « Induced abortions are one of the most common medical interventions in the world: out of around 46 million abortions performed annually, 20 million are illegal and unsafe ». (1000PeaceWomen).

Working as a ship’s doctor on Greenpeace’s Rainbow Warrior, as a freelance abortion doctor in several clinics and the writing of the novel Flotsam are only some examples of this. Her three talents come together expressly in her latest iniative, the founding of Women on Waves, a Dutch non-profit organisation devoted to the cause of women’s rights and health. (full text).

She says also: « Of course I realized when I got back how many problems I would come across if I wanted to put this idea into practice. But the more research I did, the more this issue crawled under my skin and would not let go. So many women are dying and being denied the most fundamental part of human existence, namely to decide about their autonomy, their bodies, whether and when they want to have children ». (1000PeaceWomen).

Rebecca Gomperts – Netherlands

She works for Women on Waves.

Read: I had an abortion. (full text).

Read: Rebecca Gomperts Is Trying to Save the World for Abortion. (full text).

Rebecca Gomperts works with local women’s groups to prevent unsafe abortions and empower women to exercise their human rights to physical and mental autonomy. In 1999, Rebecca Gomperts founded the organization, Women on Waves, which operates a mobile abortion clinic on a ship. Despite threats and protests from anti-abortion groups and governments, it has sailed to various countries where abortions are illegal. While in harbor, the ship provides contraceptives, information, and counseling. After sailing into international waters, early medical abortions are provided safely in the clinic.

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Linked with Three organizations working for Peace and Human Rights on the Åland Islands, and with Don’t blame the victims.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « Getting involved in peace work was a long process for me. Politics came first. Then I felt the threat of a nuclear holocaust so frightening and so hopeless. I got involved in the peace marches through Europe in the eighties and met so many different people who wanted to act for peace instead of shrugging their shoulders and doing nothing. I did not want to become cynical. It is healthier to have hope. With time I have come to think that the most important thing is the process of working together. The main obstacle to peace is the conception that war is somehow inevitable. That concept is built into the patriarchal structures of our society, and the people who uphold it are probably the ones who are themselves ready to use violence to achieve their goals. If you believe violence is a solution, it becomes one. For example, the real reason for the war in Iraq is to make some of the men in the Bush administration even wealthier. I have achieved my goals in cooperation with other people. No one changes the world alone. And you have to live by your beliefs. To be credible you have to show through your interaction with other people that you both respect and love them. Since I am a politician I have worked on many different levels. The most important one is the local level, where it is possible to put ones ideas and visions into practice. The Åland Islands Peace Institute, Emmaus-Åland and the local peace group have become a part of my home, my group of people ». (1000PeaceWomen).

Barbro Sundback – Finland

She works for the Ålands fredsinstitut / Åland Islands Peace Institute,
for the Emmaus Åland (in finish) / Peace Association-Emmaus (in english),
and for the Finnish Music Information Center (Fimic).

Summing up her conviction Barbo says: « I have a strong belief in justice and democracy and the good in the world. I also believe that trust is an essential component in any peace-building process. I was once in Kyrgyzstan, talking with groups of leaders from Nagorno-Karabach and Azerbaijan. There was no trust and no respect between the participants, and they were not interested in autonomy as a way to solve their differences. Finally the leader of the Nagorno-Karabach group smiled at me and said, ‘Ok, autonomy can be a good solution, but then we have to become a part of Finland, not Azerbaijan’. There was no trust ».

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She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: « The main thing is not to give up! There is always a way out, even in the most complicated situation ».

She says also: « There were a lot of hindrances and mistakes, however, we gradually surmounted them and learned not to make them again, experience is the best teacher ».

They said us: « What do you need to go out for? Just sit at home like you did in the Soviet Union. Continue to sit, or go live in special hostel for invalids ».

Asipa Musayeva – Kyrgyzstan

She works for the Independent Association of Disabled Women.

Asipa Musayeva is the president of the non-governmental organization (NGO) Independent Association of Disabled Women of the Kyrgyz Republic.

Since 1989, she has accomplished a great deal for the organization and for disabled people, protecting their rights and advocating for them on a national level. She has successfully lobbied for laws to increase opportunities for disabled people to work and participate in society. Asipa conducts seminars, training courses for leaders, particularly from rural areas, on the importance of civil and economic rights for people with disabilities.

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Linked with Medica mondiale, and with Self-immolation by oppressed Afghan women is rising.

She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

She says: For bosniac woomen: « I want to break the taboo and tear down the wall of silence. For the dignity of tortured women », and for afghan women: « There is a conspiracy between men in the families, in the police, in the judicial system and in the mosques, putting women at their mercy. Violence is everywhere, but the women have never experienced anything else and cannot even recognize and name this as violence. They just say: ‘I feel bad' ».

She says also: « Sexual violence is a part of all wars, but throughout the world it is not discussed, its victims forgotten. However it is the most serious kind of attack on the intimate self. Survivors of war and torture need medical, psychological and therapeutic support, to return to their daily lives and rediscover their dignity. And that is why I wanted to do something ».

And she says: « I have seen many hospitals in developing countries, but I have never experienced conditions as in Kabul ».

Monika Hauser – Germany

She works for Medica Mondiale.

Monika Hauser, an Italian citizen and gynecologist, born in 1959 in Switzerland, is a gynecologist and director of the women’s aid association Medica Mondiale in Cologne, Germany. In 1992, in the middle of the Bosnian war, she opened a therapy center in the city of Zenica for women victims of rape and war trauma. Now more than 80 Bosnian women doctors, nurses, therapists, and other professionals work there. She also founded projects for victims of sexual violence in Kosovo, Albania, and Afghanistan. Medica Mondiale supports local women’s organizations in other countries, including Indonesia, Iraq, and Congo.

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She is one of the 1000 women proposed for the Nobel Peace Price 2005.

It is said: « She lights up in the Colombian night, she is like a constantly erupting volcano, Luz Perly Córdoba Mosquera is a mother, peasant, student, trade union worker and a fighter for life ».

She says: “They try to silence the voice of the people, but we will never give up the dream of real peace for Colombia. In this fight, we have nothing to lose; on the contrary, we have everything to gain”.

About growing of coca she says: “It is the only alternative left for the Colombian peasants by the Colombian State. It is the only way they have to avoid dying of hunger. It is irresponsible, immoral and not very ethical to accuse them of being drug traffickers”.

Read: La Unión Europea preocupada por las amenazas a organizaciones de derechos humanos en Colombia, 16.6.2006.

Read: Derechos Humanos en Colombia, 24 de junio de 2006.

Luz Perly Córdoba Mosquera – Colombia

She works for the National Federation Union of Unitarian Farming (no website-mentions), and for the Arauca’s Peasants Association (Read: Colombia Solidarity Bulletin Nº 10, Version Espanol).

Committed to the core of the fight against the injustices suffered by her people, she is an international representative for her country. She never rests. She leads, organizes and manages collective efforts that work towards the fulfillment of a dignified life. “I am writing these short but deeply felt words from the bottom of my heart, which in spite of these mouldy walls and these rusty chains with which they try to imprison me, beats faster than ever in the cause of liberty,” wrote Luz Perly Córdoba after her first year in the Prison del Buen Pastor in Bogotá, Colombia, where she was arrested and charged with rebellion and planning to commit a crime. “My case was planned by the authorities as a political punishment and this has been evident from the beginning to the end of the process. The aim was to maintain me under arrest for the longest possible time”.

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