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International Indigenous Women’s Forum: “A Forum for the Voices of All”

This is a guest blog entry by Mónica Alemán, who was MADRE's Program Director for many years.  She is now the Executive Director of the MADRE sister organization, the International Indigenous Women's Forum,  and a member of the MADRE Network of Experts.  As the Eighth Session of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues draws to a close, Mónica took some time to reflect on the role of Indigenous women and we asked her to share her thoughts with us.


On May 18th 2009, the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples (UNPFII) convened for its 8th Session. The UNPFII is a space for dialogue with United Nations Members States, United Nations Specialized Agencies and, most importantly, with and between Indigenous women and men who year after year travel to New York for an opportunity to transform the way the United Nations system engages with Indigenous peoples.

Annually, at least 1500 representatives from over 120 countries across the globe participate.

The 8th Session in 2009 was a critical year for Indigenous women. In a context where the key focus of discussion operated around “implementation” of the existing international framework for the protection of Indigenous peoples’ rights, Indigenous women presented their country situations and how these situations have not yet been addressed.

Expert members of the UNPFII sought to revise the level of application of previous UNPFII recommendations issued, from 2002 - 2008 with a particular emphasis on those related to women and development.

In the halls of the United Nations, the fervent participation of Indigenous women is palpable. Women are constantly mobilizing amongst each other as well as reaching out to Indigenous men – by raising their voices Indigenous women express their gratitude for the advancements but also their strong disappointment in the work done so far or, better said, the work that has not yet been done.

The International Indigenous Women’s Forum (IIWF/FIMI) is a global initiative of Indigenous women’s organizations and networks from the Americas, Africa, and Asia. In 2009, IIWF/FIMI presented a Shadow Report on the Level of Implementation of the UNPF Recommendations 2002 – 2008. The report gathered responses from over 30 Indigenous peoples organizations and 32 United Nations agencies. The key concerns reflected in the report includes areas such as education, health, the environment, peace and development.

Through an extensive analysis of the areas put forward the IIWF/FIMI proceeded to make specific recommendations to the UNPFII in its final report.

The experience of working both in the context of mobilizing Indigenous women’s organizations at the continental or global level can best be equated with riding a high speed boat that has no stops on a river bank. Indigenous women are usually on the reaction side when it comes to the international agenda. Due to their geographical location and language barriers, Indigenous women face constant difficulties in positioning their priorities on agendas that are set at the global level. Therefore having the space at the UNPFII becomes even more relevant for such marginalized communities and voices.

One Night at an Underground Women’s Shelter in Iraq

A few months ago, we were contacted by the freelance journalist Anna Badkhen, who had traveled to Iraq multiple times to report from that war zone.  In her travels to that region, she had found stories of women who had faced sexual abuse and rape, a growing trend in the spiraling war, and turned to MADRE for help in exposing the issue.

We put her in touch with Yanar Mohammed, a MADRE partner and the director of the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI).  Confronted by exploding levels of gender-based violence, the organization runs a network of women’s shelters supported by MADRE to provide protection for women fleeing threats to their lives. 

Once in contact with OWFI, Anna Badkhen traveled to Baghdad along with photojournalist Mimi Chakarova and visited one of the shelters.  Below, Anna provides a snapshot of what human rights defenders confront in Iraq:

According to Mohammed, who heads the Organization for Women’s Freedom in Iraq, a nonprofit group that works directly with rape victims, “By the end of 2003, everyone had a story of five or ten women being kidnapped; some were raped and thrown by the side of the street, others were disappeared.”

Iraqi doctors told me that they also began to see a rise in rape cases one month after the war started. Lawlessness and sectarian violence quickly engulfed Iraq after the fall of Saddam, leaving women particularly vulnerable.  In 2005 alone, Mohammed’s organization estimates that 2,000 girls were raped.

*This post was updated to remove a photo slideshow to protect an individual's identity.

Quick Post: Using Women's Rights to Justify War in Afghanistan

Jodie Evans, a co-founder of CODEPINK, recently wrote an article exposing the false justifications used by the US military to promote the war in Afghanistan.  While claiming to "protect" Afghan women, the US is escalating a war that will bring about more harm and destruction.

Three decades of foreign occupation -- with little sign of ending -- have led to the complete collapse of more than a century of progress in Afghanistan for women's rights, which reached their peak in the 1970s. Occupation destroyed Afghan public services and created incredible poverty, a perfect void of power ready to be filled by the Taliban (encouraged by the U.S. to counter Soviet influence). Many Afghan women say the collapse poses a greater threat to women's lives: 87 percent are illiterate, 1,600 out of every 100,000 mothers die while giving birth or of related complications, and 1 and 3 women experience psychological, emotional or physical abuse.

Read more.

Action Alert: National Media Day of Action on Afghanistan

Today, you can take part in UFPJ’s National Media Day of Action on Afghanistan, and let people know that the escalation of war in Afghanistan must end.  Call a radio station, write a letter to the editor, comment on a blog, send out a tweet—UFPJ has provided a range of ways for you to take action.

Every day, there seem to be new indications that the Obama Administration has its priorities completely skewed when it comes to the war in Afghanistan.  Yesterday, while testifying before the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton worried that the US is “losing the media war” in Afghanistan.  She explained that militants are using radio broadcasts to spread disinformation and that the US must work to ramp up its communications strategy to convey its values to Afghans.

The problem here is not one of image, but one of reality.  The Taliban and other fundamentalist forces are not gaining ground in Afghanistan simply because of a more advanced communications strategy.  Rather, the destruction of the US-led war creates new support for such groups and bitterness towards US policies that sustain the war.

And the Obama Administration is not only trying to sell the war to Afghans—they are hard at work on that front right here in the US.  That’s why campaigns like UFPJ’s National Media Day of Action on Afghanistan are so necessary.  Through this campaign, they are calling for people against escalation of the war in Afghanistan to get their voices heard.

This campaign activates multiple forms of media, from print to radio to online.  Click here to find out all the ways you can get involved.

Afghan Women Are Killed for Demanding their Rights: MADRE Responds

*The resource below is also featured on MADRE's website.

Women in Afghanistan are routinely denied basic human rights, including education, healthcare, freedom from violence, and freedom of movement. Afghan women who fight to change this reality are attacked and even assassinated by ultra-conservatives.   

Meanwhile, US airstrikes that kill civilians further endanger Afghan women and their families.  They also increase the power of the Taliban and other reactionary forces as more Afghans turn to them for protection from the United States.

Each woman who is targeted and killed is meant to serve as a warning to any woman who would dare to stand up for her rights. Yet Afghan women continue to do just that.  MADRE is supporting their courageous struggle through our Afghan Women’s Survival Fund.

Below, we profile a few of the women who have been killed or threatened for daring to demand their rights.

Defending Human Rights in Sri Lanka

Today, in a speech before parliament, Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa declared an end to the nearly 30-year-long civil war that pitted the government of Sri Lanka against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).  The government later announced the death of a key leader of the LTTE and asserted this as a sign of military victory.

In recent months, thousands of refugees had been trapped in a war zone, caught between the opposing sides of this conflict.  Some were able to escape, and many others remained stranded.  Many conflict-affected people remain displaced and marginalized, and the long road of peace-building still lies ahead.  To help MADRE provide emergency medical supplies and relief services to women and families in refugee camps in Sri Lanka, click here.

Sunila Abeysekera, a member of the MADRE Network of Experts and the Executive Director of IWRAW Asia Pacific, has worked for many years to defend women’s human rights in Sri Lanka.  In a recent interview, she explained the way militarization undermines democracy:

“Militarization creates wide acceptance of the idea that you can crush dissent, that you can win consensus by using violence, torture and intimidation. That is the biggest legacy that militarization has bequeathed to us in Sri Lanka. Everybody – almost everybody in that society – accepts that violence is a way to crush people’s voices when they don’t agree with you, whether it is in the family, or in the community, or what is happening at the level of the state.”

Sunila also emphasized the need to reach out across boundaries created by identity:

“If you look at the ways in which Israeli and Palestinian women have tried to work together in the past, or Singhalese and Tamil women in Sri Lanka – whenever the conflict intensifies, the polarisation sharpens and the capacity to reach out, to have compassion, to be humble in the face of the enormity of what is being done in your name fatally shrinks. I am Singhalese and the Sri Lankan government conducts this war in the name of defending the Singhalese. In such circumstances, it becomes almost impossible to hang onto the idea that as feminists we have a common cause and yet it becomes imperative that we hang onto that belief.”

In March, we had the chance to sit down with Sunila and ask her about what challenges she faces in her human rights work in Sri Lanka.  She explains in the video below.

myMADRE Brings You the Latest

United for Peace and Justice is organizing a "National Media Day of Action on Afghanistan" on Thursday, May 21 with the goal of raising the profile of opposition to the war in Afghanistan and increasing awareness about the realities of the war.

A new briefing paper, “Afghanistan and Pakistan: Myths and Facts,” looks at some of the commonly cited arguments in support of the Afghanistan War.

The Nobel Peace Prize Laureates of the Nobel Women's Initiative held an international conference from May 10 to May 12 in Antigua Guatemala with the theme of “Women Redefining Democracy for Peace, Justice and Equality.”

After a recent visit to the country, the UN reports that Haiti has made significant progress in the last two years despite a history of damaging setbacks.

In Colombia, the scale of rape and sexual violence as part of its four-decade-old conflict is largely unknown. Women’s organizations are now campaigning in the country to make women aware of their rights and to push prosecutors to question paramilitaries about sexual violence.

Although there is a new US general in Afghanistan, Robert Dreyfuss argues that there will be no quick improvement on the battlefront.

Juan Cole, President of the Global Americana Institute, discusses today’s meeting between Obama and Netanyahu and contrasts their differing agendas for the Middle East.

The Nation addresses 10 things you can do to help solve the world’s growing hunger problem.

US Joins the UN Human Rights Council

A few weeks ago, we blogged about the news that the US was in the running to join the UN Human Rights Council.  Yesterday, it became official: the US is now an elected member and will begin the three-year term next month on June 19.

Critics of the Human Rights Council have charged that the human rights records of certain member nations undermine the purpose of that body.  US Ambassador to the UN Susan Rice concurred with this critique, even as she accepted the results of the election.

"We certainly share the view that the council has not performed to its potential, but we wouldn't be running if we thought it was impossible," she said. "Obviously, there will always be some countries whose respect and record on human rights is sub-par. We have not been perfect ourselves."

Last week, it was tragically obvious just how "not perfect" is the US human rights record in Afghanistan, for a start.  In our previous blog entry, we suggested that this end to the US boycott of the Human Rights Council might mean a greater willingness to engage with issues of international human rights.  It's clear that the US has a long way to go, but no progress will ever be made without international cooperation.

*Photo credit: Xinhua

myMADRE Brings You the Latest

In an interview with IPS, Gladys Acosta, UNIFEM chief of Latin America and the Caribbean, states that much progress has been made regarding women’s education in Latin America, yet inequalities in the workplace still pose a major problem for women in the region.

For Mother’s Day, Feminist Peace Network honored the “missing mothers” – the more than 500,000 women a year who die from maternity related complications. Elsewhere in the blogosphere, Global Voices Online provided an overview of thoughts and various celebrations on Mother’s Day around the world.

In the weeks following the Summit of the Americas, the Obama Administration admits its approach to policy in Latin America must change.

Tom Andrews, a former Member of Congress and National Director of Win Without War, discusses the consequences of the missing exit strategy for Afghanistan.

In Peru, Indigenous communities continue protests against government infringement upon their ancestral lands. Juan Arellano of Global Voices Online highlights the reactions of Peruvian bloggers to the protests.

Mwila Chicaga, International Labour Organisation’s Regional Senior Gender Specialist, discusses how African women have been disproportionately affected by the global financial crisis.

In Mexico, midwives play an important role in care during pregnancy and childbirth, especially in rural communities where health services are often too far away.

Israeli activist Ezra Nawi was charged with the “crime” of trying to stop a military bulldozer from destroying the homes of Palestinians.

Guardian blogger Tamara Winfrey Harris discusses the politics of the sex ban in Kenya. 

Robert Fisk, the Middle East correspondent of The Independent, reacts to the recent mass killing of civilians by US warplanes in Afghanistan and asserts: “Civilians pay price for war from above.”

Día de la MADRE

In honor of Mother’s Day, MADRE would like to honor mothers around the globe who are striving to create positive social change. Last year, MADRE profiled women who are leaders in the communities of MADRE's sister organizations. This year, we would like to highlight some of their stories on our blog and provide an update on their continued work towards social justice.

Fatima Ahmed: Planting Seeds and Putting Down Roots (Sudan)

Ask Fatima Ahmed about the challenges of balancing work with raising her young sons, and she is frank. "I never rest. It takes a lot of energy." For years, she has served as the director for Zenab for Women in Development, a community-based women's organization in Sudan. In a country roiled for decades by civil war in the south and more recently by bloodshed in Darfur, Zenab has partnered with MADRE to provide emergency aid to displaced women and families and to support women in refugee camps, who are routinely targeted for sexual violence.

Fatima works with women farmers, many of whom bring their babies into the fields with them everyday. The women have organized a union, part of an effort to recognize the key role played by women in agriculture and the need for more resources, like seeds and farm tools, to sustain their work and their communities.

Occasionally, Fatima's work requires her to leave her own children for weeks on end, as she travels to rural communities throughout Sudan. The separation can be difficult, but she explains, "I know how much I love my children, and I know that I want everything for them. That is why I feel so much for other mothers who want the same but cannot provide it. When my kids ask me why I'm leaving, I tell them that I'm going to help other mothers and kids who cannot afford the things they have."

She attributes her drive and her commitment in large part to her own mother, who was also a community leader. "Since I was a child," says Fatima, "I saw my mother's compassion for the people around her. Women in the community would come to her for help, and no matter what, she would always welcome them and help them with their problems." Zenab, the organization that Fatima founded, is named for her mother, and the values and goals it embodies are clearly inspired by her legacy.

Update: Last year, the union grew to over 2,000 members and MADRE and Zenab provided seeds to 500 women in 20 villages.  For more information, click here.

Yanar Mohammed: Motherhood as a Source of Strength (Iraq)

"Becoming a mother," says Yanar Mohammed, "changes you from an individual into someone who is inextricably connected to—and responsible for—other people's lives." In her own life, Yanar has built on that connection through founding the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI). Yanar has dedicated herself to meeting the needs of Iraqi women and families suffering as a result of the US invasion and the rising religious extremism it has unleashed. Together with MADRE, OWFI has founded a network of women's shelters in Iraq. In addition, OWFI's unique Freedom Space project brings together young poets and artists of varying religious and ethnic backgrounds to create art and express their hopes for a peaceful Iraq where human rights are cherished.

In the context of US occupation and civil war, Yanar's work has proven dangerous. But she is driven to fight for peace and human rights, in part because she is a mother. "When you are responsible for a vulnerable life, it changes your own. You realize that millions of people can become vulnerable as a result of some situation that they didn't create—a war, a famine, an occupation. Being a mother is about making the connection between the life you have brought into the world and all life. It's about stepping up to meet the needs of those who are vulnerable."

"Early motherhood, especially, can be destabilizing in its many practical challenges, like sleeplessness and the disappearance of any 'free time.' But learning to meet those challenges can also be empowering. It makes you more durable, and ultimately, more willing to take on the work of nurturing. Developing that capability prepares you for the even bigger mission of creating social change. You see that any big, positive change needs to be birthed, nurtured and committed to with constancy. I see this in the women of Iraq. They are more prepared for the challenge of living through this difficult time than their men, more resilient because of the experience of being mothers."

Update: Last year, this project brought together nearly 1,400 people and featured musical performances and readings by young women and men advocating peace and women’s rights in Iraq.  For more information, click here.