myMADRE

Take Action: Stop Deadly Deportations to Haiti

In Feburary, I blogged about a petition MADRE supported, which called on the US government to stop deportations of Haitians. Despite these efforts, the deportations have continued. Please sign the petition below urging President Barack Obama, Secretary of State Hilary Clinton, and Secretary for Homeland Security Janet Napolitano to halt all deportations to Haiti.

Dear President Obama, Secretary Clinton, and Secretary Napolitano,

I urge you to halt deportations to Haiti.

Conditions in Haiti are deteriorating. Haiti is struggling with a cholera epidemic that a recent study published in the medical journal Lancet found may affect twice as many people as previously thought. As international aid agencies end their service contracts, over a million people remain homeless in tent camps and face chronic hunger, threats of eviction, and lack of essentials such as water and medical care. No one should be deported to Haiti during this humanitarian crisis.

Deportees are jailed in filthy police stations in Haiti with no access to clean water or food and are exposed to human feces and vomit. These conditions during a cholera epidemic are – quite literally – deadly. Wildrick Guerrier, age 34, died from cholera-like symptoms after being deported to Haiti in January 2011, and others have become ill. Many of those deported on April 15, 2011 had serious medical and mental health conditions. Additionally, deportees often leave behind children who are US citizens, as well as other family members.

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has already urged the United States not to deport Haitian petitioners to Haiti and expressed serious concern that the deportations would separate families and place people with medical conditions in life-threatening conditions.

Please live up to your pledge to uphold human rights and halt these inhumane and cruel deportations to Haiti.

Click here to sign.

Take Action: Save Iman al-Obeidi

This petition, calling for the Turkish government to take action and save Iman al-Obeidi, the Libyan woman dragged away after reporting her rape by Qaddafi security forces to foreign journalists, comes to us from Avaaz.org. Help them reach their goal of 750,000 signatures.

Last Saturday, a young woman lawyer named Iman al-Obeidi burst into a Tripoli hotel and pleaded with foreign journalists for help, showing bruises and crying that she had just been gang-raped by 15 of Qaddafi's men. She screamed as she was dragged away by Libyan agents and has not been seen since.

Words cannot express the courage Iman showed in speaking out -- and we can only imagine the terror she must be facing right now in the hands of Qaddafi's infamous thugs. Her life is in danger, but we can help, if we act fast.

Qaddafi will ignore most international outrage, but he listened to the Turkish government when they asked him to release foreign journalists. Let's urgently raise a massive global call to Turkish Prime Minister Erdogan to help save Iman -- sign the petition and forward the link to everyone.

Take Action Today!

Click here to sign the petition.

Project Update: Engineering a Solution for Clean Water in Nicaragua

In celebration of World Water Day earlier this week, we have been posting project updates about MADRE's water projects around the world. On Wednesday, we posted about Palestine. Today, we're posting about Nicaragua.

In the North Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, Indigenous Peoples often live without health or sanitation services, a result of government neglect and marginalization. This has left people facing life-threatening risks. We have heard women in the communities of our partner organizations speak of their worries that their children will fall sick because of the water-borne illnesses that peak during hurricane season when flooding carries raw sewage and other contaminants into their water supply.

MADRE and our sister organization, Wangki Tangni, are working together through our project, Liwa Mairin | Women Waterkeepers to reduce the incidence of water-borne disease. We train Indigenous women and their family members to maintain latrines and wells, and we build a clean water culture through educational posters, seminars and radio programs.

We also received an update from Rose Cunningham, Director of Wangki Tangni, earlier this week. Read what she had to say by clicking here.To read the full Nicaragua project update on the MADRE website, click here.

Finally, you can take action by demanding that the right to water be upheld by signing MADRE's petition to President Obama. Click here to sign on.

Youth Activist in Iraq Kidnapped, Tortured and Threatened

Days ago, MADRE received news from Yanar Mohammed, Director of MADRE's Iraqi sister organization, the Organization of Women’s Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), that a youth activist organizing pro-democracy protests in Iraq is in danger. Alaa Nabil was kidnapped, detained and tortured by Iraqi security forces. They have threatened to kill him if he continues to protest. Below is the statement we received from Yanar:

After a police squad released him from a one-hour detainment yesterday, he asked for his personal belongings, as they had banners that he needed to use in the next demonstration on Friday in Al Tahrir Square in Baghdad as an organizer of February 25 Group. After 24 hours, four-wheel drive vehicles with tinted glass were heading to his residence in Al Kifah district, filled with men who are dressed in civilian clothes. They kidnapped him from the alleys around his house, forced his head down so he cannot see where he was taken.

In a big hall, which may have been designated for these tasks, they stood him facing a wall, and they started all beating, kicking, and whipping him with hoses and cables on the back and the arms. When they got tired, he was threatened in these exact words: "We will cut your tongues, you and your organizing colleagues, Firas Ali, Suad Shwaili, and Falah Alwan, if you dare to reach Al Tahrir Square. And if you insist to continue this work, we will shoot each one of you and throw you where your bodies cannot be found."

Then Alaa was thrown into a car which took him away and released him in Al Alawi square, close to the Green Zone.

These are the methods adopted by the new security agencies of the "democratic" Iraq. This is how they handle freedom of speech and peaceful demonstrations. It seems that the militias of sectarian cleansing have found a new campaign to recruit and pay for their services, but for the oppression of peaceful demonstrators this time. And all of these measures are part of the gains of the US occupation.

We will not let the criminals and murderers prevail in Iraq.
Their oppression and blows against the rebellion for freedom will be defeated.
Long live Freedom.

The torture and kidnapping of Alaa Nabil is a violation of his human rights. Please help us raise awareness about these threats. Post this message to your Facebook status:

A youth activist organizing pro-democracy protests in Iraq is in danger. He was kidnapped, detained and tortured by Iraqi security forces. They have threatened to kill him if he continues to protest. We need the eyes of the world now. Post this to your Facebook status to stand up against the violent silencing of activist voices: http://ht.ly/4mrZH

With international attention, we can protect Alaa Nabil and other youth activists under threat.

A Call for Action on the Right to Water

In celebration of World Water Day this week, MADRE is calling on you to take action.

Every human being needs water to survive. Yet, we have had to fight for governments to recognize access to clean and safe water as a universal right. Finally, last October, the United Nations Human Rights Council officially recognized that the right to water is contained in existing human rights treaties, affirming it as a legally binding obligation.

But there is more to be done. The next step in the process of making clean and safe water accessible is for our governments to put their human rights commitments into action. All UN member states must devise and implement a plan of action showing how they will make the right to water a reality – and the Obama Administration must be part of this effort. 

You can help realize this demand by telling President Obama that his Administration must produce a plan of action to uphold the right to water. Click here to take action.

Happy International Women's Day!

For 100 years, women worldwide have demonstrated for their rights every March 8.

In honor of this 100th International Women’s Day, MADRE is working to raise $100 from 100 people to help advance the rights that women have won over the century.

We want you to be a part of this campaign to celebrate the past and shape the future by propelling the gains of the global women’s movement into the next century.

Despite our many achievements, women’s voices are still too often ignored by world leaders. We want women from our sister organizations to be heard when they demand an end to sexual violence in Haiti, when they condemn violations of women's labor rights in Guatemala, or when they call for democracy and women's rights in Iraq.

And as we amplify the voices of members of our sister organizations, we want to amplify your voice, too. When you raise or donate $100 this month, you will have the opportunity to send a message of support and connect directly with one of our partners: Malya Villard-Appolon in Haiti, Sandra Gonzalez in Guatemala, Yanar Mohammed in Iraq or Fatima Ahmed in Sudan. To learn more about these women, and our campaign, click here.

The $100 you raise or donate helps MADRE to:  

• Give women community-based activists the training they need to participate effectively in political processes—from local government all the way to the United Nations.
• Create popular versions of legal texts so that international law can be a powerful tool in the hands of women at the community level.
• Advocate at the United Nations and within governments for local women’s organizations to have a seat at the table when policies are being made that impact their lives.

"Marching for Change" Rally

Tomorrow marks one year since the Haiti eathquake, which killed more than 200,000 people and displaced millions. One year later, the situation in Haiti remains dire. Millions of people still live in IDP camps with minimal shelter and inadequate security and lighting, and sexual violence has reached epidemic levels. Tomorrow, a “Marching for Change” rally will be held in New York City to highlight the unacceptably slow pace of reconstruction efforts and to demand that the Haitian government and the international community remain dedicated to helping the country and its people rebuild. The rally is being organized by our friends at Diaspora Community Services, and MADRE is a co-sponsor of the event.
If you are in the New York City area and want to partake in the rally:

The rally will be held from 2 PM to 5 PM, Wednesday, January 12, 2011
It will begin in Times Square at 42nd Street and Broadway. From there, it will proceed to the Haitian consulate on West 39th Street and Madison Avenue, and will end at the United Nations’ Dag Hammarskjold Plaza at 47th Street and 1st Avenue

For more information on the event, click here.

On Human Rights Day, Call for an End to Violence against Women and Download Public Education Tools

We're drawing close to the end of the year, and like many others, we at MADRE have been looking back on everything that 2010 has been.  We've supported the struggle of our sister organization in Haiti to protect women against sexual violence in the displacement camps in the aftermath of the earthquake.  We've partnered with human rights advocates in Colombia who have demanded an end to the use of child soldiers.  We've strategized with the leaders of a women farmers' union in Sudan to push for fairer and more effective global food aid policies.

The list goes on, and our work will continue and grow in 2011.  Today is Human Rights Day, a chance for us to celebrate these and other tireless efforts of advocates worldwide to build a world based on human rights. Every year, Human Rights Day is celebrated on the 10th of December to commemorate the United Nations' adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. This landmark document was the among the first global efforts to officially recognize the human rights to which all people are entitled.

December 10th also marks the end of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, a campaign sparked by the Center for Women's Global Leadership (CWGL).  This annual event begins on November 25 (International Day Against Violence Against Women) and calls for the elimination of all forms of gender-based violence.

In recognition of both Human Rights Day and the end of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, we are releasing a series of public education materials. These highlight the many threats women around the world continue to face--but they also uplift the multitude of ways women have struggled to demand their human rights and to live a life free of violence.  (Click on the thumbnail images at left to open a printable PDF version of the flyers -- and share them with your friends!)

Today Is World AIDS Day

Every December 1, World’s AIDS Day recognizes the devastating impact HIV/AIDS wreaks on communities around the world.  We remember that groups that have long been marginalized—including women, the LGBTQ community, sex workers and youth—have borne the brunt of this global pandemic.  And we re-commit ourselves to confront the global inequalities that deny people the right to health.

HIV/AIDS remains one of the world’s most pressing health crises, especially for women:

• Currently, 15.7 million women are living with HIV around the world.
• Of these 15.7 million women, 80% live in sub-Saharan Africa.
• In all countries in sub-Saharan Africa and in certain Caribbean countries, the majority of those living with HIV are women and girls, especially between the ages of 15 and 24.
• Globally, only 46% of countries report having a budget for HIV programs that specifically address women and girls.
• Overall, AIDS is the leading cause of death among women of reproductive age.

To learn more about the current state of the HIV/AIDS pandemic, click here to read UNAID’S 2010 Global Report.

What follows are additional helpful sites, resources and publications about HIV/AIDS, women, and how you can take action:

• CHANGE: Center for Health and Gender Equality
• Women Won’t Wait
• Health Global Access Project
• Advocates For Youth

Finally, for those of you looking to participate in World AIDS Day events, here are some events taking place in and around New York City today:

• The AIDS Memorial Quilt on Display in Borough Hall, Brooklyn from 11 am to 7 pm
• A film screening of Last Address and Candle Light Vigil at The Center, 6:30 pm
• World AIDS Day Vigil at City Hall, all day long
• Light for Rights in Washington Square Park, 5:30 pm

Take Action: International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women

One in three women around the world will be raped, beaten or otherwise abused in their lifetimes.  Today, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we recognize this unacceptable and inescapable fact, and we commit ourselves again to shed light on this often-ignored reality and to demand action.

But women worldwide are also advocating and organizing solutions to end violence.  They are marching in the streets, demanding action from their governments, providing support to women in their communities, creating new international human rights tools and more.

You can also take action: Today is the first day of the 16 Days of Activism against Gender Violence, which will last until Human Rights Day on December 10.  Check out the campaign’s website to get involved with local events and activities confronting gender violence or to download their toolkit.