Action Page
16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence
This year, the Save Darfur Coalition is marking the internationally-observed 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence running from November 25, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, to December 10, International Human Rights Day. This link serves to emphasize that women’s rights are human rights, and that each of us has a responsibility to act when human rights are violated. Each day for 16 days, the coalition’s unique campaign will honor a leader in the fight to empower, protect and uplift women in Sudan and offer a corresponding action for activists.
What does a leader look like? Our leaders range from community activists to social entrepreneurs to authors to legislators to a choreographer – hailing from different countries and with a wide range of experiences. Yet all have worked diligently to bring an end to the government-sponsored campaign of sexual violence, intimidation and lack of justice that women in Sudan have experienced. Each have thought creatively about how to use the tools at their disposal to effect social change.
The actions that match these leaders – 16 actions which you can undertake – are similarly diverse – from writing your Member of Congress and demanding specific actions, to sharing a manifesto from women in a Chad refugee camp with your community, to reading a memoir of the genocide, written by a female Darfuri doctor, and discussing it with your book club.
In the past six years, the countless stories of brutality experienced by the women in refugee and IDP camps, and throughout Darfur, have only been matched by the stories of heroism – of women sustaining, caring for and protecting their families and communities in uncertain, dangerous and traumatic times.
The 16 Days Initiative is part of the Save Darfur Coalition’s ongoing advocacy efforts to combat the epidemic of sexual violence in Darfur and provide comprehensive services to survivors. We are honored to raise our voices with the thousands of other NGO, Civil Society Groups and individuals participating in the 16 Days to say that the voices of these women will not be silenced, that we will not turn away, and we refuse to stop fighting for increased security. As an activist at the Pledge 2 Protect Conference stated, “Unless you are living in Darfur, there is no such thing as Darfur fatigue.” As Reverend Gloria-White Hammond, one of our 16 Leaders, has said “Now is not the time to be silent.” This challenge is too large to be met with complacency – it requires the sustained, creative and compassionate action of every single person, male and female, who believes that this violence is wrong, that it is unconscionable, and that it has been going on for six years too long.
Join us. Raise your voice. Stop the violence at http://action.savedarfur.org/campaign/16days.
| Date: | 25 November 2009 |
| Location: |
Location
Washington, DC |
| Action Type: | 16 Days |
| Sponsored By: | Save Darfur Coalition |
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16 Days Of Activism Against Gender Violence
10 Dec 2009
Day 16 - Zeinab Eyega
Born in Southern Sudan, Zeinab Eyega said that she was “born and raised in a refugee camp, and hopes not to die in a refugee camp.” From an early age, Eyega was confronted with traumatic cases of violent rapes and infanticide, which she recognized as a result of Sudanese government policies which were “disastrous to women.” After immigrating to the U.S., Eyega worked as a program director for the African Immigrant Program at the Research, Action and Information Network for Bodily Integrity of Women (RAINBO).
In 2004, Eyega founded the Sauti Yetu Center for African Women in New York City. ‘Sauti Yetu’ (‘Our Voices’ in Swahili) is an advocacy organization serving African immigrant women and their families in areas such as family violence prevention, education, reproductive health and women’s rights. The Center offers resources and educational materials on female circumcision and female genital-cutting (FC/FGC) to African immigrant communities as well as Western health professionals, and conducts cross-cultural competency trainings and capacity-building programs for African women. In 2008 alone, Sauti Yetu, a small organization, helped 165 women who spoke 57 African languages to successfully access and work with social services agencies in New York City. Eyega has a long history of planning advocacy events and has been deeply involved in efforts to end atrocities in the Darfur region of her native Sudan, presently serving as a board member of the Save Darfur Coalition. We proudly recognize Zeinab Eyega for using her own wealth of experiences to help other African refugee and immigrant women in the United States, and for serving as an outspoken advocate to end the genocide in Darfur.
Take Action - Day 16
Are you interested in connecting with Sudanese diaspora groups in your area, or volunteering with a refugee assistance organization? Check out the list of organizations, organized by state, that we put together. Don’t see your city or state on the list? Contact melissa@savedarfur.org to connect with a Save Darfur Grassroots Director familiar with your area.
10 Dec 2009
Day 15 - Ann Curry
As an NBC news anchor and a correspondent covering many of the world’s most severe humanitarian crises – from Iraq to Rwanda to Sri Lanka – Ann Curry has established herself as an enormously influential journalist. Since March 2006, Curry has devoted much of her attention to another area of the world wracked by conflict: Darfur. Curry traveled to the region three times in 2006 alone, meeting with refugees in Chad and traveling to IDP camps in Darfur. The signature of Curry’s reportage is often considered to be her focus on the human aspects of any story. Curry’s coverage of the Darfur crisis has been no exception, and has included personal interviews with female survivors of sexual violence. Helping amplify Darfuri womens’ voices for a Western audience, Curry reported that rape and sexual violence against Darfuri women can ruin their chances to marry and stigmatize and isolate them within their communities. Of perhaps greatest importance, given that coverage of atrocities in Darfur so often focuses on women as victims alone, Curry’s reporting emphasized that these women are heroes and survivors who, despite having borne and seen unbelievable horrors, continue to sustain their families and provide leadership in their communities.
Curry most recently returned to the region in February 2009, when the ICC arrest warrant for Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir was expected to be announced at any moment. Curry had already confronted al-Bashir on camera in a 2007 interview about his role in the genocide, questioning his assertion that Arab militias had burned more than 1,000 villages in the Darfur region without support of the Sudanese government. Ann Curry is one of our 16 Leaders this year for helping demonstrate that no matter how systematically the Sudanese government attempts to silence Darfuri women, they will always find ways to speak.
Take Action - Day 15
If you have paid attention to the coverage of Darfur and Sudan for any length of time, you may be wondering: what happened to it recently? If you believed in the adage “no news is good news,” you might assume that the millions of Darfuri civilians stuck in Internally-Displaced Persons (IDP) camps have begun to return home and rebuild their lives, or that Darfuri women no longer suffer from eminent threat of rape and gender-based violence. This could not be further from the truth, and the risk of increased sexual violence may grow as international attention wanes. Please contact Dateline NBC at Dateline@nbcuni.com and ask the producers to run a special on violence against women in Sudan and to continue to amplify the voices of Darfuri and Southern Sudanese women striving for peace.
10 Dec 2009
Day 14 - Humanitarian and Civil Society Organizations Working on the Ground
On every other day of these 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, we honor specific, named individuals – as well as one unique organization and a group of women – whose voices, stories and careers have moved us. But on this day, we honor those whom we cannot name, whose faces and specific stories we cannot share. Today we honor all the courageous individuals working with humanitarian aid and Sudanese civil society groups on the ground in Darfur, whose ability to continue direct lifesaving work requires that they remain anonymous and entirely separate from international advocacy efforts.
Humanitarian aid organizations and Sudanese civil society groups have always faced enormous challenges in their work to provide lifesaving assistance and services to Darfuri civilians. Their staff, both foreign and Sudanese, are at constant threat of robbery and attack by various armed parties and bandits in Darfur. Throughout the crisis in Darfur, they have confronted regular obstruction and harassment by Sudanese authorities as they have worked not only to provide critical water, food and supplies but also medical services, education programs and sanitation services to prevent the spread of disease.
In March of 2009, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir expelled 13 international aid groups and disbanded three Sudanese relief groups. In the wake of the expulsions, the United Nations and those groups remaining on the ground mobilized to fill massive gaps in aid and keep thousands of Darfuri civilians alive, including through the latest rainy season in Darfur. But these emergency gap-filling measures will not be sustainable, and many essential services, including medical and psychological support for survivors of sexual violence, have not been restored. The United States must lead international efforts to restore full and unrestricted humanitarian access in Darfur, and prioritize the return of services for survivors of gender based violence.
No matter the obstacles posed to their work by Sudanese authorities and armed parties, and often with insufficient support from the international community, individuals working with international humanitarian and Sudanese civil society organizations in Darfur have responded to the crisis in Darfur with determination and courage. In honor of their work, and in light of the continued risk at which those on the ground in Darfur remain, we represent them among today’s 16 leaders with a blank face.
Take Action - Day 14
Contact your Representative about the conflict in Sudan and the sexual violence that Darfuri women remain exposed to each day, including recommendations for action.
10 Dec 2009
Day 13 - Halima Bashir
Halima Bashir was born in Darfur to a relatively well-off family in the late 1970s. Her father ensured that she received an excellent education, which was rare for women in the area. Bashir attended medical school in Khartoum and later returned to her village, hoping to serve as its first professionally trained doctor. However, Bashir’s plans were derailed when, in response to her criticism of the government’s treatment of several Darfuri tribes, she was expelled to the remote village of Mazkhaba in northern Darfur. Her work in the small clinic there would change her life forever.
Not long after the genocide in Darfur began, children with horrific injuries inflicted by the janjaweed militias began flooding the clinic. Many had been attacked at home or school. On one afternoon, more than forty female students, ranging from ages 7-13, and their teachers were brought into Bashir’s clinic after having been brutally raped and beaten. Bashir later wrote that “at no stage in my years of study had I been taught how to deal with 8-year-old victims of gang rape in a rural clinic without enough sutures to go around.” Upon learning of the attack, United Nations officials arrived at the clinic to ask Bashir what had happened. She spoke the truth.
Within days, Bashir was kidnapped by soldiers and subjected to repeated, vicious attacks. They took turns raping her, burning her with cigarettes ,cutting her with their weapons and beating her. They told her that she would suffer for both her conversation with the UN and her ethnic background. After several days, Bashir was released and returned to her family’s village. Shortly thereafter, the village was attacked and she had to flee from the country to London, England – where another set of trials awaited her. Her father was killed, and she still does not know about the safety or whereabouts of her mother and siblings.
In the aftermath of her tremendous loss and suffering, Halima decided that she needed to share her story with the world to spread the word about the rampant violence affecting men, women, and children across Darfur. In 2008, she wrote a memoir titled Tears of the Desert. She now speaks to audiences around the world about her experiences and the violence in Darfur. When New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof asked Halima whether she regretted her decision to speak to the United Nations about the attack on the school, she said, “what happened to me happened to so many other Darfur women. If I didn’t tell, all the other people don’t get the chance — and I have the chance. I am a well-educated woman, so I can speak up and send a message to the world.” The book that captures her message, Tears of the Desert, is incredibly beautiful, heartwrenching and deeply affecting. For finding profound courage in the midst of tragedy, we are proud to name Halima Bashir one of our 16 leaders.
Take Action - Day 13
Read Halima Bashir’s Tears of the Desert with your book club and use the Random House reader’s guide to prompt discussion.
10 Dec 2009
Day 12 - Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda and Swanee Hunt
After serving as the Regional Director for thirteen countries in Eastern and the Horn of Africa for UN WOMEN. Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda took on her present role as the General Secretary for the World Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA). Gumbonzvanda has worked to advance gender equity in peace processes in numerous African countries experiencing conflict, including Sudan. She assumed a lead role in the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region that led to the adoption of the Protocol on Sexual and Gender Based Violence, and she helped develop the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and People’s Rights on Women’s Rights in Africa. As a trained human rights lawyer and native of Zimbabwe with extensive experience in conflict resolution and mediation, Gumbonzvanda has stated that “a new Sudan, a Sudan without war, needs women as leaders and as full and equal citizens. Women are central to the enormous tasks ahead and can accelerate the building of peace, security and prosperity.”
As a delegate at the second Sudanese Women’s Forum, Gumbonzvanda stressed the need for full implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325, which would ensure that Darfuri women are included in peace negotiations. At the forum, she explained “this is to show the world that the women of Darfur are not victims, but part of the process upon which peace shall be built. It is a positive story of Darfur women seeking to find a lasting peace even though they have been deeply affected by the war.” Ms. Gumbonzvanda recently founded a new women’s rights and empowerment organization, the Rozaria Memorial Trust (RMT). Widely recognized for her work advancing women’s rights, she was awarded lifetime membership to the Maendeleo Ya Wanawake Organization and received the 2008 Soromundi (Sisters of the World) Award for her work to highlight violations of the human rights of women and girls in conflict regions around the world.
Swanee Hunt became involved in Sudanese peace negotiations through a far different path. With a background serving in the Colorado state government and working with the Presbyterian Church, Hunt was appointed the U.S. Ambassador to Austria, where she served from 1993-97. After working to broker peace in the neighboring Balkan states while holding this post, Hunt reflected on this experience in a book titled This Was Not Our War: Bosnian Women Reclaiming the Peace.
After serving as the Founding Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Kennedy School at Harvard University, Hunt now chairs the Institute for Inclusive Security. This Washington-based organization advocates for the full inclusion of women in peace processes and conducts research on and trainings in best practices for advancing this goal. The Institute has done extensive work in Sudan to lay groundwork for an inclusive Darfur peace process, convene meetings of Darfuri women to discuss and articulate their common goals, share their priorities with international actors, and support preparations for national elections. Hunt has spent her career fighting for women to be heard in conflict zones, and has helped create opportunities for Darfuri women to strengthen and unify their voices and advance their priorities for a peaceful Sudan.
In recognition of their tremendous contributions to building peace in Sudan, we are proud to honor Nyaradzayi Gumbonzvanda and Swanee Hunt, the mediators, as among our 16 Leaders
Take Action - Day 12
Read the statement that Donald Steinberg, Deputy President for Policy for the International Crisis Group, submitted to the U.S. Senate Foreign Relations Committee this fall. In his testimony, he discusses his experience supporting peace negotiations to end the civil war in Angola, while serving as President Clinton’s advisor for Africa in 1994. He states that “When the Lusaka Protocol was signed, I boasted that not a single provision in the agreement discriminated against women. ‘The agreement is gender-neutral,’ I said in a speech. It took me only a few weeks after my arrival in Luanda to realize that a peace agreement that calls itself 'gender-neutral' is, by definition, discriminatory against women.” He goes on to discuss how the peace agreement did not include provisions to address sexual violence, human trafficking, abuses by government and rebel security forces, reproductive health care and girls’ education – and quickly fell apart. Steinberg, eloquently and movingly, builds his case for inclusive peace processes and the mobilization of resources for survivors of sexual violence in conflict areas like Sudan.
10 Dec 2009
Day 11 - Senators Barbara Boxer and Russ Feingold
In the spring of 2009, Senator Russ Feingold and Senator Barbara Boxer presided over a joint hearing of the Subcommittee for Foreign Affairs and the Subcommittee on International Operations and Organizations, Human Rights, Democracy and Global Women’s Issues titled, “Confronting Rape and other Forms of Violence Against Women in Conflict Zones Spotlight: DRC and Sudan.” In her opening statement, Boxer quoted a report by Refugees International that rape is “an integral part of the pattern of violence that the government of Sudan is inflicting upon the targeted ethnic groups in Darfur...The raping of Darfuri women is not sporadic or random, but is inexorably linked to the systematic destruction of their communities.” Following the hearings, Senators Boxer, Feingold and Jeanne Shaheen composed a letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton requesting U.S. government action to prevent and serve survivors of sexual violence in Congo and Sudan. They asked the U.S. government take action to train Congolese surgeons in how to treat rape victims, and to help deploy mental health professionals to assist survivors .They also called for the U.S. to assist in the recruitment and training of female police units to respond to situations of sexual violence. The Senators called for an assessment of the needs of women living in IDP camps in Sudan, including their need for solar cookers, which would limit the amount of time women are at risk of violence outside of camps while collecting firewood.
Senators Boxer and Feingold both have long histories of action on behalf of Darfur. Senator Boxer has co-sponsored multiple pieces of Darfur-related legislation, including the Sudan Accountability and Divestment Act of 2007, a resolution on Civilian Protection in 2006, and the Sudan Divestment Authorization Act in 2007. In 2008, Senator Boxer co-sponsored a resolution calling for the implementation of the signed peace agreements in Darfur and for the deployment of AU and UN forces. Boxer voted in favor of the Genocide Accountability Act, which now allows the US Justice Department to prosecute those accused of committing genocide overseas. On the 94th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide, Senator Boxer released a statement to President Obama stating that “since 2002, the Sudanese government has attempted to exterminate the African Muslim population of Darfur with horrific acts of brutality. Villages have been burned to the ground, innocent women and children slaughtered by helicopter gunships, and rape has been used as a tool of genocide. What happened to the Armenians is genocide. What is happening today in Darfur is genocide, even though the government of Sudan denies this.”
Senator Feingold, chairman of the Subcommittee for African Affairs, was the first Senator to speak on the Senate floor about the conflict in Darfur in September of 2004, when he urged President Bush to appoint a Special Envoy to Darfur. Two years later, Feingold joined Darfur advocates in marking a “Global Day for Darfur”, urging action by the United States and the international community. Like Senator Boxer, Senator Feingold has co-sponsored numerous Senate resolutions on Darfur.
In recognition of their leadership in bring to the attention of their Congressional colleagues and the American public the conflict in Darfur and, most recently, the violence against women endemic in the region, we name Senator Russ Feingold and Senator Barbra Boxer among our 16 Leaders.
Take Action - Day 11
Contact your Senators about the conflict in Sudan and the sexual violence that Darfuri women remain exposed to each day, including recommendations for action.
10 Dec 2009
Day 10 - Fatima Haroun
Fatima Haroun, a native of west Darfur, was born and raised in Jabel Marra and has become one of the most committed and effective Darfur activists in the United States. After graduating from Khartoum University, Haroun went back to Darfur to volunteer with development projects, focusing on establishing training centers to teach rural women how to create and market handicrafts to generate income. The centers Haroun organized also offered literacy programs and health education and served not only women, but their children and communities.
When her family moved to the United States to seek greater security, Haroun became one of the first and most outspoken female advocates for the rights of the people of Darfur, calling early and consistent attention to the impact of the genocide on Darfuri women. Haroun was a leading speaker in the Save Darfur Coalition’s “Voices from Darfur” national awareness program, touring numerous states to speak to students, activists, and policymakers. Haroun has testified before Congress, the Senate and the UN Security Council and has spoken at many briefings, public events and rallies about the genocide in Darfur and the threat of sexual violence. In addition to organizing events to benefit Darfuri women, Haroun has been an outspoken advocate for survivors of GBV, saying that “women and children as young as eight, nine, and 13 are being targeted on a daily basis – multiple assaults, multiple injuries – enough is enough.”
The former President of the Darfur Rehabilitation Project, Haroun now serves as the Vice President of the Darfur Alert Coalition. Haroun is also a founding member of the Darfuri Leaders Network (DLN), a coalition of Darfuri organizations around the country. Over the past two years, Haroun has taken part in a DLN initiative to discuss issues for future peace negotiations with the Government of Sudan. Haroun is presently a social worker for the city of Philadelphia and is working to form an organization that raises up the voices of Sudanese women.
Her professional experiences working with women in rural development and reconciliation play a key role in this process. Her most vital contributions, however, have been showing other participants how to share one’s personal convictions without denying the legitimacy of others people’s opinions and ideas. Fatima has often been a leading voice for compromise within this network. Despite her multiple responsibilities as a working woman and mother, Haroun has never hesitated to travel during the day or night to advance the cause of Darfur. For her ceaseless activism and inspiring leadership, we are proud to honor Fatima Haroun as one of our 16 Leaders.
Take Action - Day 10
Organize a silent auction, panel, concert, art show and more in your community to raise money for organizations working to end violence against women in Sudan. Not sure how to start? Check out Save Darfur’s event guide, fundraising guide, movie screening guide and tips on how to find speakers and get press attention. Have questions? Get in touch with the Grassroots Organizer for your region, who can help you come up with ideas and provide materials and resources for your event.
10 Dec 2009
Since its founding thirty years ago, Refugees International (RI) has been at the forefront of advocacy efforts on behalf of displaced people in areas of crisis around the world. From Burma to Kosovo to Sudan, RI has lobbied for lifesaving assistance and protection for displaced people and refugees and promoted lasting solutions to displacement crises.
RI has consistently focused its attention and research on sexual violence against Darfuri women. In June 2007, it released a report titled Laws Without Justice: An Assessment of Sudanese Laws Affecting Survivors of Rape, which detailed the mass rape being committed by armed militias in Darfur. The report focused on the myriad barriers to justice facing survivors, highlighting the inability of Darfuri women to access arbitration systems or to report sexual assaults without risking further abuse. RI reported that even in cases where sexual violence is reported, holding perpetrators accountable is nearly impossible, for reasons that include deep flaws in the Sudanese legal system and the near total immunity from prosecution enjoyed by perpetrators affiliated with the Sudanese state or military.
Building on this research, RI released Ending Sexual Violence in Darfur: An Advocacy Agenda, calling for peacekeeping missions in Darfur to devote the necessary resources, including female troops, to confront sexual violence. RI continues to lead advocacy efforts to help survivors of violence access medical care and report crimes without facing punishment. Calling on the U.S. and the international community to properly fund programs devoted to protecting women from sexual violence, RI also advocates for a political solution to end to the conflict in Darfur and the sexual violence which has been a defining part of it. RI continually emphasizes the importance of engaging women in the reintegration process, making vocational training programs for women more responsive to their cultural and situational limitations, investing in programs to address gender-based violence across Sudan including in the South and transitional areas, and increasing donor funding to expand programming to new areas. For their continuing dedication to ensuring lifesaving services and lasting solutions for displaced people, and unique emphasis on displaced women, we honor Refugees International as one of our 16 Leaders.
Take Action - Day 9
Inform yourself about the status of refugees and IDPs in Sudan by visiting the Save Darfur Coalition’s collection of resources and reports related to sexual violence.
10 Dec 2009
Day 8 - Rebecca Davis
Rebecca Davis, a Vancouver native and Russian-trained classical ballet dancer, has a resume that is far from ordinary. She has choreographed and taught ballet in Canada, Russia, Rwanda, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and the United States, and is currently pursuing a Masters of International Relations with a concentration in Peacekeeping. She received a degree in choreography from the Saint Petersburg Conservatory and graduated summa cum laude with a Business degree from Temple University. Last summer, she spent two months in Brcko, Bosnia-Herzegovina, developing a creative movement program for youth of diverse ethnic backgrounds focusing on the theme of reconciliation in a post-conflict country.
Three years ago, Davis founded the award-winning Rebecca Davis Dance Company, located in Philadelphia. As you might have guessed, this is no ordinary ballet company – instead it is a not-for-profit organization that uses contemporary ballet as a tool to deepen the public's knowledge of famous literary works, significant historical events, and modern social issues. And in April 2008, Davis debuted DARFUR, a powerful and engaging multi-media modern dance production based on the Emmy-nominated documentary film The Devil Came on Horseback. DARFUR is performed by a cast of ten professional dancers, as a multi-media film plays behind them. To date, DARFUR has raised $5,000 for the non-profit organization Global Grassroots, an organization which invests its resources in individuals and communities, who, despite deep social and economic hardship, offer ideas for lasting social change within Sudan. Of the conflict in Darfur, Davis has said “this is a human issue, and we all have the ability and the responsibility to make a difference. It’s my hope that no one can learn about the atrocities in Darfur without feeling a moral obligation to help.” For using her talent and capacity creatively to respond to the crisis in Darfur, we are proud to recognize Rebecca Davis as one of our 16 Leaders.
Take Action - Day 8
In the past several months, Save Darfur has received an influx of mail about artistic projects activists have undertaken to raise awareness about the conflict in Sudan — ranging from making jewelry to creating paintings for galleries to establishing multimedia displays. We are working to gather these together and launch a page on our website called the “Creative Community.” It will be a place both to display the terrific work of our activists and to provide inspiration for others who want to create a Sudan-related project, but aren’t sure how to start. But before we launch the page, we want to hear about your creative project! Have you done something artistic or out-of-the-box in your community to draw attention to the crisis, or do you want to? Email melissa@savedarfur.org and tell us about it.
10 Dec 2009
Day 7 - Melanne Verveer
In January 2009, Melanne Verveer became the first U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues. In this post, Verveer works diligently to increase opportunities for women to be involved in political processes and advance their social and economic opportunities. Prior to her appointment, Verveer held other prominent government positions and co-founded Vital Voices, an organization which empowers women to become agents of change in their societies and promoters of democracy and social justice.
In the short time in her present office, Verveer has been a strong advocate for the eradication of violence against women and girls around the world. In her testimony to the Senate Foreign Relations Committee during its recent hearing on “Violence against Women: Global Costs and Consequences,” Verveer stated:
Preventing violence against women isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s the smart thing to do. Multiple studies from economists, corporations, institutes and foundation have demonstrated again and again that women are key drivers of economic growth and that investing in women yields enormous dividends. We know from these studies that women reinvest up to 90 percent of their income in their families and communities. And yet none of these benefits are possible unless girls are able to learn without fear and women are able to have autonomy and decision-making over their own lives, and those are the very things that violence and fear of violence take away.
Verveer went on to testify about the violence that women around the world confront, including in Burma, Pakistan, Congo, and Sudan. Addressing the situation in Darfur, she explained, “the displaced women in Sudan’s Darfur region risk rape when they leave camps to collect firewood – rape by some of the same perpetrators that caused their displacement and by other militia and bandits. In refugee camps in eastern Chad and in Kenya, women risk attack by local people protecting their resources as well as by armed groups. Rape is used in conflict situations as a purposeful strategy to subdue and destroy communities, and an atmosphere of impunity prevails.”
In recognition of her pioneering work to advance global women’s empowerment, we are proud to name Melanne Verveer as one of our 16 Leaders.
Take Action - Day 7
Today, we will be using social networking sites in order to spread information about the 16 Days.
Use Facebook? Here’s what you can do:
1. Post a link on your wall to http://www.savedarfur.org/16days, along with text that says: Join me in honoring the women of Sudan by participating in the "16 Days" campaign. Check out http://www.savedarfur.org/16days to learn more.
2. Make this your status:
In Darfur, Sudan, rape is used as a weapon of war. Millions of displaced civilians, the majority women and children, live in squalid camps. With insufficient protection by United Nations forces, women face constant risk of rape, especially when they leave camps to collect firewood or farm. If you believe that women's rights are human rights, stand with the women of Sudan and post this as your facebook status today.
On Twitter? Use the following tweet to sign our petition asking Secretary Clinton to help protect the women of sudan:
* Petition @dipnote to protect the women of Sudan! Women's rights are human rights. http://act.ly/1f3 RT to sign #actly #16days
Note: You can visit http://act.ly/1f3 to read the and sign the petition.
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