Sexual Assault Awareness Month

I just recently found out that April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and it is only appropriate that I include facts about this heinous crime that continues to plague women, and men, regardless of economic status, race, ethnicity, or creed. The information below has been obtained from Colorado Coalition against Sexual Assault (CCSA) and Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network (RAINN). 

• 85% of incarcerated sex offenders knew the person they assaulted

• 90% of college and university sexual assault victims knew their attacker

• 1 out of 6 American women and 1 out of 33 American men have been a victim of an attempted or completed sexual assault

• 15% of sexual assault and rape victims are under the age of 12

• Over 50% of transgender individuals are survivors of sexual violence

• Alcohol is the number 1 drug used in a sexual assault

• 54% of sexual assaults are not reported to the police

As far as I am concerned, every day should be sexual assault awareness day, human trafficking awareness day, domestic violence awareness day, and any-other-horrible-issue awareness day. These issues should not simply be subjects to be discussed and become enraged about only when they come to or are forced on our attention; rather, they should trigger the impulse to understand the topic and its underlying causes and work hard to educate communities that unless there is a societal shift, the problems will be hard to eradicate. 

-          Krasi

Human Trafficking Awareness Week

This past week was Human Trafficking Awareness Week (HTAW) here at Josef Korbel School of International Studies and it was quite the roller-coaster ride. All I can say is that I am officially behind on schedule with readings and writing assignments for all of my classes, but it was totally worth it. Personally, I believe that reading the literature on the subject I am interested in and writing papers for classes are certainly two important aspects of the life of every aspiring human rights activist. What it comes down to eventually, though, is the practical application of the knowledge and skills acquired. As such, sometimes I become just a little fed up with all the reading and paper-writing going on and decide to focus on advocacy and action instead. This is how I approached HTAW and completely enjoyed the event as a result.  

On Monday, an NGO Panel consisting of representatives of local organizations discussed issues on the subject of human trafficking and their specific roles in combating the practice. The perspectives offered revealed what actually happens behind all the grand speeches and calls to action; the audience found out that there are many who do the hard work of conducting research, participating in outreach, and defending those in need. A couple of great points made during the panel were voiced by Stephanie Bell of Prax(us). First, she emphasized the importance of a culture shift before the abolition of forced labor and trafficking is accomplished. The problem does not need a Band-Aid; it needs to be extinguished at its root causes. I could not agree more with Stephanie. Unless the environment conducive to forced labor and human trafficking is changed, any effort to eradicate the practice will be at best temporary and inefficient. Second, for the aforementioned goal to be achieved, the human trafficking movement should have as leaders those who are most affected by the issue or who are survivors of the practice. 

On Tuesday evening, a talk by historian and writer Ron Soodalter, a co-author of the Slave Next Door, provided an audience of both students and community members the basic information on the issue of human trafficking and slave labor in the United States specifically. The information he offered was not new to me, but I hope it awakened budding activists in the rest of the audience. One central point he made that I need to highlight here is the importance of educating law enforcement to recognize the intricacies of the issue and thus avoid becoming part of the problem. 

Wednesday was movie night and we had the opportunity to see Grandma’s Tattoos in which the director set out on a journey to uncover the buried underneath societal and cultural taboos and norms the abuse of women during the Armenian genocide. I can say I am somewhat disappointed by the ending filmmaker Khardalian chose, but I do hope that the subject of the horrendous treatment toward Armenian women during World War I continues to be of interest to those most affected.  

Music was the focus of Thursday night and a local band performed to the entertainment of students while the Human Trafficking Clinic Associates spread information on the target problem.

Friday was by far our biggest event and the most exciting as it included multitudes of people, lots of pieces of great art, a vibrant atmosphere, and 288 Subway cookies! The event was a Silent Art Auction and it was scheduled and executed as part of the Santa Fe Art Walk which takes place on the first Friday of each month. Clinic Associates, fellow students, and community members donated art to support the cause and the auction turned out to be a huge success. Not all art pieces were sold, but all the cookies were demolished:). 

 

-          Krasi

Landmine Awareness Day

This past Wednesday, April 4^th, I attended a seminar in observance of Landmine Awareness Day. I bet some of you didn’t even know there is such a day! And neither did I until this past week. What truly shocked me is not that a day is dedicated to the awareness of landmines but the information I obtained at that seminar. I had no idea how endemic mines are and how many civilian deaths they cause each year. I, of course, have heard of landmines, but I always thought that these are weapons used in military actions and not something I need to worry about unless I end up in a zone with a military conflict. The lives of many innocent children, women, and men are affected, however, each day by antipersonnel landmines long after a military conflict is over and stronger pressure must be applied to urge those in charge to take action.

I have included below some of the disturbing information I am now privy to and I just feel it is my responsibility to share it with as many people as possible.

1. Landmines were first invented in the 1920s soon after the World War I in response to the tank. The purpose of the anti-tank landmines was to control adversaries without having to expose oneself to them. A problem with the anti-tank mines was that they could be removed easily and as a result, the anti-personnel landmines came into existence.

2. While it costs $3-10 to buy a mine, it could cost up to $1000 to remove one mine. 

3. About 800 deaths a month are caused by landmines and of these, most are civilians.  

4. About 75% of landmine victims are civilians. 

5. The country with the highest estimated number of landmines is Egypt and that is 23,000,000 landmines! 

6. The country with the highest estimated number of landmines per square mile is Bosnia & Herzegovina – 152 per square mile! One of the speakers at the seminar, Prof. van Arsdale, who has spent a significant amount of time in Bosnia, provided a grim account of how a landmine changed the life of a family. He emphasized the biggest problem with anti-personnel mines as the fact that they do not distinguish between a soldier and a young woman who is working in her garden. Another horrific characteristic of this military invention is that its purpose is not to kill but to maim. 

7. Roughly about 100,000 mines are removed each year. 

8. The United States has yet to become a “state party” to the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997. To push for the United States to sign and adhere to the Mine Ban Treaty of 1997, please go to the following page: http://www.avaaz.org/en/obama_ban_mines/96.php 

9. For a country to become a “state party,” it must adhere to the following requirements: 1. Agree to never use, develop, produce, stockpile or transfer antipersonnel mines; 2 Agree to destroy all stockpiled antipersonnel landmines within 4 years; 3. Agree to destroy all laid antipersonnel landmines within 10 years; 4. Provide assistance for mine clearance, awareness, stockpile destruction, and victim assistance activities;

At the end of the seminar, all present had the opportunity to watch Surviving the Peace, a film that provides an account of the impact of a landmine on one Laos family and the efforts made by the Mine Advisory Group (MAG) to train people to remove mines. The sad truth the film reveals is not simply that a family became a victim of landmines, but that it became so as a result of a conflict that had nothing to do with that family.

-       Krasi

Amnesty International Annual General Meeting, Denver 2012

After a serious consideration of my limited graduate student budget, I eventually decided to attend the Amnesty International Annual General Meeting here in Denver over this past weekend. The event included conversations and discussions on some of the signature issues AI focuses on: immigrants’rights, abolition of the death penalty, and maternal health, but what grabbed my attention were the variety of new issues considered and the level of professionalism and strong activism each of the presenters on these brought with them. I, of course, could not physically attend all sessions and hence have provided comments only on the events I actually was present to. 

The first day of the conference for me started with the opening ceremony and the various awards given to deserving current and future activists. One such award was granted to the winners of the Shelley and Donald Rubin Foundation High School Essay Competition. What I would have really enjoyed and appreciated is to hear the high school students read brief excerpts from their winning essays and possibly elaborate on what prompted them to write on the subject. I believe the above would have allowed the attendees to develop a better idea of the level of understanding of human rights and the importance of targeting violations among these young activists. It is certainly important to hear the speeches of established in the field dignitaries, but it is also just as important to learn about the views of the future generation. 

A great highlight of the first day of the conference was the Forever Young social that took place in the evening once the opening ceremonies had concluded. A poet, Big Poppa E, and a musician, Michelle Shocked, successfully grabbed the attendees’ attention with works that rang relevant, important, and most of all personal. By expressing strong feelings, both were able to inspire the audience members and to acknowledge their humanity, all in the matter of a couple of hours. I strongly recommend both artists to anyone interested in literary works and music that serve a purpose beyond that to entertain. 

I began the second day of the conference with the opening remarks provided by Suzanne Nossel, the new Executive Director of AIUSA, and a keynote address by the American Hikers imprisoned in Iran in 2009, Shane Bauer, Josh Fattal, and Sarah Shourd. In her speech, Suzanne made several statements that made an impression on me and prompted me to investigate further the issues highlighted. One such statement was that currently, bananas are apparently more heavily regulated than conventional weapons. Sitting in the Colorado Ballroom II, I wondered how many people would actually agree that bananas are more dangerous than weapons. In addition, she briefly mentioned a topic about which I shall write a post in the future, and that was the role of technology in the fight against human rights violations. Without dismissing its strong impact, she emphasized that no social media would ever be a substitute for foot soldiers, but it could certainly assist in multiplying and uniting activists across borders, cultures, and circumstances. 

The focus of the three speeches delivered by Sarah, Shane, and Josh was the fact that their ordeal was nothing more than a strategic move in a complicated game of politics. The personal stories of interactions with their interrogators reveal that it was clear they were not considered spies, or a threat; they simply happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time and came to be considered an important factor in the game of politics. Moreover, as Shane stressed, their greatest fear during the imprisonment was that Israel or the US would attack Iran and that would lead to dire consequences for him and his friends. It was a surprise for me to hear all three of them point out the role of US foreign policy in the spreading hate around the world and warn that a military attack on Iran is not a solution; rather, it would create more and severe problems. Ultimately, instead of contributing to the increasing hate toward the region and people from that region, the hikers remain supportive of them and strongly encourage international cooperation.  

By far, one of the more interesting sessions at the conference happened to be the panel discussion on the topic of the closing of Guantanamo. Participants in the debate were Ken Gude (the Chief of Staff and Vice President at the Center of American Progress), Colonel Morris Davis (an attorney and retired Air Force colonel), and Joseph Margulies (an attorney with the Roderick MacArthur Justice Center and a Clinical Professor at Northwestern University Law School in Chicago). Gude stressed that the reason for not closing Guantanamo lies in existing bipartisan political opposition and Colonel Davis highlighted the role the opinion of the general public plays in the debate. As he argued, a large percentage of Americans approve of the institution and believe it is a great way to target those threatening peaceful existence. The only solution is then education. And as far as I am concerned, education is what Margulies provided. He warned about focusing on a global idea, such as closing Guantanamo, without taking into consideration the consequences and stressed that activists should instead target more specific issues such as the transfer of the 89 prisoners who have already been cleared for transfer but are still held in detention.  

A new subject presented at this year’s conference is the one dealing with forced evictions taking place in a variety of nations around the world. I could not express the magnitude of the issue any better than this statement uttered by a Nigerian victim of forced eviction: “Do we want to be refugees in our own land?”

Another quite interesting session I had the opportunity to attend presented a dialogue on the advancement of women’s human rights with a specific focus on Indigenous women.  Participants included Sarah Deer (an Assistant Professor at the William Mitchell College of Law and a citizen of the Muscogee Nation) and Halima Kazem (a research and journalist working in Afghanistan). It once again became clear that while a multitude of social, economic and political changes have increased the vulnerability of millions of men, women and children in the developing world, of these, women hold a special place and regularly, without effort, find themselves in a position of extreme defenselessness and the victims of physical and sexual abuse. 

Before I end this post, there is one more comment that I just have to make. It is in reference to one particular statement mentioned by activists throughout the conference. While Jenni Williams was accepting her award, at the end of her speech she mentioned that she hopes her organization is successful in reaching its 50th anniversary, similar to Amnesty International, and that AI reaches another 50 years of accomplishments. I, of course, know exactly what she meant by that. However, doesn’t the statement also mean that we are wishing for severe human rights violations to continue for at least another fifty years? Personally, I prefer to wish that the wide-spread disregard for human rights subsides and the services of so many activists are no longer needed. That could mean that I would no longer be able to function as a human rights activists, but I would most certainly enjoy living in a world in which I don’t need to be a human rights activist than a world in which I must be one.

-       Krasi