Global Womenʼs Rights: Amnesty International USA Town Hall, Part I

by Denise Duarte | Oct 22, 2012 | News & Blog

Global Womenʼs Rights: Amnesty International USA Town Hall, Part I

On October fourth I attended an awesome, exciting, optimistic, yet heart wrenching town hall on womenʼs rights. This was not, however, merely a civil rights discussion. It was a powerful look at the whole spectrum of global violence and atrocities against women in every country in the world, with personal stories from Zimbabwe, Rwanda and Afghanistan. It was a comprehensive look at actions taken by women to empower themselves, help their country and advocate for a fair and equal place in their society. It was, above all, an introspective evaluation of the status and challenges of women in the United States and what we can and must do to engage both nationally and globally. 

This event was entitled The XX Factor 2012: Town Hall on Womenʼs Rights and was held in Washington D.C. and sponsored by Amnesty International USA. Suzanne Nossel, the first woman Executive Director of Amnesty International USA, greeted the assembly of men and women, young, middle-aged and older, and culturally diverse. Suzanne spoke of the more than 50 years of Amnesty International being “one more voice for human rights” and its ability to reach millions of people in eighty countries to create change.

Did you know that the gender make-up of the Parliament of Rwanda is more than 50% women? After the end of the devastating genocide of 1994, women activists organized to reverse the societal rape patterns and discounting of the value of women. They took a major role in government and brought about changes and enforcement of laws. Beatrice Mukansinga, the founder of Mbwirandumva, an organization aiding women without homes or families, spoke of the challenges to provide counseling, shelter, food and skills for economic self-sufficiency to these women, who often were disabled and always traumatized. She was inspired to help these women post-genocide and now has committed her life to improving their lives.

Jenni Williams lives in Zimbabwe with different circumstances. She is fraught continuously with soldiers telling her that women should go back to the kitchen and should not be uprising. Jenni has been arrested 47 times, and other members of the grassroots organization she founded, Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), have been arrested at least half as often. Her organization is a peaceful, non-violent one, giving red roses on Valentineʼs Day. Jenni believes and told us that “the solution is in our hands”. The WOZA women protest, campaign and peacefully demonstrate to formulate community-based solutions and empower women to stand for their rights and freedoms. She believes that ”the power of love can conquer the love of power”. She recognizes that women are risk-takers and “ want a lived reality of freedom”. As pertaining to herself, Jenni wonders when she will have her own space. “ In one place Iʼm too black; in another, I am too white. I need to fight for my rights.” Jenni also mentioned that legal change must be gender-sensitive and include gender-sensitivity training for judges.

In the morning, our speaker from Afghanistan, Hasina Safi, Executive Director of the Afghanistan Education Center and Executive Board Member of Afghan Womenʼs Network, participated at a Congressional Briefing with Congresswoman Donna Edwards from Maryland and the Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission. The Afghanistan contingency presented the need for an action plan to secure Afghan womenʼs rights and protect and advance gains made by these women and girls in education, health, security, employment and other human rights. In the afternoon Hasina described the fine line between what has been accomplished through the new democracy and what can be lost in a moment. The Islam teachings of the Koran, not only allow women to be educated, but actually make education an obligation. There are 96 womenʼs groups with 5000 members working to eradicate violence against women in Afghanistan, providing awareness programs of what is printed in the Koran and advising Islamic women of their rights. The number of women in Parliament is now above 25%. According to Hasin, the Taliban has brought a misrepresentation of the Koran to Afghanistan. This has caused an increase in violence toward women and opposition to gains in womenʼs rights. The teachings of the Taliban have intensified the disparity between males and females with respect to rights. Hasina believes that the grass roots organizations need to be connected with the organizations in the capital to be more effective. 

The final woman on this panel charting the Global Womenʼs Rights Agenda was Dr. Rangita de Silva de Alwis, Director, Global Womenʼs Leadership Initiative at Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars. Through her experiences and the data bases, she shared a wealth of information, some of which are paraphrased and listed as follows:

1. The United Nations General Assembly Law often rules women OUT.
2. We can draw some parallel to sustain a revolution among Arabic peoples. On March 8th, women were beaten back and told that the time is not their time and they should return home. Women need to seize the moment of opportunity and call for Womenʼs Rights during the Revolution, not wait until the war/revolution/struggle is over.
3. The Arabic Movement could learn from South Africa where we see an equal number of men and women in government.
4. It is necessary that legal and judiciary entities should have fair laws. This is not so in Syria and Jordan where inequalities abound.
5. Some countries, such as Kenya, invoked human rights in the preamble of their constitution. They state that these national laws override the state rights.
6. The Covenant on Civil &Political Rights (ICCPR) assures gender balance because it is agreed upon that there can never be more than 2/3rds of one gender in government.
7. The Womenʼs Movement must be mobilized to secure full democracy, prevent child marriages and violence against women.
8. Men still prevent women from getting what they wish– we must redistribute, transition and reconcile justice. Our fight for justice should result in power sharing. It often does not.

Marlene Adrian, posted October 23, 2012