Global
Center Activities at the
World Conference Against Racism, Racial Discrimination,
Xenophobia and Related Intolerance
WOMEN
at the Intersection of RACISM and Other OPPRESSIONS:
a HUMAN RIGHTS Hearing
August
31, 2001, 2:00 pm to 6:00 pm
World
Conference Against Racism, Durban, South Africa
Testifier's
Descriptions
Nobantu
Prudence Mabele
Prudence Nobantu Mabele is a HIV/AIDS and Gay and Lesbian activist;
executive director Positive Women's Network; President of
Society for Women and AIDS in South Africa; member of the
International Advisory Board Member for IGLHRC; researcher for Population
Council, first woman in South Africa who came out with her HIV status.
An HIV/AIDS advocate and mobiliser for women's rights and lesbian
rights, and human rights. She has received awards at
the international and national level for the work she is doing in
HIV/AIDS and homophobia. She is also a member of Treatment
Action Campaign and NAPWA.
Indira
Ghale
Indira Ghale is president of the Dhankuta district committee of
the Feminist Dalit Organization (FEDO). She is on the central board
of FEDO; member of the Nepal Teachers Association; member of the
Human Rights and Social Awareness society; secretary of Tribeni
Culture Group' member of Nepal Press Institute. She has attended
youth forums in Denmark and India; international camp in Sweden
on child labor and sexual exploitation; and the WCAR preparatory
workshop in Sri Lanka.
Vera
Kurtic
Vera Kurtic is a senior graduate of the Faculty of Philosophy in
Nis Sociology Department. As of 1997 she has been actively involved
in the work of women's organizations at the territory of South Serbia:
SOS Hotline for Battered Women and Children, Center for Non violent
Conflict Resolution and is one of the founders of Women's Space
in 1997 where she presently works as a programme coordinator. Ms.
Kurtic works actively within the Gay-Lesbian organizations in Serbia.
Vera Kurtic works as an international trainer for Roma women and
as a trainer for the programme of Norwegian's People Aid "Women
Can Do It" for women politicians in Serbia.
Slavica
Vasic
Slavica Vasic is a Roma woman from Yugoslavia. She is the activist
for Roma human rights since 1994. From 1998 she is the coordinator
of a Roma women centre, Bibija, in Belgrade, Yugoslavia
and an activist in Society for the empowerment of Roma settlements,
Belgrade, Yugoslavia. She also works as a Roma translator. She has
a daughter.
Tonya
McClary
Tonya McClary is a civil rights/criminal defense lawyer and
activists. She is co-chair of the Women's Steering Committee
for Amnesty International USA and on the Board of Directors.
She is currently completing a Soros Justice Fellowship at the National
Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty in Washington, DC.
Solange
Pierre
Solange Pierre is a Dominican activist of Afro-Haitian descent.
She works for the rights of the Haitians in the Dominican Republic
and who are deported or separated from their families. She
is involved in a case before the Inter-American Commission on Human
Rights.
Meera
Samanther
Meera Samanther is currently the President of Women's Aid Organisation.
She has been actively committed to the organization for the past
6 years since 1995. Her 10 years working experience as an
advocate and solicitor in Malaysia has helped in her present work
of advocating for legal reform on issues of Violence Against Women.
She is also the Co-chair for the Law and Policy Sub-committee of
the Malaysian government's Steering Committee on Violence Against
Women. She has also been in the forefront advocating for changes
in the Federal Constitution on gender equality.
Rozana
Isa
Rozana Isa joined Women's Aid Organisation, Malaysia, in June
1999 as a project coordinator. She was trained as an accountant
but her personal interests are in women's issues, particularly violence
against women and women's rights in Islam. She is also a member
of Sisters in Islam, Malaysia and actively advocates for the abolishment
of the Internal Security Act in Malaysia.
Behsid
Najafi
Behsid Najafi, Iranian and German, co-founder and board member
of the national network KOK Federal Association Against Trafficking
in Women and Violence Against Women in the Migration Process, one
of the leading activists for female migrants' rights in Germany.
Her working experience has combined grassroots work with migrant
women and refugees, including trafficked women, with lobbying on
the political level.
Nahar
Alam
Nahar is currently employed as a Bilingual Peer Advocate at the
Asian Pacific Islander Coalition on HIV/AIDS (APICHA) in New York
City. She is a member of the NY Women's Foundation allocation
committee and the NY Bar Association. A Bangladesh activist,
Nahar started two advocacy groups: Workers Awaaz and Andolan, dedicated
to end the exploitation of South Asian low-waged workers from various
industries. Nahar also served as the coordinator for the domestic
workers program at SAKHI, a South Asian women's organization. She
is an ex-domestic worker and domestic violence survivor.
Manar
Faraj and Nijma Ahmed Jadullah
Manar Faraj and Nijma Ahmed Jadullah are granddaughter and grandmother
who live in Deheishaea refugee camp, near Bethlehem, in Palestine.
Their family has been refugees since Israeli soldiers forced them
out of their villages in 1948. Like most Palestinians, both women
have made the struggle to free Palestine from Israeli occupation
a guiding force in their lives. Manar Faraj was born in the refugee
camp and is 15 years old. Vivian Stromberg, Executive Director of
Madre, an international women's human rights organization in the
United States, will read the testimony of Manar's grandmother, Nijma
Ahmed Jadullah.
Doris
Mpoumou
Doris, who was born in Brazzaville and grew up in France, has a
Master's degree in Linguistics from the University of Brazzaville.
Prior to coming to Women's Environment and Development Organization
(WEDO) in New York, she worked with the International Rescue Committee
as Deputy Program Coordinator on the first Sexual Violence Program
in Brazzaville. Doris was also an initiator of Congolese law reform
on sexual violence. She is currently working at WEDO as the Gender
and Governance program Associate where among other activities,
she is promoting the global 50/50 campaign to get gender balance
in government.
Maria
Toj Mendoza
Maria Toj Mendoza is Mayan Kiche from Guatemala in Central America.
She is on the Board of Directors of the Comision de la Mujer of
the Defensoria Maya. A mother of seven children and grandmother
of six, her family has been part of the indigenous `Mayan struggle
in whatever ways they could throughout the years of the war.
Maria is a survivor of the genocide in Guatemala and has been part
of the struggle since her youth.
Ita
F. Nadia
Ita F. Nadia has been a human rights worker and woman activist in
Indonesia since 1978. For 8 years she was the Director of Kalyanamitra,
a feminist organization that works on violence against women through
advocacy, training and writing. As a trainer on violence against
women in armed conflict she has worked with women in East Timor
and in other parts of Indonesia. During the May 1998 riots she coordinated
the Division on Violence Against Women. Since last year she has
been an active member of the Independent Commission on Violence
Against Women in Indonesia.
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