In an effort to broaden communication between human rights groups around the world, the Human Rights Brief is proud to host the “Brief Community News.” The “Brief Community News” is published in every issue, and the Human Rights Brief invites submissions from all human rights groups. It is our hope that nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) will use this space to inform others about their programs, successes, and challenges. To contribute, please see the information at the end of the article.
Mexican Commission for Defense and Promotion of Human Rights (CMDPH)
CMDPH, a civil society organization, has worked since 1989 to promote international human rights standards within Mexico. The organization has also worked to defend human rights in Mexico within international and regional human rights systems. This year, CMDPH has been working on a campaign to stop violence against women in the Ciudad Juárez and in the northern state of Chihuahua. Since 1993, more than 300 hundred women have been killed in Ciudad Juárez in a series of gender-based serial killings and domestic violence incidents. Recently, the problem appeared to be expanding through Chihuahua, in large part because of the discriminatory manner in which authorities are handling the situation. In many instances, authorities have attempted to justify the killings by focusing on the manner in which the women lived. Three hundred fifty Mexican and international organizations, including Amensty International, are working with CMDPH to stop the killings and promote the accountability of authorities. CMDPH has already prepared reports for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations regarding this campaign. Currently, CMDPH is working with local organizations in Ciudad Juárez and in the state of Chihuahua to compile the information necessary to bring unsolved cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. For more information about the work of CMDPH, please e-mail comunicacion@cmdpdh.org, or visit its Web site at http://www.cmdpdh.org.
The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group (PHRMG)
PHRMG is a Palestinian, independent, nongovernmental organization working to end human rights violations committed against Palestinians in the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem. PHRMG’s main task is monitoring the ever-changing human rights situations for Palestinians. The group’s field researchers responsibilities include keeping abreast of local developments, pursuing long-term monitoring tasks, and responding to urgent human rights situations in order to record eyewitness testimonies of victims, witnesses, and other actors. PHRMG also works on outreach programs that aim to educate both Palestinians and the international community about the human rights violations committed against Palestinians. These outreach programs include publication of a bi-monthly magazine, the “Palestinian Human Rights Monitor,” distributed throughout the West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem in Arabic and English; and maintenance of one extensive Web site that includes information about human rights violations committed against Palestinians, in both Arabic and English.
Recently, PHRMG established the Settler Watch Hotline. The hotline provides Palestinian victims of settler violence a phone number to call 24-hours a day where they can receive legal advice or assistance from a PHRMG lawyer. The hotline has successfully empowered Palestinians to file complaints and utilize the legal process when they are victimized. By providing legal advice to people who would have otherwise not filed a complaint, the hotline has also forced the Israeli courts to address complaints that were previously often overlooked or disregarded. PHRMG is currently updating its programs to coincide with the evolving human rights situation in Palestine and to meet the needs of the Palestinian people. For further information about the organization’s activities, please contact Tara J. Close, public relations officer, at admin@phrmg.org, or visit the organization’s Web site at www.phrmg.org.
Indian Social Institute (ISI)
ISI is a social center committed to working toward the creation of a society based on the values of justice, equality, freedom, and fraternity in India. The organization, which was founded over 25 years ago, is run by the Jesuits and works to empower India’s Dalits, tribals (India’s indigenous peoples), women, and other disadvantaged groups in Indian society by providing legal literacy training, human rights education and support.
From July 14-28, 2003, ISI will host a course entitled, “Legal Resources
for Social Action and Empowerment.” Today, social activists require a
minimum level of legal knowledge and expertise to make their work effective
and useful. To become more efficient in providing assistance, social activists
need to be equipped with adequate legal knowledge. Many ordinary Indian people,
particularly Dalits, tribals, and women, suffer unnecessary injustice and hardship
for want of legal awareness and guidance. ISI believes that social activists
and those working at the grassroots level, if provided with adequate legal training,
have the potential to make social change and empower disadvantaged groups. This
potential needs to be exploited fully and effectively in order to achieve social
change and build a just society.
For more information about all of ISI’s programs, please contact D. Albert,
coordinator of the Human Rights & Legal Service Unit, at devalbert@yahoo.co.in.
Corporation for Peace and Development in Magdalena Medio (CDPMM)
CDPMM is a non-profit organization currently working in the Magdalena Medio region of Colombia, one of the country’s most violent regions due to fighting between paramilitary groups trying to control the area. The violent deaths in the Magdalena Medio region equal the number of violent deaths in all of Colombia’s other regions combined. The organization‘s Peace and Development Program in Magdalena Medio (PDPMM), is a dynamic social process that works to empower citizens networks to make changes in their communities’ economic development. The program has two main objectives: 1) to create a sustainable human development, equal for all; and 2) to create a culture of peaceful coexistence and a common space for all, based on democratic principles that respect common interests and human rights. In December 2002, the PDPMM process was used in Micoahumado, Bolívar, in order to work toward protecting citizens’ freedom from the actions of illegal armed groups in that community.
In addition to the organization’s Peace and Development Programs, CDPMM works to overcome poverty and to achieve a peaceful coexistence in 29 regions distributed though 4 departments in Colombia. The backbone of CDPMM is a citizen’s network comprised of citizens and social organizations working together voluntarily to achieve their objectives.
BADIL, Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and Refugee Rights
The BADIL Resource Center, located in Bethlehem, provides a resource pool of alternative, critical, and progressive information regarding Palestinian refugees and their quest to achieve a just and lasting solution for exiled Palestinians based on their right of return.
This year, BADIL will launch the International Expert Forum for the Promotion of Palestinian Refugee Rights (Expert Forum). The exclusion of international law, human rights standards, and UN resolutions from past Israeli-Palestinian negotiations has been extremely detrimental to Palestinian refugees and has contributed to the breakdown of the political process. BADIL asserts that the Expert Forum will bring together legal and academic experts, politicians, and practitioners of refugee and general human rights law to pave the way toward treaty-based human rights solutions to the Palestinian refugee issue in accordance with UN Resolution 194. The first international seminar, “The Role of International Law in Peacemaking and Crafting Durable Solutions for Palestinian Refugees,” will be hosted by the University of Ghent in Ghent, Belgium from May 22-23, 2003. Additional seminars will follow in Europe and Cairo, focusing on property restitution, international and regional protection mechanisms, and obstacles to the implementation of refugee return and restitution.
In March, BADIL will publish, in Hebrew, an information packet on the Right of Return. The packet will be based on BADIL’s Arabic and English language information packets published on the same topic in 2000. BADIL’s Hebrew packet was created in order to answer the questions and concerns raised in the Israeli debate about Palestinian refugees’ right to return to their homes and properties now located in Israel. The Hebrew language packet will serve as a tool for exploring the potential of a rational, rights-based dialogue with Israeli peace and human rights activists, educators, academic researchers and journalists. The packet will include facts and figures, responses to frequently asked questions, and international legal briefs and testimonials from Palestinian refugees regarding their vision for a just and durable solution to their plight. For more information about BADIL, please e-mail info@badil.org, or visit its Web site at www.badil.org.
The Human Rights Brief is accepting submissions for the next edition of “Brief Community News,” which will be published in September. If your organization has an event or situation it would like to publicize, please send a short description to hrbrief@wcl.american.edu, and include “Brief Community News” in the subject heading of the message. Please limit your submission to two paragraphs. The Human Rights Brief reserves the right to edit for content and space limitations.
The proper citation for this article in the Human Rights Brief Volume 10, Issue 3, beginning at page 44 is: 10 No. 3 Hum. Rts. Brief 44 (2003).