Amnesty International: University of Florida

By Tarah Demant, Co-Chair of Amnesty International USA Women’s Rights Co-Group

A life free from violence is a fundamental human right, yet daily, women and girls are targeted specifically because of their sex or gender, and violence in communities often affects women disproportionately. Violence against women is a global epidemic; no country or community is immune.

Violence against women is used as a tool of discrimination, control, and intimidation, and it restricts women’s choices and increases their vulnerability to further injustices. 1 in 3 women will be raped, beaten, or abused in her lifetime, yet violence against women affects us all. Consider the following cases:

In Sudan, women can be can be stopped by the police, arrested, jailed, and even sentenced to public flogging for nothing more than wearing pants or leaving her hair uncovered.

In Egypt, women protesters have faced harassment and assault while Egypt’s political leaders have remained silence about the rampant sexual violence and discrimination.

In Syria, more than 2 million people have fled the armed crisis, and now tens of thousands of women and girl refugees in Jordan risk further violence simply because they have no safe access to a toilet.

In the Democratic Republic of Congo, often ranked the worst place in the world to be a woman, women human rights defenders provide grassroots assistance to civilians, yet they themselves face intimidation, attack, rape, and sexual violence for their efforts.

In Bangladesh, women human rights defenders work for the rights of indigenous people throughout the country, yet 17 years after the disappearance of a high-profile Pahari activist, her family and community still waits for justice.

In Honduras, women human rights defenders are threatened with sexual violence for championing human rights throughout the country.

In Mexico, Miriam López Vargas and hundreds of other women wait for justice after torture and rape by Mexican soldiers.

What these cases have in common is a global culture of discrimination and violence against women as well as impunity for those who commit gender-based violence. And this year’s theme: From Peace in the Home to Peace in the World: Let’s Challenge Militarism and End Violence Against Women highlights the relationship between heightened militarism and communal and interpersonal violence.

Despite a culture of violence and discrimination women around the world are raising their voices against violence and discrimination, demanding their basic human rights, and standing against intimidation and fear. Today, what unites women internationally is their vulnerability to the denial and violation of their fundamental human rights, and their dedicated efforts to claim those rights.

You can join them this 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence as we join activists worldwide from Nov. 25 – Dec. 10 to help end violence against women. This year, we’re highlighting the seven cases above – in each instance, you can learn more, take action, and stand with women demanding their rights!

Be sure to visit our table at UF's 2013 World AIDs Day, funded by your's truly and hosted by Respect, Check, and Protect Yourself (RCP)!

Tibetan filmmaker Dhondup Wangchen is serving a six-year prison sentence in China for "inciting separatism" -- simply because he dared to speak out about Tibetan human rights through his filmmaking. Demand his release now! China has detained hundreds of Tibetans for peacefully exercising their human rights or for taking part in protests since 2008. Recently, Tibetan activists have set themselves on fire in protest of restrictions on basic freedoms and punitive security measures. The Chinese government has responded to the protests with mass arrests, imprisonment, and possible killings by security forces. Dhondup Wangchen suffers from Hepatitis B and has not received the medical treatment he needs. It has been difficult to obtain reliable information about his condition. Please call on the Chinese authorities to release Dhondup Wangchen immediately and unconditionally.

Inundated with images of the peace-seeking, Westernized politician donned with the powers of political preeminence and military might, even the atypically news-conscious American could easily conceive of the future of Syria as in-the-hands of the world’s soldier in shining armor—us.

Despite Senator McCain’s moral imperative for U.S. military intervention and Secretary Kerry’s claim to having (unintentionally) hatched the Syrian chemical weapons destruction plan, thus relieving Congress of the tedious responsibility of debating further the (im)morality of a “proportional” military strike, such a conclusion would be wrong. 

Rather, it must be recognized by Western politik that the future of Syrian peace lies firstly in the hands of the Syrian regime, opposition, and people and lastly in those of the international peace-building and humanitarian aid community.

Knowing full well the faces of both the regime and the opposition (including those representative of its more fundamentalist arms), the facelessness of the Syrian people leaves many with an inability to assign to them the significance they deserve in moving toward a conclusion of the Syrian conflict and a reconstruction of that great and geopolitically significant nation.

And the same goes for the many various members of the international peace-building and humanitarian aid community, working ever so diligently everyday, risking the lives and limbs of their dutiful employees and volunteers to bring to Syria’s suffering, displaced, and forgotten both the essentials to survive and but a sliver of stability in an in what must seem to them a senseless world. 

And so, the remainder of this article will but to highlight the names of the many sacrificing members of the international community giving their most for a peaceful Syria, not tomorrow, but now.

The Syria International Non-governmental Organization Regional Forum (SIRF) has members responding to the Syrian crisis in Syria and neighboring countries. These include: Action Aid, CARE, Danish Church Aid, Danish Refugee Council, Handicap International, HelpAge International, Intersos, International Medical Corps, International Catholic Migration Commission, International Rescue Committee, Medair, Medecins du Monde, Mennonite Central Committee, Oxfam, Première Urgence - Aide Médicale Internationale, Relief International, Save the Children, War Child, World Vision.

Doctors Without Borders is providing direct medical aid inside Syria;

World Vision is delivering water and health services to Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan;

CARE is operating four refugee centers in Jordan and providing psychosocial and emergency medical support for children women still in Syria;

Catholic Relief Services is providing urgent medical assistance, education and trauma counseling for children, and household supplies including soap and water purifiers throughout the region;

Concern Worldwide is working to meet the water, sanitation and hygiene needs for refugees in Lebanon and for many still in Syria;

The World Food Programme continues to distribute food to millions in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Egypt, Iraq and Turkey;

Islamic Relief USA is providing food parcels, housing essentials and medical supplies for those displaced inside Syria and refugees in Jordan and Lebanon;

International Medical Corps is providing health care and psychosocial services for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan;

International Orthodox Christian Charities is providing critical food aid, personal hygiene supplies, medicine, pre- and post-natal care for infants, and infant nutrition programs to families inside Syria those now living in Jordan, Lebanon, Iraq and Armenia; 

International Rescue Committee is providing medical and emergency supplies, water, sanitation, education, counseling, safety and support for women and girls at risk to refugees in and outside of Syria;

Life for Relief and Development is providing food, hygiene kits, bedding and kitchen utensils to refugee families living in tent camps and temporary housing;

Mercy-USA is supporting displaced children and families inside Syria with food baskets, infant formula and blankets, baking and distributing fresh bread daily for more than 1,500 refugee families in Lebanon, and operating a mobile health clinic;

Mercy Corps is providing refugee children with safe spaces, playgrounds, psychosocial support and storytelling workshops;

Shelterbox is providing tented shelters, kitchen sets, blankets, water purification systems and classroom supplies to refugee families in and outside of Syria;

Save the Children is building temporary learning facilities, child friendly spaces and programs to help refugee children cope with trauma;

The UNHCR is providing shelter, protection and assistance to refugees in and outside of Syria;

War Child UK is helping Syrian refugees in Lebanon by providing child friendly spaces and temporary schools;

UNICEF is providing food, water, clothing and critical immunizations for children in and outside of Syria.

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Opened in 2002, Guantanamo Bay Naval Base (GTMO or “gitmo,” for short) was built to serve as a site—not on U.S. soil, for security reasons—to house (suspect) terrorists for “investigation.” Until assigned this article, the last time I’d heard gitmo mentioned in the mainstream media was that of the 2012 presidential election when, as part of his platform, Obama promised to close the base in response to proven allegations of U.S. torture and mistreatment of detainees.

In 2004, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) confirmed allegations that U.S. soldiers stationed at gitmo had subjected detainees to excessive periods of solitary confinement, acts of humiliation, and  torture.

In 2005, Amnesty International (AI) declared Guantanamo Bay the “gulag”—political prison in soviet-era russia widely recognized for its forced labour and torture practices—”of our time”. 

And in 2006, U.S. ministers refused a proposition for UN inspectors to tour GTMO facilities in their entirety. Since allegations of mistreatment unto torture initially surfaced, the UN has consistently called for the base’s closure.

While I recognize there exists an obvious need for a system of detention centers to monitor and interrogate high-risk suspect terrorists and persons of interest, such a system need be transparent, in accord with the dictates of U.S., military and international law, and respective of detainees’ rights as fellow human beings—innocent until proven guilty. 

To this day there remain 164 gitmo detainees, more than 80 of whom have been cleared for release—per an order to review remaining detainee cases, as issued by President Obama—as charges failed to be assessed against their persons prior to the expiration of their various statutes of limitation. 

However, congress continues to refuse to release anyone detained at Guantanamo—even those cleared for such, per the President’s commissioned review. 

And so, we need to ask ourselves, are we—as U.S citizens—ready to end it? Are we ready to put away mysterious Guantanamo Bay, weighted with allegations and shrouded in legal ambiguity?

Even though what goes on behind its guarded doors isn’t often, if ever, in the news these days, it’s still there—they’re still there, gagged, chained, and alone in the dark, away from their family and friends, not knowing  when, if ever, they’re to be released. 

The President has made his play and the ball is in congress's court. If the recent government shutdown has told us—the American people—anything, it should be that politicians rarely operate beyond “party line”—it’s up to us to get them to. And so, I ask you to call your representatives to remind them that this—the U.S. torturing suspects behind guarded doors—is a big deal. 

As a member of UFAI, I care about the rights of others—regardless of whether they are or are not a U.S. citizen. I, as do you, care about freedom, respect the law, and believe in “innocent ‘till proven guilty,” and I’m taking a stand—will you?

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“If you hit a Talib with your shoe, then there would be no difference between you and the Talib. You must not treat others with cruelty […] you must fight others but through peace and through dialogue and through education.” Such were the words of 16-year old Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Malala Yousafzai, from an interview with Jon Stewart.  The outspoken women’s rights advocate has been widely recognized for her work in fighting for women’s rights and access to education. She has taught us that every individual has the ability to change the world. It was not the Taliban’s shotgun to Malala’s head that made her speak out; rather, it was discrimination against women and girls that pushed her to uphold the movement. These inalienable, indivisible, and inherent rights of every human are the basis of the Golden Rule, and we must practice what we preach. It’s human rights for everyone everywhere; from the classroom to the marketplace to the office—there’s no difference.

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