March, 03 2010, 12:57pm EDT
For Immediate Release
Contact:
Diana Duarte, Media Coordinator,Phone: +1 212 627 0444,Email:,media@madre.org
MADRE Partner Speaks at the Opening of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW)
WASHINGTON
Monica Aleman, coordinator of MADRE's partner organization, the International Indigenous Women's Forum (FIMI), spoke at the high-level round table on the first day of the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) on March 1, 2010.
Monica spoke of the importance of including Indigenous Peoples into national and international processes. In her words:
"Why
are we here? We are here because we are Indigenous Peoples who are
resisting; we are Indigenous Peoples who are surviving; and we are
Indigenous Peoples who confronted with a complex and diverse scenario.
...
we are faced with a time which offers us opportunities. We are 300
million in our people and we speak six thousand different languages. We
are not victims, distinguished ministers. We are a potential that we
must make use of."
To watch the video, click here.
To see live streaming from the United Nations, click here.
To see other archived videos, click here.
MADRE is an international women's human rights organization that partners with community-based women's groups to advance women's human rights, challenge injustice and create social change in contexts of war, conflict, disaster and their aftermath. MADRE advocates for a world in which all people enjoy individual and collective human rights; natural resources are shared equitably and sustainably; women participate effectively in all aspects of society; and all people have a meaningful say in policies that affect their lives. For more information about MADRE, visit www.madre.org.
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20 Years Later, Abu Ghraib Torture Victims Get Their Day in Court
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Two decades after they were tortured by U.S. military contractors at the notorious Abu Ghraib prison near Baghdad, three Iraqi victims are finally getting their day in court Monday as a federal court in Virginia takes up a case they brought during the George W. Bush administration.
The case being heard in the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Al Shimari v. CACI, was first filed in 2008 under the Alien Tort Statute—which allows non-U.S. citizens to sue for human rights abuses committed abroad—by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of three Iraqis. The men suffered torture directed and perpetrated by employees of CACI, a Virginia-based professional services and information technology firm hired in 2003 by the Bush administration as translators and interrogators in Iraq during the illegal U.S.-led invasion and occupation.
"This lawsuit is a critical step towards justice for these three men who will finally have their day in court."
Plaintiffs Suhail Al Shimari, Asa'ad Zuba'e, and Salah Al-Ejaili accuse CACI of conspiring to commit war crimes including torture at Abu Ghraib, where the men suffered broken bones, electric shocks, sexual abuse, extreme temperatures, and death threats at the hands of their U.S. interrogators.
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The following year, the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court ruling prohibiting Abu Ghraib torture victims from suing U.S. companies implicated in their abuse. But the court later reversed itself, finding the case had sufficient ties to the United States to be heard in an American court. The suit was later dismissed under the political question doctrine, which prevents courts from ruling on issues determined to be essentially political.
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