We write to ask you to take the lead in formulating a clear and public US strategy for promotion and protection of women's rights in Afghanistan, and to urge other countries to join in this effort.
"What does it mean to call a country democratic when government critics are exiled and branded terrorists? Who decides what is patriotic and what is not? Whose voices are actually being heard? Whose rights are really being protected?" -- Sunila Abeysekera, Prominent Sri Lankan Human Rights Activist.
It is estimated that nearly 11,000 former LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) combatants either surrendered or captured by the Sri Lankan security forces at the end of the war in May 2009. Tens of thousands of civilians from the north of Sri Lanka were displaced due to the nearly three decade long war.
Hirokazu Nakaima, Govenor of Okinawa Prefecture
Yoshihiko Noda, Prime Minister
Koichiro Genba, Foreign Minister
Satoshi Morimoto, Defense Minister
Barack Obama, President of the United States
John V. Roos, U.S. Ambassador to Japan
Kenneth Glueck, Okinawa Area Coordinator and Commanding General of III Marine Expeditionary Force
Alfred Magleby, U.S. Consul General of Naha, Okinawa
“I am just as good as you are!” half of Arab society is screaming at the other half. The movement known as The Uprising of Women in the Arab World has launched a virtual campaign urging people to champion what they call “male dictatorship”. And in so doing, they would be completing the Arab Spring.
"The convenors of a Pacific Regional Women's Media and Policy Network dedicated to advancing implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (Women, Peace and Security) is looking forward to the implementation phase of the Regional Action Plan on Women, Peace and Security saying it is a step closer in enhancing and institutionalizing the formal recognition of the efforts of Pacific Peacewomen who have indeed paved the way in the res
Three years ago, a young Pakistani girl bravely spoke out about Taliban atrocities in her hometown of Mingora, in Pakistan's Swat Valley. She gave voice to thousands of girls who were banned from attending school and forced to remain hidden from public view.
For her courage, Malala Yousafzai, now 14 years old, was awarded a national peace prize from the Pakistani government and respect and admiration from around the world.
During my first trip to Afghanistan as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women's Issues, I was struck by something one woman said to me during a meeting with a group of female civil society actors in Kabul. She said, "Stop looking at us as victims, but rather as the leaders that we are."
Afghanistan has made significant progress over the last ten years, and in particular, Afghan women and girls have made great strides. Millions of girls are in school; the maternal mortality rate has dropped; and health care is being delivered to many more women and children.
The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Pakistan.
