2009 honorees

U.S. Vice President Joseph Biden

Author of the landmark Violence Against Women Act

To be introduced by his sister and WCI trainer, Valerie Biden Owens

John Legend

Six-time Grammy Award winner and founder of Show Me Campaign

Sheryl WuDunn

Pulitzer Prize-winning author and author of the new book Half the Sky

with a special musical performance by John Legend

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Metropolitan Club

One East 60th Street at 5th Avenue, New York, NY

Doors open at 6:00pm

6:30-7:30pm Cocktail Reception, The Great Marble Hall

8:00 pm Dinner, The West Lounge

Tickets may be purchased here.

Individual ticket price is $1,000 and tables of ten may be reserved for $10,000.

Please call Aileene Halligan at 267-879-4914 for more details.

The TRC was created to promote national peace, security, unity and reconciliation by investigating gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law during Liberia’s armed conflicts from January 1979 to October 14, 2003.  Part of the TRC’s mandate included providing a forum in Liberia and in the Diaspora for both victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences as to facilitate genuine healing and reconciliation.

The Forum will feature discussions by Cllr. J. Augustine Toe, the Executive Director of the Justice and Peace Commission (JPC) of the Catholic Diocese in Liberia, Sarah Paoletti, Clinical Supervisor and Lecturer and Director of the Transnational Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Law School, and Sam Togba Slewion, former Secretary General of the Press Union of Liberia (PUL), and Coordinator of the Technical Committee of the Liberia Media Support Initiative (LIMESI).

The forum is being sponsored by the International Human Rights Advocates student-group at the University of Pennsylvania Law School in the Levy Conference Center at 3443 Sansom Street from 5 pm- 6:30 pm. The event is free and open to the general public.

WCI has been working in Liberia on increasing women’s political and grassroots participation in sustainable peace building initiatives since 2008 and has worked with the TRC.  Our program encouraged war affected women to come forward and testify as part of the TRC hearings.  Read more about WCI’s work in Liberia and with the TRC here.

For more information on this year’s campaign and to learn how to get involved, visit http://www.nsvrc.org/saam/current-campaign

The screening will take place Monday, March 30, 9:15pm at Philadelphia’s International House. WCI is also located in  International House and we are proud that such a worthy documentary has been chosen for this site. We hope you can come!

Single Ticket Price for the screening is $10, available for purchase at International House box office.

See the Philly Cine Fest website for more details: http://www.phillycinefest.com/film-details.cfm?id=8676

Women in War Zones: Sexual Violence in the Congo
( Democratic Republic of Congo, 2009, 53 min , Scott Blanding, Brad LaBriola )

“The vast nation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo has been invaded by as many as seven warring neighboring countries at one point. Amidst this chaos and turbulence is a singular miracle, Panzi Hospital, a last-hope refuge for many sexually abused women, victims of the rebel militia’s violence. This unflinching documentary peers up close into the lives of two young women, Helene Wamuzila (22) and Bijoux Mateso (13), as they as they undergo many operations in an effort to reclaim their lives and come to grips with their violent and tragic past. Looking for hope in God and each other — played against the backdrop of the upcoming presidential elections, the first in over 40 years — this truly astonishing story is an achievement in filmmaking that few would dare to have told.”

Read more: http://jezebel.com/5169013/photographer-publishes-plight-of-women-worldwide

Most of these women flee with their children and few possessions to urban centers as they seek security and work, mainly in the informal sector. Their search is made all the more difficult as jobs are scarce and they lack even the small fees needed for childcare, school enrollment and primary health care.

While this desperate situation affects so many in Colombia, some displaced women have united together to leverage their few resources and become the very solution to their common problem.  In 2003, the League of Internally Displaced Women, founded by Colombian activist and lawyer Patricia Guerrero, helped mobilize a group of displaced women who would defy convention and make a collective statement.  With the help of Guerrero and funds from the United States Government, the group of displaced women negotiated the purchase of a plot of land from a private contractor in Turbaco, 11 kilometers outside of Colombia’s famous coastal town of Cartagena.  The group of women set to work immediately, developing plans for their own 5-block town.  The women worked together to build almost 100 houses, a community meeting center, a daycare center and a micro-finance cooperative.  “The City of Women” has become known throughout Colombia as a place where displaced women have transformed from victims to agents of change, raising their children on principles of equality, nonviolence and self-sufficiency.

WCI President Marjorie Margolies with residents and program participants, City of Women, December 2008

While the City serves as an exemplar of women’s resiliency and empowerment worldwide, it is not immune from the continuing civil war in Colombia.  Armed groups have continued to threaten its inhabitants and dump dead bodies outside of the town to stunt the women’s confidence and the neighborhood’s progress.  Most notably, the City’s community meeting center was burned to the ground by armed groups on the night of January 20^th, 2007.  While many would accept defeat under these circumstances, the women only campaigned more diligently and ultimately were able to secure funds from the European Union and rebuild their center six months later.

Today, about 500 people inhabit the City of Women.  WCI works with this population in the City’s restored community center to implement trainings on human rights, advocacy and incorporating the needs of Colombia’s IDPs in mainstream politics.  Through its partnership with the League of Internally Displaced Women and Congreso Visible, WCI has implemented a training series for displaced women to review the history and functions of the Colombian Congress and its ad hoc women’s caucus.  WCI’s trainings focus on organizing the needs of the community and then working with participants to create action plans for effectively campaigning for these needs through political channels.  The WCI training in the City of Women culminated with a meeting between the displaced women and women members of Colombia’s congress to discuss how these elected officials could better function as a caucus, deliver on their campaign promises and represent the needs of IDPs and all women in Colombia.

Program participants critiquing gender-focused legislation in Colombia

Program participant in a community leadership and advocacy workshop