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Apne Aap Women Worldwide

On behalf of Apne Aap, the Embassy of Spain and the International India Center, we cordially invite you to a talk by renowned Spanish labour historian Ms. Carmen Sarasua.

Topic: New vulnerabilities of women in the new world 'order'
Date: 25th July 2009, 6.30pm
Venue: Conference Room 1, India International Center, New Delhi

Apne Aap Women Worldwide: an initiative to end sex trafficking | www.apneaap.org

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UN Millennium Campaign

Ahead of UN General Assembly's high-level summit on the economic crisis on June 24-26, UN Millennium Campaign says new analysis indicates that finding money for aid is a matter of political will - not lack of resources - and calls on donors to finally meet their aid commitments

June 23, 2009 - The United Nations Millennium Campaign today released an analysis showing that since the inception of aid (overseas development assistance) almost 50 years ago, donor countries have given some $2 trillion in aid. And yet over the past year, $18 trillion has been found globally to bail out banks and other financial institutions. The amount of total aid over the past 49 years represents just eleven percent of the money found for financial institutions in one year. The UN Millennium Campaign is urgently calling on rich countries gathering at this week's high-level summit on the economic crisis to make no further excuses that they lack resources and to urgently deliver on their aid commitments.

"The stark contrast between the money dispersed to the world's desperately poor after 49 years of painstaking summits and negotiations and the staggering sums found virtually overnight to bail out the creators of the global economic crisis makes it impossible for governments to any longer claim that the world can't find the money to help the 50,000 people who are dying of extreme poverty every day," said Salil Shetty, Director of the United Nations Millennium Campaign. "This is a straightforward question of political will. Rich countries' priorities will become crystal clear at this week's summit on the economic crisis, where we hope they will finally deliver on the aid they have repeatedly pledged but not delivered to those who need it most."

The Millennium Campaign believes any discussions of a new financial architecture must be inclusive of the voices and needs of the poor.

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An Appeal to the Peoples' Movements in South Asia

This is a humanitarian appeal following a recent visit by a few concerned South Asians from Bangladesh, India, Pakistan and Nepal to Sri Lanka. We would like to bring to the attention of Governments of South Asia and the Peoples' Movements in this region the urgent humanitarian concern for the 300,000 displaced people interned in camps in Northern Sri Lanka, who need immediate attention and action.

The war in Sri Lanka is over after thirty years of devastation, violence and the loss of close to 100,000 lives. The LTTE, an organisation that undermined most efforts at a political settlement and waged a destructive war has been defeated. The current moment lends a great opportunity for reconciliation and peace between all the communities. Such reconciliation will require the goodwill of all the communities in Sri Lanka, the leadership of the Government of Sri Lanka, the support of friendly governments and the solidarity of the Peoples' Movements around the world. Reconciliation will only move forward if there is both dialogue and understanding between the communities and concrete changes on the ground to build the confidence of all the communities, followed by a just political process to address the grievances that led to the conflict.

Among the issues that are most troubling is the harrowing situation of the close to 300,000 displaced peoples interned in government run camps in Vavuniya. These Tamil civilians had suffered much under the LTTE, without the freedom to leave its territory for close to 15 years. During the final months of the war, the LTTE used them as hostages for its own survival, putting them in the line of fire, with immense loss of life both in the crossfire as well as by forceful recruitment to be used as cannon fodder. These civilians also faced indiscriminate firing by the security forces pursuing the defeat of the LTTE. Following such harrowing suffering and after thousands of deaths and injuries, they have been interned in government controlled camps.

Reports coming from the camps speak of very difficult humanitarian conditions, a situation which no Government could have adequately been prepared for. In the camps they are congested in tents packed next to each other. Food and medical needs continue to be dire, and it is particularly so for disabled persons. Access to local and international organizations working on rehabilitation is limited and humanitarian services are constrained. The situation of pregnant women, mothers with small children and minors are precarious. The priority then, is to allow civilians who have relatives and friends outside the camps to go and live with them as soon as possible. Their free movement should be coupled with efforts to reunite families that were separated in the chaos of displacement. Timely resettlement of all the displaced back to their original homes and villages is also important. While the Government of Sri Lanka in a joint statement with India in May 2009 agreed to resettle the bulk of them in six months, there are increasing fears of delays. Furthermore, the current conditions in the camps are likely to deteriorate further with the monsoon rains due in a few months. A report just released by the OCHA indicates that in Vavuniya IDP camps 12,195 people have got Chickenpox and 2,139 have got Hepatitis A.

In this context, there is an urgency to address the situation and we recommend the following steps:

An independent assessment of the needs of the displaced people in a collaborative effort with the Government of Sri Lanka to address the concerns step by step.

To support and protect Human Rights defenders engaged in promoting the rights of IDPs.

The voices of the displaced people should be heard and their concerns about the humanitarian predicament addressed.

The screening process of LTTE cadres should be transparent and neutral and their rights as prisoners of war respected. The screening process should be expedited and those cleared immediately given the freedom to live with relatives and friends.

Resettlement should be accelerated to ensure that the bulk of the displaced people are resettled in the stated time frame of six months.

Towards this end we call on the Governments in South Asia to assist in the resettlement of the displaced and to work towards a meaningful peace in the region. We call upon the Peoples' Movements in South Asia to engage with their governments, so that the Government of Sri Lanka, with assistance from the broader international community take urgent action to save the lives of the many displaced by the war.

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Delhi Queer Pride 2009

Queer people with friends and supporters held the Delhi Queer Pride on Sunday 28th June 2009. It was a colourful event with slogans reverberating on the streets of Delhi! Marching with the participants was a brass band belting out favourite tunes.

This was the second ever Queer Pride, in which hundreds of queer people; lesbians, gay men, bisexual, transgender and intersexed people and their friends and families came together to celebrate with pride, the dignity and rights of sexually marginalized people all across India and the world.

What is this "Queer"? 400 years ago, the word "queer" meant odd or unusual. 100 years ago the word was used as an insult for anyone who was different from society's norm of gender and sexually "correct" behaviour. It was used to demean and marginalize people. Today, people across the world have reclaimed that word to empower, celebrate and unite people of diverse genders and sexualities. With the rainbow as our symbol of beauty in diversity, we celebrate Queer Pride in solidarity with queer people across the world.

But why do we march? Today in India, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people face violence and discrimination from different quarters. Here are some examples of our daily oppression:

Lesbians are subject to violence, forced into marriage and even driven to commit suicide by their families.

Gay men are blackmailed by organized scandals that often involve the police.

Hijras are routinely arrested and raped by the police.

Same sex couples who have lived together for years cannot buy a house together or will their property to each other or even adopt a child as a couple if they wish.

LGBTI people are constantly mocked, demeaned and denied their basic human rights of self-expression.

All this is happening because Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code treats LGBTI people as criminals. It is essential that -

Section 377 is duly read down in the Delhi High Court and this precedent replicated across the country.

The government introduce specific legislation protecting queer people from discrimination on the basis of their gender and sexuality.

Violence against LGBTI people by the police be addressed and severely reprehended.

Discrimination and violence against LGBTI people in all spheres of life (family, workplace, educational institutions) be acknowledged and addressed.

Positive efforts, such as the Aravani Welfare Board set up by the Tamil Nadu Government for the hijra community, are replicated in other parts of the country.

All persons are able to exercise their right to live their lives with dignity and freedom, regardless of their gender and sexuality identities.

For more information about Delhi Queer Pride: delhiqueerpride.blogspot.com.

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Peoples Union for Democratic Rights

In 2004, when the Congress led UPA government came to power it repealed the POTA, which it admitted had been grossly misused. It simultaneously amended an existing law, the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act 1967 (UAPA), siphoning into it some of extraordinary provisions of POTA, including those pertaining to banning of terrorist organizations. The conditions of banning under the amended Act no longer require a statement to explain the reasons of issuing a ban, a gazette notification merely adding an entry to the Schedule of the Act is sufficient, and there do not exist any provision for judicial redress.

On 22 June 2009, the CPI (Maoist) was added to the list of banned organizations in the Schedule of the UAPA. The Home Minister has claimed that the notification banning the organization was made necessary to remove ambivalences. Indeed, the CPI (M-L), PWG, and the MCC, which later merged to form the CPI (Maoist), were banned organizations since 5 December 2001. Apart from the futility of banning, the notification shows the total disregard the government continues to have towards people's movements around issues of livelihood, dispossession and alienation that have accumulated and aggravated over the last several years of the unleashing of neo-liberal policies on unsuspecting tribal populations and the rural poor.

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