Amnesty International Launches Action: “Confronting War Crimes against Women”

CONTACT: Amnesty International
Denise Bell, (c) 646 425 044; (h) 212 924 0654
dcbell70@yahoo.com


NEW YORK – On October 19, 2005, Amnesty International launches a year-long panel series in New York City to bring greater attention to war crimes against women. From 7:00 to 9:00pm in Jerome Hall at Columbia Law School, panelists Christine Hansen, Kelly Askin, Bill Berkeley, and Sonia Navani will discuss the ongoing brutalization and murder of women in areas of conflict and the legal and practical challenges in bringing criminals to justice and treating survivors. Today casualties among women and children outnumber casualties among combatants.

The series is one part of Amnesty’s campaign to raise public awareness and mount public action to bring to justice perpetrators of war crimes against women. “We must act before violence against women becomes a standard munition in the modern arsenal. We’re already witnessing that happen,” said Denise Bell, an Amnesty activist working on the issue. “Look at the ongoing atrocities in Darfur and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Amnesty is acting to press governments to hold perpetrators accountable, and the series is one way of galvanizing public awareness.”

DETAILS

WHO:
• Christine Hansen, Executive Director, The Miles Foundation (moderator), is an expert on gender violence associated with U.S. Armed Forces.

• Kelly Askin, Senior Legal Officer, International Justice, the Justice Initiative of the Open Society Institute, is the J. Skelly Wright Fellow at Yale Law School and served as legal advisor to the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

• Bill Berkeley, Adjunct Professor of International Affairs at the School for International and Public Affairs at Columbia University, is a former editorial writer for the New York Times and author of The Graves Are Not Yet Full — Race, Tribe and Power in the Heart of Africa.

• Sonia Navani, Program Officer, Gender-Based Violence & Reproductive Health, International Rescue Committee, is a gender violence specialist with extensive experience in West and East Africa.

WHEN:
October 19, 2005 • 7:00-9:00pm • Reception 6:30-7:00 (Refreshments will be served) Admission free. RSVP (optional) at AmnestyRSVP@yahoo.com

WHERE:
Columbia Law School, Jerome Greene Hall, Room 104 435 W 116th Street at Amsterdam Avenue (Take the 1 train to W 116th Street; walk one block east)