Uyghur Women Attend International Workshop on Human Rights
and Democracy, Organize Presentations for Home Communities
April 17, 2007
Contact: Rushan Gul Rozi, 1.202.349.4192
International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation (IUHRDF)
(Washington, DC – April 17, 2007) More than 60 Uyghur women from various countries attended a workshop on human rights and democracy in Washington, DC on March 23 and 24, 2007. These Uyghur women came from the United States, Canada, Germany, the Netherlands, Australia, Turkey, Norway, Kazakhstan, Japan, and Sweden. Organized by the International Uyghur Human Rights and Democracy Foundation (IUHRDF) and sponsored by the National Endowment for Democracy (NED), this workshop provided an opportunity for Uyghur women to learn about the principles of human rights and democracy, with the goal of encouraging them to be actively involved in the Uyghur human rights and democracy movement.
Since the conclusion of the workshop, participants have already organized at least 3 presentations and discussion for women in their communities, providing nearly 300 additional women in Germany with valuable exposure to basic principles of human rights, democracy, and international advocacy to defend and promote the rights and welfare of the Uyghurs.
Workshop participants from Turkey, Norway, Sweden, and Australia are also preparing similar presentations to convey the messages that they have learned during the workshop.
The March 23 workshop began with a tour of U.S. Congressional office buildings, courtesy of the office of Congressman Tom Lantos (D-CA). Later in the day, following the welcoming remarks given by Rebiya Kadeer, several prestigious experts and human rights activists gave presentations on democracy and human rights activism.
Speakers included Ms. Nina Shea, Vice-chair of the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom and Director of the Center for Religious Freedom at the Hudson Institute; Mr. Hans Hogrefe, Executive Director of the Congressional Human Rights Caucus and a senior professional staff member of U.S. House Committee on Foreign Affairs; Mr. T. Kumar, Advocacy Director for Asia & the Pacific at Amnesty International USA; Ms. Mary Beth Markey, the Vice President for Advocacy at the International Campaign for Tibet; and Ms. Louisa Coan Greve, East Asia Director at the National Endowment for Democracy.
These speakers shared their expertise and experience in advocacy work to promote democracy, women’s rights and religious freedom, citing the need to extend solidarity with other groups striving for the same universal principles of human dignity and the need to conduct advocacy campaigns by holding up the universal, fundamental standards enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other UN treaties and conventions.
Following the remarks of the panelists, a second panel shared their practical experience in documenting and campaigning for human rights, and commented on the particular challenges that Uyghurs face in their human rights movement. The panelists were Ms. Mindy Larmore, a policy analyst at the US Committee on International Religious Freedom; Mr. Alim Seytoff, Director of the Uyghur Human Rights Project; Mr. Ben Carrdus, Senior Researcher and Communications Deputy at the International Campaign for Tibet; and Ms. Amy Reger, Project Manager at the Uyghur Human Rights Project.
Their remarks, and the reference materials they provided to participants, focused on issues such as the importance of utilizing democratic methods to promote democratic values; ways to overcome the difficulties of obtaining reliable documentation of human rights conditions and incidents involving Uyghurs in China; and how to reach out to human rights organizations and other groups that face similar human rights issues.
During the subsequent training sessions on March 24, Ms. Amata Radewagen, a member of the White House Advisory Commission on Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders 2002-2004, and Republican National Committee Member for American Samoa, conducted interactive skills training on specific issues as vision sharing, women’s empowerment, leadership, communication skills, grassroots lobbying, consensus building, management tools, and teamwork. Ms. Radewagen is a former White House Leadership Staff member and the only Pacific Islander ever chosen as “Outstanding Woman of the Year” by the National Association of Professional Asian American Women.
Ms. Rakhee Goyal, Executive Director of the Women’s Learning Partnership for Rights, Development, and Peace (WLP), shared the values and strategies of WLP with workshop participants, and encouraged them to set concrete goals and apply them toward specific human rights issues.
Through dynamic exercises and group discussions, the workshop has provided participants with a great opportunity to learn the principles of human rights and a platform to encourage each other through sharing their various experiences in different parts of the world in their campaign for Uyghur human rights.
Ms. Rebiya Kadeer concluded the workshop by emphasizing its value as an opportunity to empower Uyghur women. The Uyghur women learned that, with a shared vision, achievable goals, accurate documentation, and workable strategies, and through building alliances and demonstrating shared values, they can work together to promote human rights and a better future for the Uyghur people.
The workshop concluded with a celebration of Novruz, the Uyghur New Year.
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