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CREATED:20041026T173600Z
DESCRIPTION:Human Rights Watch 26th Anniversary Celebration  Voices for Justice  
 Honoring Human Rights Defenders From Around the World  World Affairs 
 Council, San Francisco  312 Sutter St. Suite 200  Thursday, November 11, 
 2004,                                                                       
          Check-in: 11:30/ Program Noon-1:00pm                               
                                                               Free, and 
 open to the public (normally requires membership)  Once a year, Human 
 Rights Watch honors human rights defenders from around the world who put 
 their lives on the line to protect the dignity and rights of others. Human 
 Rights Watch collaborates with these courageous human rights activists to 
 create a world in which people live free of violence, discrimination, and 
 oppression.   On November 11 the World Affairs Council is hosting a 
 lunchtime discussion with this years honorees.  The three defenders to be 
 honored in 2004 by Human Rights Watch are:  -        MAITRE HONORE MUSOKO, 
 Democratic Republic of Congo – Maitre Honore Musoko is a Congolese lawyer 
 and a founding member of Justice Plus, a local human rights organization 
 based in Bunia, a town in Ituri province in northeastern Democratic 
 Republic of Congo. When documenting war crimes and crimes against humanity 
 in Ituri, Human Rights Watch worked closely with Justice Plus and with 
 Maitre Honore, who demonstrated extraordinary bravery in exposing 
 atrocities in Congo that might otherwise have gone unknown in the outside 
 world. Maitre Honore has been arrested once for his outspoken work on human 
 rights issues in Ituri and threatened on numerous occasions.   Last year, 
 he was forced to go into exile in Uganda in part as he refused to be 
 muzzled about the serious abuses taking place. His local colleagues were 
 also arrested and were only able to come out of hiding after an 
 intervention by Human Rights Watch. Since then, he has worked as a 
 consultant for the International Criminal Court on war crimes and crimes 
 against humanity in Ituri, which may be the court's first case. He has 
 decided not to continue with this work because it could imperil the human 
 rights work of his colleagues at Justice Plus in Bunia. Human Rights Watch 
 could not have documented so compellingly Congo's human rights and 
 humanitarian catastrophe, nor prompted international action to address it, 
 without the advice, support, and knowledge of Maitre Honore and Justice 
 Plus.  -        NATALIA ZHUKOVA, Russia – Natalia Zhukova works with one 
 of Russia's most extraordinary grassroots human rights organizations, the 
 Committee of Soldiers' Mothers, which is dedicated to protecting soldiers 
 in Russia's army from mistreatment. Each year, one million young men 
 perform their obligatory military service in Russia, and thousands die 
 non-combat deaths as a result of violent beatings by their superiors and 
 deprivation of adequate nutrition and health care. The abuse is so severe, 
 and affects so many young men, that even before a boy enters puberty, his 
 parents start looking for ways to prevent their sons from serving.    The 
 Committee of Soldiers' Mothers saves lives every day by providing a safe 
 haven for thousands of abused conscripts and counseling them and their 
 families. It pushes for policy change and accountability in an institution 
 that is known for its insularity. And it is now an important lobbying force 
 for policy change. The organization has been Human Rights Watch's essential 
 partner in our research on abuse of conscripts in Russia. Working with 
 Natalia, we are pushing to create an institution in Russia that is 
 dedicated exclusively to monitoring and investigating conditions in the 
 army.  -        HABIB RAHIAB, Afghanistan – Three years ago, Habib 
 Rahiab, an extraordinary Afghan human rights activist, approached Human 
 Rights Watch researchers working in Kabul and offered his help. Although it 
 is not common for Human Rights Watch to hire the activists with whom we 
 work, we made an exception for Habib, whose courage and skill in such a 
 challenging environment awed our staff. Habib had directed a school for 
 refugee girls in Pakistan and had also headed a human rights documentation 
 group that exposed the oppression of an Afghan ethnic minority, the 
 Hazaras. While assisting Human Rights Watch, Habib assessed the impact of 
 the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan on Afghan civilians. He conducted 
 interviews that demonstrated intensifying oppression by local warlords who 
 were put in power after the Taliban was toppled. Habib's heroic and 
 tireless efforts to expose human rights abuses in Afghanistan evoked the 
 ire of the warlords.   In August 2003, as a result of his investigations, 
 Habib's life was threatened, and he and his family were forced to flee 
 Afghanistan. Human Rights Watch researchers obtained visas for Habib and 
 his family to travel to the United States and found refuge for him at 
 Harvard University, where he is supported by a "Scholars at Risk" 
 fellowship. He looks forward to furthering his education here in the United 
 States and to returning one day to Afghanistan. We are deeply indebted to 
 Habib for making possible Human Rights Watch's courageous, effective, and 
 widely recognized work in Afghanistan.  \n 
 https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/10/26/50483.php
SUMMARY:Human Rights Watch - Voices of Justice
LOCATION:World Affairs Council  312 Sutter St., Suite 200  San Francisco
URL:https://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2004/10/26/50483.php
DTSTART:20041111T200000Z
DTEND:20041111T210000Z
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