Nobel Peace Prize Nominee to Visit Northcoast

Eureka, CA - Jane Roberts, cofounder of 34 Million Friends of the United Nations Population Fund (www.34millionfriends.org), a grassroots movement asking 34 million Americans to stand up for the women of the world, will be speaking at 6:30 on Tuesday, April 25 in Founders Hall, Room 118 on the HSU campus, and on Wednesday, April 25 at 6:30 at the Humboldt Area Foundation, 373 Indianola Road, Bayside. Both talks are open to the public.

UNFPA works in over 130 countries helping women survive childbirth and plan their families. It plays a crucial role in UN-AIDS and urges an end to the harmful practices of early marriage and female genital mutilation. Last year 171 countries contributed to UNFPA but not the United States. Since 2002 the Bush Administration has withheld $34 million each year for what Roberts considers spurious reasons.

She will speak about her trip to Senegal and Mali visiting UNFPA sponsored clinics and schools and also detail the way 34 Million Friends has raised over $3 million in small donations and sent a nice message to the world from the American people. Jane has traveled to 18 states and spoken at 40 colleges and universities about what she sees as the need for a worldwide grassroots movement for the women and girls of the world. “When the world takes care of women, women take care of the world.”

In 2005, to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, the Swiss commission for UNESCO in Bern, Switzerland nominated 1000 grassroots women coming from almost every country of the world to receive as a group the Nobel Peace Prize. Jane Roberts and Lois Abraham, cofounders of 34 Million Friends were among the 1000 women nominated worldwide.

###