World Court of Women

World Court of Women on U S War Crimes

January 18, 2004

World Social Forum, Mumbai

AWHRC and El Taller International
In partnership with regional and international organizations

Institute for Black Research, University of Natal, South Africa, The Institute of Philosophy, Cuba; Afro-Arab Research Center, Egypt; Center for Women’s Studies, Croatia; Lola Kampanyeras, Philippines; Occupation Watch, Iraq; International Action Centre, USA; Center for Economic and Social Rights, USA; Third World Network-ENDA, Senegal; Lebanese Council of Women, Lebanon; Indigenous Peoples Network, Hawaii; Gender Support Network, University of the Western Cape, South Africa; Vimochana, India; Women’s Consensus, Columbia; Pratec, Peru; Migrante, Morocco/Netherlands; Refugee Council, University of New South Wales, Australia; Just, Malaysia; Miftah, Palestine; Peace, Turkey; Puerto Rico Alliance for Peace, Puerto Rico; Nuclear Free Pacific, Fiji; Nuclear Free Future, Germany; Japan Confederation of A&H Bomb Survivors of Hiroshima, Japan; Korean Committee for Solidarity with the World People, Korean Democratic Lawyer’s Association, North Korea; Research Centre for Gender and Development, Hanoi University, Vietnam;RAWA, Afghanistan; Foundation for a Compassionate Society, USA; Kensington Welfare Rights Union, USA; Federation of Cuban Women, Cuba; Young Arab Lawyers; Women in Black. Worldwide and Global South; Creative Women’s Alliance, Palestine; Centre for Development Studies, CIEDS Collective, India.

A free bird leaps
On the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current end
And dips her wing
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky

Maya Angelou

The New Wars

This century has seen much violence; witnessed many wars.

Too many

More than the human spirit can endure or survive.

Wars that have changed forever the contours of the terrain and the battlefields that they earlier occupied; the weapons they deployed, the victims they vanquished, the victors they valorised. For in the new globalised world order, wars are no longer local and therefore limited in scope and logic. They are universal and global in reach and in reason. For the violence of modern wars is also rational, clinical and limitless: and science and technology have helped create these weapons of mass destruction – chemical, biological, nuclear.

And the violent ethic of militarisation is insidious – creeping into every crevice of our cultures, militarising our politics through militarising our minds.

The ethics of traditional warfare have all but crumbled under the onslaught of this new hypermasculinised ideology of war and militarism that has blurred the difference between combatant and non combatant. The increasing targeting of civilians, the gynocide of women as a conscious strategy of war, inductions of child soldiers and women into the military…symbolise the death of peace as a way of life.

So much so that wars no longer even need to be displayed as overt acts of visible violence. For by being encoded into a model of militarised governance that is embedded into the very structures of our society- the violence of wars can even be rendered invisible. Wars are also no longer being fought with the uncivilised objective of territorial domination and control but with the more civilised goals of development and progress, of human rights and democracy; of law and order and ofcourse of maintaining national security. The last having received a new lease of life after September 11, with the international war against terror launched by the new global peacemaker and policeman- the United States of America.

A war that its President christened and immortalised as a crusade of good against evil. A war that justified then America’s subsequent annihilation of Afghanistan in the name of trying to smoke out Osama Bin Laden and then the invasion and occupation of Iraq in the name of trying to smoke out non-existent Weapons of Mass Destruction. Wars that are criminal, illegal, unethical and unjust. For both were launched based on acts of absolute amnesia. The world can not forget that both Osama Bin Laden and Saddam Hussein were, at another political moment, created and patronised by America when it was gathering allies to tilt at another evil, that of communism, even while strengthening its geo political base in that region.

And it is not for the first time that America has arrogated to itself the right to be victim, prosecutor and judge.

So remember we must.

That America is at war with itself; in a war of its own making; through the technology it has deified, through the weapons and patterns of militarisation it has patented, through the trails of terrorism that can be traced back to itself.

So remember we must. For the ultimate mother of all battles will be not that of good against evil, but in this amoral world that been manufactured by consent, be that of memory against forgetting.

An Act of Remembering

It is not an accident that the President George Bush spoke of America’s war as that of good against evil. Since the wars that America and its allies in the North have fought have always been between good and evil. The face of good ofcourse remaining constant through the centuries. Good as that embodied in the values of European Enlightenment that brought in the rational light of civilisation to drive away the darkness that blinded all other cultures; values of freedom, progress and development today being single handedly protected and promoted by America that carries the burden of being the worlds only surviving super power and the protector of The Way of Life and therefore on whom the mantle of global leadership falls not too lightly. The face of evil has ofcourse undergone transformation depending on the politics of the time.

In the first phase of the it’s occupation of the Americas after it finished with exterminating the Native Americans and the indigenous peoples of Central America, Europe/the North turned its attention to the continents of Africa and Asia that it sought to civilise, convert and control through the violent project of colonisation. A violence that was sought to be sanitised by respectable scholarship in ethnography, anthropology, eugenics, developmental psychology and socio-biology. After enslaving the Blacks and civilising whoever was left in its own image, in this century the good of democracy and/or socialism fought against the evil of Nazism and fascism and then finally in the Cold War era evil got further embodied in the ideology of communism.

In this righteous battle of freedom over authoritarianism few regions of the world were left untouched – Central and Latin America, Africa, Asia, Pacific, the Arab World.

The invasion of South Vietnam and the experiment with Agent Orange that killed a few million and maimed generations to come; the extensive terror operations against Cuba from the early 1960’s that continues till today through the sanctions; the operations against the Sandinistas in Nicaragua through the 1980’s; the support of the racist rulers of South Africa and the Zionist rulers of Israel whose genocidal policies against the Palestinians it continues to condone; the installation of puppet regimes in Iran, Indonesia, Nigeria and Somalia – all of who killed thousands of innocent civilians including 200,000 Mayan Indians in Guatemala; the assassination of Nasser in Egypt and of Patrick Lumumba in the Congo; the slaughter of hundreds and thousands of Filipinos at the turn of the century; the violent balkanisation of former Yugoslavia…..the list is endless.

The killings in total of two and a half crore civilian people all over the world since 1947 in overt and covert operations of the CIA is perhaps the price worth paying by the world’s only surviving superpower to protect this way of life even while maintaining by the way, global domination. As also the death of 500,000 Iraqi children as stated by Madeline Albright when justifying the cold blooded violence unleashed by another weapon of mass destruction – that of economic sanctions.

These figures of course do not take into consideration the horror of a Hiroshima when the Atom bomb was dropped by America not only to crush Japan that had already hinted at surrender, but also to conduct an experiment using humans as guinea pigs; as it did when it tested nuclear weapons against the indigenous people of the Pacific 1957. Let us not forget that this violence was also perpetrated in the name of the ubiquitous Good. Remember the famous lines of the US official who came to Chief Juda of the Bikini Islands asking him to leave the island with his people saying "We are testing these bombs for the good of mankind and to end all wars." And so to end all wars 66 bombs were tested by the US, stronger than those they dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Which Court will the 16 million victims of nuclear radiation go to for justice?

These are but a few instances that give an indication of the human cost of such just wars the scars of which it seems will never heal.

And this is a track record of terror that no terrorist network today can even begin to equal.

The latest face of evil is of course that of the terrorist who is a threat to the US and all that passes of as humanity behind the fortified walls of most paranoid nation states. The birth of the terrorist also fulfills the overtly racist prophecies of Samuel Huntington who foresaw the conflicts in the twentieth century as moving towards a clash of civilisations where superpower patrons are to be recreated on a cultural rather than an ideological basis when he said that the dominant fault lines will run between the West and either Islam or Asia. He takes the view that the West defined as American political creed plus Western culture is decaying under the threat of alien cultures.

The Huntington paranoia pervades all valiant protests from Bush and Blair that the war against terrorism is not against Islam. For even as they, after the September 11 terrorist attack against the American way of life, ostensibley provided protection to the mosques and reassured Muslim communities against xenophobic attacks within their territorial jurisdiction, they proceeded to all but annihilate Afghanistan and then Iraq that it had already destroyed once over. Symbolising the destruction not only of a people but also a civilisation that it considers today a threat to its way of life. This war against terrorism it is clear has legitimised to an unprecedented degree the terror of a racist war. All foreigners, aliens, minorities particularly of Arab origin in any country are viewed as potential terrorists with little checks against the state machinery be it the police or the military to curtail or hold them responsible for their well known excesses. Those who seek to question the ethics and morality of such a war, its objectives, targets, victims and consequences will be viewed as anti national, unpatriotic and a threat to the security and sanctity of the sovereign nation state system.

And never before has there been such a global consensus on such a system.

For cultural nationalism, racism and xenophobia have received a new lease of life even as universal democratic principles die a quiet death in the convenient cacophony against terror. This new war is giving legitimacy to more culturally specific, home grown intolerances that are struggling for global recognition and approval. The ideologies of a Zionist State, Hindu Rashtra, Jehadi Islam... all illegitimate off-springs of the Crusading Father.

For in the modern cost calculating rational world where religion has been violently uprooted from its moorings in faith and spirituality and pressed into the service of Nationalism, crusades, jehads , dharmayudhs and all such holy nationalistic and supra nationalistic wars are nothing but politically expedient and culturally manipulative enterprises that are locked together in a deathly dance for hegemony and control.The marketing of faiths in the global market of religions by new global warlords like the US who seek power and profit through the crafty marketing of violence and unrest; through militarising and masculinising religious faiths and cultures.

And so remember we must that modern day terrorism is not only a product of cold war politics but of State Terror gone global, patented by America and franchised, along with The Way of Life, to all modern day Nation States the world over.

The Genocidal Way of Life

In times therefore when war is state terrorism being perpetrated by the proponents of this new world order being promoted by USA that is ruthlessly committed to an ideology of development, scientific rationality and national security, we see also the birth of another silent war – the war against subsistence. For this new world order has legitimised not only war as we know it, but also a genocidal standard of living that has been evolved by an exclusive minority, that is displacing and destroying the living standards of a majority. By doing so it has not only destroyed ways of life and living that were sustainable for all, but also those who are incapable of achieving this standard. And anybody who questions the universal goodness of this way of life is a potential threat.

For as William Blum, a former officer in the American State Department says in Rogue State: Guide to the World’s Only Superpower:

"American foreign policy makers are exquisitely attuned to the rise of a government, or a movement that might take power, that will not lie down and happily become an American client state, that will not look upon the free market or the privatisation of the world known as globalisation as the summum bonum, that will not change its laws to favour foreign investment, that will not be unconcerned about the effects of foreign investment upon the welfare of is own people, that will not produce primarily for export, that will not allow asbestos, banned pesticides and other products restricted in the developed world to be dumped onto their people, that will not easily tolerate the International Monetary Fund or the World Trade Organisation inflicting a scorched earth policy upon the country’s social services or standard of living, that will not allow an American or NATO military installation upon its soil…"

The World Court of Women on US War Crimes

The World Court of Women on US War Crimes is our act of remembering. Remembering as victims, survivors, resistors and witnesses, the many covert and overt genocidal wars initiated, instigated and ignited by the USA in different regions of the world. Wars that have claimed the lives of countless innocents ….all clinically and callously dismissed as collateral damage.

And remember we must even as we name and indict those global processes and powers that have been responsible for perpetuating these newer and more grotesque forms of war. For otherwise we the people of the world will all stand indicted of legitimising and sanctioning wars that in the name of freedom and justice will perpetuate our own enslavement by a Superpower blinded in its arrogant, insatiable greed for global hegemony and control.

this eye is not for weeping
it’s vision
must be unblurred
though tears are on my face
it’s intent is clarity
it must forget
nothing

Programme

Gathering for the Court 12.45 p m

Welcome Kalpana Chakravarthy, Vimochana

Ngila, Listen Ntombi Gasa,

Siwella Souke Dance Theatre, South Africa

Introduction to Jury Madhu Bhushan, AWHRC, India

Opening of the Court Ramsey Clark, Former Attorney General, USA

Opening Poetic Visual If only there were birds in the sky

Courts of Women:

Towards the New Political Imaginary Corinne Kumar, AWHRC / El taller International

Testimonies

Session I

In the Hour of the Fire Storm
On U.S. and Weapons of Mass Destruction

The global paranoia that was whipped up over the elusive search for weapons of mass destruction that pose a threat to mankind and the U.S.A could perhaps have been stemmed had the search been launched closer home. Apart from the fact that all modern genocidal military technology including nuclear, chemical, biological and bacteriological has been researched and developed to perfection in the United States, it is a fact that it is the first nation state in the world that has consciously, clinically and rationally deployed this warfare on and against humanity. It is the only country for example that has conducted five nuclear wars. First against Japan in 1945, the second in Kuwait and Iraq in 1991 and then Yugoslavia in 1999 and Afghanistan now when it used depleted uranium in its warheads. It has deployed bacteriological weapons in China and Korea (1952), Vietnam (1960), Cuba (1960) and chemical weapons in Panama (1940-90). And these are only some of the known ones. There are many unknown. This is apart from the special training and know-how it has generously given to its allies in different regions of the world including helping the South African apartheid regime to develop a Chemical and Biological Weapons programme that was aimed at the country’s black population.

This session will hear voices of testifiers and survivors of U.S. deployed Weapons of Mass Destruction in different parts of the world.

Poetic Visual: In the Hour of Fire Storm

Satoru Konishi , Hibakusha, Atomic Bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki
Japan Confederation of A& H Bomb
Survivors of Hiroshima, Japan

Senator Abacca Anjain Maddison Nuclear Testing in Pacific.Marshall Islands

Sahar Sabha Depleted Uranium in Afghanistan, Revolutionary Afghanistan, Women’s Association (RAWA), Afghanistan

Akira Maeda International Criminal Tribunal on Tokyo Zokei University, Japan Afghanistan

Li Thi Quy Agent Orange in Vietnam, Research Centre for Gender and Development, Hanoi University, Vietnam

Gilberto Guiterrez Valdez / Humberto Miranda Bacteriology Warfare in Cuba, Institute of Philosophy, Cuba

Kim Il Bong, Korean Committee for Solidarity with the Chemical Warfare in North Korea, World People,

Jo Chol Ryong, Korean Democratic Lawyers’ Association, North Korea

But who is Osama bin Laden really?

Let me rephrase that. What is Osama bin Laden?

He’s America’s family secret. He is the American President’s dark doppelganger The savage twin of all that purports to be beautiful and civilised. He has been sculpted from the spare rib of a world laid to waste by America’s foreign policy: its gunboat diolomacy, its nuclear arsenal, its vulgarly stated policy of "full spectrum dominance", its chilling disregard for non-American lives, its barbarous military interventions, its support for despotic and dictatorial regimes, its merciless economic agenda that has munched through the economies of poor countries like a cloud of locusts. Its marauding multinationals who are taking over the air we breathe the ground we stand on, the water we drink, the thoughts we think.

Arundhati Roy, The Algebra of Infinite Justice

Session II

In the Hour of the Wind Storm
US Militarisation And Economic Crimes in

Other Parts of the World

Apart from eliminating large populations in different parts of the world through genocidal military technology, through it’s military and economic presence in different parts of the world, the US is consolidating and deepening its hegemonic hold over other countries, cultures and peoples. Hundreds of military installations dot the global map in the Pentagon; American armed forces and special operation forces are deployed in over 100 countries – Guantenamo Bay in Cuba, Albania, Kosovo, Hungary, Bosnia and Croatia, Philippines and now Afghanistan and Iraq. It is perhaps only a coincidence that every country that America has tried to save and liberate has been gifted a US military base to help preserve its national sovereignty. As has been borne out in a statement made in a Defence Department planning paper: "Our first objective is to prevent the re-emergence of a new rival. We must maintain the mechanism for deterring potential competitors from even aspiring to a larger regional or global role."

The testifiers in this session speak of the effects and implications of such systematic and systemic military and economic interventions in different regions of the world.

Poetic Visual: In the Hour of theWind Storm

Emily Cahilog, Gabriela, Philippines U.S Military Bases and Sexual Violence

Susan Pineda Toxic Waste Dumping and US Military Bases,

Gabriela Central Luzon, Philippines

Eunice Santana Veques Island: US Military Base, Alliance for Peace, Puerto Rico

Maria Lastenia Plan Columbia and the Indigenous People, Indigenous Peoples, Colombia

Roger Normand Economic Crimes of the US, Centre for Economic and Social Rights - USA

Pol de Vos US Militarisation and Economic Crimes (PNAC), Stop.USA - Belgium

Session III

In the Hour of the Desert Storm
On Genocide in Iraq

The genocide in Iraq and the destruction of an entire people in the name of democracy and freedom is a sordid saga of how the U.S has invented, reinvented and patented the technology of terrorism in its pursuit of total power and control. And the violence this has involved is unimaginable. Relentless carpet bombing for more than 40 days and nights in the nineties devastating Baghdad – its most ancient city; 177 million pounds of bombs falling on people of Iraq; the most concentrated aerial onslaught in the history of the world to that time; depleted uranium weapons incinerating people including its own soldiers causing cancers and other congenital problems; blowing up oil facilities, burying soldiers alive; genocidal sanctions and then finally the dehumanising spectacle of bringing down a dictator and despot of its own creation.

All the perfumes of Arabia will not lighten this little spot

As US Brigadier General William Looney, director of the joint operations between UK and America in 1999 said "They know we own their country, we own their airspace, we dictate the way they live and talk. And that’s what’s great about America right now. It’s a good thing, especially when there’s a lot of oil out there we need"

The testimonies in this session will bear witness to the economic, political and cultural devastation of a people and their civilisation.

Poetic Visual: In the Hour of the Desert Storm

Mohammad Taka Economic Sanctions, University of Baghdad, Iraq

Dr. Souad Naji Al-Azzawi Depleted Uranium, Iraq

Ismaeel Mohammed Dawood Disappearances, Killings and Confiscations, National Association for Defence of Human Rights in Iraq.

Hana Ibrahim Saleem Cultural destruction of a civilisation Iraq

Farida Mohammad Ali, Crimes against Women: rape/honour killings, Iraq / UK

Alejandro Bendana Debt owed to the Iraqi people, Jubilee South

Eman Ahmed Khammas Resistance, Occupation Watch Centre, Iraq

Alyn Ware Military Tribunals/Guantanamo Bay, International Association of Lawyers against Nuclear Arms, Aotearoa NZ

Your open mouth in anger
makes nations bow in fear
Your bombs can change the seasons
obliterate the spring
What more do you long for?
Why are you suffering?
Seas shift at your bidding
Your mushrooms fill the sky
Why are you unhappy?
Why do your children cry?

Maya Angelou

Session IV

In the Belly of the Beast
On Wars inside the U.S

The universalisation of the American way of life has not been easy. The systematic erasure and extinction of any other collective memory save that of belonging or aspiring to belong to the great white man’s race has had to begin from home with the destruction or domestication of any different way of life including that of the American Indians, the Blacks, the Indigenous. And this apart from the immigrants, the environmentalists, the poor, the homeless, the prisoners… all those marginalized politically and socially. The militarised governance in the world’s largest and model democracy has resulted in an invisible war against its own people and its sacred text- the Bill of Rights. A war intensified and justified to an unprecedented degree after September 11 when defence spending was increased massively at the cost of social spending, extensive tax breaks granted for the largest corporations; greatly increased surveillance and prosecutory powers over the citizenry including license to enter their homes virtually at will; denial of the Bill of Rights for non citizens, including legal residents; creation of a new Office of Homeland Security; cutback on environmental legislation; unilateral abrogation of a leading arms control treaty….

The testimonies in this session from these silenced memories including those of the homeless, the exiled and the interned within America stand witness to the genocidal impact of this way of life even within the belly of the beast.

Poetic Visual: In the Belly of the Beast

Mililani Trask War against Indigenous Peoples Indigenous people Network, Hawaii, USA

Cynthia McKinney War against Black Peoples, USA

Cheri Honkala War against the Homeless, Kensington Welfare Rights Union, USA

Gloria La Riva Cuban Five/US Laws, International Action Centre, USA

Leuren Moret Nuclear Experiments inside the U.S., Independent radiation expert, USA

We gathered our spirit
and called it faith
We gathered our spirit
and called it love and hope
We gather the spirit everyday
giving it our own names
in our own languages

Beth Brent

Session V

In the Eye of the Storm
On Storm breakers and Voices of Resistance

The hope that this global hegemony and control can be challenged and shrunk comes from those thousands of individual voices of conscience and courageous collective initiatives that are standing up to the might of the storm in different parts of the world – including from within the USA. This session seeks to give listening to some of these voices.

Poetic Visual: Gathering of the Story Tellers

Mary Kelly On Resistance to US War Crimes, Ireland

Stan Goff , Vietnam War Veteran Letter to his son, US Marine in Iraq, USA (Visual Testimony)

Ayse Berktay Peace, Turkey International Tribunal on Iraq

Magalys Arochas Resistance to the Economic Blockade in Cuba, Federation of Cuban Women

Raji Sourani Resistance/ Intifada, Palestine Human Rights Organisation

Hilda Lini Nuclear Free Pacific, Pacific Concerns Research Centre

Paola Menduca Anti War Movement, Italy

Only the sheer nothingness
of a star breaking
into a million peieces
falling
scattering
and the sound
that only those who have heard
a star fall
can hear

Session VI

In the Hour of the Rain Song
Voices of Wisdom, Peace and Justice

Even as the Court seeks to name, through the testimonies/expert witnesses those global processes and powers that have been responsible for perpetuating newer and more grotesque forms of war and violence, the Jury in this session will seek to evolve an incisive indictment that is not so much legal as it would be moral and ethical.For even while seeking indictment we need also to recover a notion of collective wisdom and justice that is compassionate, caring and connected; connected to a new political imaginary that invites us to an ethic of sustainability, of life enhancement, of the feminine. For it is only such a wisdom that can challenge the logic of war as crime; it is only such a justice that can stop a curse; that of The New American Century.

Poetic Visual : In the Hour of the Rain Song

Fatima Meer South Africa, Institute for Black Research, University of Natal

Samir Amin Senegal/Egypt, Third World Network

Luisa Morgantini Italy, European Parliament

Genevieve Vaughan USA, Foundation For a Compassionate Society

Denis Halliday Ireland, Former Assistant Secretary General United Nations

Biljana Kasic Croatia, Centre for Women’s studies

Winnie Mandela South Africa, Former President, Women’s Wing African National Congress

Madame Nguyen Thi Binh Vietnam, Former Vice-President, Vietnam

Ramsey Clark USA, Former Attorney General, USA

We must remember that the master’s tools
Will never dismantle the master’s house

Audre Lorde

Towards a New Political Imaginary:

The Courts of Women

We need to find new imaginaries for the global south; We need to develop the social imagination for sustainability as a basis for sustainable living, for the language of deficit cutting and economic growth masks an inability to imagine the world in more sustaining and life enhancing terms.

An imaginary where people of the margins, of the global south are subjects of their own history, writing their own cultural narratives, offering new universals, constructing a new radical imaginary.

The new imaginary cannot have its moorings in the dominant discourse but must seek to locate itself in a discourse of dissent that comes from a deep critique of the different forms of domination and violence in our times. Any new imaginary cannot be tied to the dominant discourse and systems of violence and exclusion.

The new imaginary invites us to an imaginary of sustainability, of life enhancement.

The new imaginary must be feminine.

As the poet says, ‘we should now break the routine, do an extravagant action that would change the course of history, the logic of our development.’ What is essential is to go beyond the politics of violence and terror of the times and to find new imaginations, to sing our root song, to refind and touch the dream.

We need to find new imaginaries for the global south:

Let us tell you a little story, located also in this discourse of dissent. A little experience proffered as an expression of this new imaginary that we explore not as expert, but as witness; a witness who is not a mere spectator: who looks but also listens; who remembers so that nothing is forgotten.

Let us tell you a story of the Courts of Women:
It was a dream of many years ago. It began in Asia and through the Asian Women’s Human Rights Council who with several other women’s rights groups has held eight Courts in the Asia Pacific region; and inspired several more in the regions of the world- Africa, Arab world, Central America, Mediterranean.

The Courts of Women are an unfolding of a space, an imaginary: a horizon that invites us to think, to feel, to challenge, to connect, to dance, to dream.

It is an attempt to define a new space for women, and to infuse this space with a new vision, a new politics. It is a gathering of voices and visions of the global south, locating itself in a discourse of dissent: in itself it is a dislocating practice, challenging the new world order of globalisation, crossing lines, breaking new ground: listening to the voices and movements in the margins.

The Courts of Women seek to weave together the objective reality (through analyses of the issues) with the subjective testimonies of the women; the personal with the political; the logical with the lyrical (through video testimonies, artistic images and poetry) urging us to discern fresh insights, offering us other ways to know, inviting us to seek deeper layers of knowledge; towards creating a new knowledge paradigm.

The Courts of Women are public hearings: the Court is used in a symbolic way. In the Courts, the voices of the victims/ survivors are listened to. Women bring their personal testimonies of violence to the Court: the Courts are sacred spaces where women, speaking in a language of suffering, name the crimes, seeking redress, even reparation.

While the Courts of Women listen to the voices of the victims/ survivors, it also listens to the voices of women who resist, who rebel, who refuse to turn against their dreams. It hears the voices of women from the women’s and human rights movements; it hears of survival in the dailiness of life; it hears of women and movements resisting violence in their myriad forms- war, ethnicity, fundamentalism; it hears of women struggling for work, wages, their rights to the land; it hears of how they survive- of their knowledges, their wisdoms that have been inaudible, invisible. It hears challenges to the dominant human rights discourse, whose frames have excluded the knowledges of women. The Courts of Women repeatedly hear of the need to extend the discourse to include the meanings and symbols and perspectives of women.

It speaks of a new generation of women’s human rights.

The Courts of Women invite us to write another history:

a counter hegemonic history, a history of the margins. And listening to the voices from the margin, the Courts of Women invite us to a journey: a journey rather than an imagined destination.

A journey in which the dailiness of our life proffers possibilities for our imaginary, survival and sustenance, for connectedness and community. For the idea of imaginary is inextricably linked to the personal, political and historical dimensions of community and identity. It is the dislocation expressed by particular social groups that makes possible the articulation of new imaginaries. These social groups, the margins, the global south, the south in the north, the indigenous, the blacks, the dalits, the women are beginning to articulate these new imaginaries.

The peasants in Chiapas, Mexico, describing their new imaginary explain their core vision in their struggle for their livelihoods and for retaining their life worlds. And in their profound and careful organisation, in their political imagining and vision do not offer clear, rigid, universal truths; knowing that the journey is in itself precious, sum up their vision in three little words: asking, we walk.

The asking in itself challenges master narratives, masters’ houses, houses of reason; universal truths, of power, of politics.

The Courts of Women invite us to dismantle the master’s house; and as the poet Audre Lorde says the master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. There is an urgent need to challenge the centralising logic of the master’s narrative implicit in the dominant discourses –of class, of caste, of gender, of race. This dominant logic is logic of violence and exclusion, logic of civilised and uncivilised, logic of superior and inferior.

This centralising logic must be decentered, must be interrupted, even disrupted.

The Courts of Women speak to this disruption; this trespass.

The Courts of Women, to borrow the title of Fatima Merinissi’s book, are our Dreams of Trespass.

The Court of Women is a tribute to the human spirit:

And is a forum in which testimonies can not only be heard but also legitimised. The Courts provide a listening to witnesses, victims, survivors and resistors not only validating their suffering but also validating their hopes and dreams that they have dared to harbour.

The Courts of Women are bursts of light; as the poet Audre Lorde once wrote of explosions of consciousness that light up our sky.

we need new stories for our times.
even new story tellers.
we need new myths, magic and mystery.
we need to find new spaces for our imaginaries.

gathering subjugated knowledges, seeking ancient wisdoms
listening to the many voices from the margins, speaking
listening to the many more, unspoken
remembering our roots
knowing our wisdoms
written on the barks of trees
woven on the insides of our skins
searching for the river beneath the river
of paths yet to be found
of ancient ways, of new ways,
of forgotten and future ways.

Listening to the earth

Listening to woman as she weaves into her razai [quilt] worlds
of wisdoms; creating new meanings, new metaphors, keeping children
warm, making the depths of old wisdoms, visible

Listening to the song of the wind
Listening for the stories

Courts of Women held so far

The AWHRC has attempted to create alternative spaces, where women are listened to as victims, survivors and resistors. Attempting to connect the subjective and personal testimonies of women with political analysis, towards challenging the dominant human rights discourse and seeking a new generation of women’s human rights, the AWHRC in collaboration with scores of local organisations and networks has organised a series of Courts of Women to focus on the violence against women in the Asia-Pacific region. El Taller, a sister organisation based in Tunisia has taken these courts beyond the Asia Pacific region to the Arab World, Africa, Central America and the Mediterranean region. The courts held over the years are:

Court of Women on Violence Against Women
December 1993 January 1994; Lahore, Pakistan;
with the Simorgh Women’s Collective

Court of Trafficking in Women and War Crimes Against Women
March 1994; Tokyo, Japan;
in collaboration with sixty four women’s groups

Court of Women on Crimes Against Dalit Women
March 1994; Bangalore, India; with the Women’s Voice, Bangalore, India

Court of Women on Women on Reproductive Technologies
September 1994; Cairo, Egypt, with UBINIG of Bangladesh

Speaking Tree: Women Speak
Court of Women on Crimes Against Women related to Violence of Development
January 1995; with Vimochana, India

Court of Women on Trafficking and Tourism
June 1995; Kathmandu, Nepal; with two hundred Nepali NGOs working on Trafficking issues

Mahkamet El Nissa
Permanent Court of Women in the Arab World
June 1995; Beirut, Lebanon; with women’s and
human rights organisations in Tunisia and Lebanon

Court of Women on Women Against Violence
September 1995; Beijing, China; with over one hundred
women human rights groups from all over the world

Mahkamet El Nissa Women and the Laws
March 1998; Beirut, Lebanon

Mahakama Ya Wa Mama Wa Africa
The Africa Court of Women
June 24-26, 1999; Nairobi, Kenya;
with women’s human rights groups in Africa

Nga Wahine Pasifika
The Pacific Court of Women on Indigenous Women and Land rights;
September 1999; Aotearoa, New Zealand,
with the Maori Women’s Network

The Mediterranean Forum on Violence Against Women
November 1999; Casablanca, Morocco; with Amal, Morocco and Crinali, Italy

The International Court of Women on the Economic Blockade
November 1999; Havana, with El Taller- Central America,
Cuban Women’ Federation and Institute of Philosophy
Reheld during the World Social Forum, Puerto Allegre, January 2003

The World Court of Women against War, for Peace
March 8, 2001; Cape Town, South Africa;
with an International Coordinating Committee and
a network of local women’s and human rights organisations

The World Court for Women against Racism
August 30, 2001; Durban, South Africa with the Institute for Black Research,
University of Natal; the University of the Western Cape,
Women’s Support Network, Cape Town; the Durban Social Forum,
Sangoco and several other national and international NGO’s

The World Court on Refugee and Indigenous Women
December 4, 2001; Sydney, Australia; with ANCORW

The South Asia Court of Women
on the Violence of Trafficking and HIV/ AIDS
August 11-13, 2003; Dhaka, Bangladesh with
UNDP and UBING, Bangladesh

Organisations extending solidarity to

The World Court of Women on US War Crimes

Aakar Media Collective, New Delhi, India. - Action Against Trafficking and Sexual Exploitation of Children, Bangladesh - Afro-Arab Research Centre, Egypt - Al Shehab Institution for comprehensive Development, Egypt. - Alianza Puertorriquena Por La Paz, Puerto Rico. - All India Dalit Women’s Forum, India. - All India Progressive Women’s Association (AIPWA), India. - Alliance Against Trafficking in Women and Children in Nepal (AATWIN), Nepal. Amandamaji ry, Gerd Söderholm, Finland. - Amazigh, Morocco. - Anti-Imperialist League, Belgium. - Anweshi, India - Arab Commission for Human Rights, Malakoff, France - Arab Women’s Solidarity Association, Egypt. - Asia-Japan Women’s Resource Centre (AJWRC), Japan. - Asian Peace Alliance Japan (APA Japan). - Asian Women Human Rights Council, Philippine Secretariat. - Asociacion Consenso de Mujeres Barco De La Paz, Colombia. - Asociacion Mujer Cabeza de Familia, Colombia. - Ass Medical Release Society for Health & Development Operation & Policy, Palestine - Baladna Arab Youth Organization, Israel - Bay Area Women in Black, San Francisco Bay Area, USA. - Berkeley Women in Black. - Beyond Beijing Committee (BBC), Nepal. - Buhay Foundation for Women and the Girl Child, Philippines.- Bur Rsherd International Law Centre - Business and Community Foundation (BCF), India. - Campaign for Human Rights and Humanitarian LAW, Nepal. - Capital Women’s Study Forum, China. - Capitalism, Nature, Socialism Journal, Australia. - Cawtar, Centre of Arab Women for Training and Research, Tunis, Tunisia. - Centre for Constitutional Rights, New York, USA. - Centre for Development Studies, CIEDS Collective, India - Centre for Women’s Studies, Croatia. - Centre for Alternatives Dhaka, Bangladesh. - Centre for Women’s Development Studies, India. - Centro de Derechos Humanos Don Sergio, Mexico. - Centro de Investigaciones Psicoetnologicas, Mexico. - Colombia Women Consensus, Colombia. - Communication for Development and Learning, Bangalore, India. - Convergencia 8 ce Marzo, Morelos, Mexico. - Coordination Committee Against Women Trafficking and Child Sexual Abuse (CCAWT), Nepal. - Cultural Forum of Women, Iraq. - College of Home Science and Polytechnic, India - Cuadernos Feministas, Mexico. - DAWN/ Gender and Trade Network. - Domestic Violence Help Line, South Africa. - Donna in nero di bergamo, Italy - East Asia & Puerto Rico Women’s Network against Militarism. - East Asia Women’s Forum, Hong Kong. - EcoSolidar, Switzerland. - Environment, Culture,Agriculture, Research & Development Society (ECARDS), Kathmandu, Népal. - Equality Iraq, Iraq. - Equations, India. - FFW Flower Aceh, Indonesia. - Focus on the Global South, Bangkok, Thailand. - Forum Against Oppression of Women, India. - Forum on Rights of Marginalised (FRM), India. - Foundation for Independent Analysis, Aotearoa, New Zealand. - Foundation for Women, Thailand. - Gabriela, Philippines - Galfisa, Cuba. - Gandhi Development Trust & Satyagraha, India. - Gender and Development for Cambodia. - Gender Equity Unit, University of the Western Cape, South Africa. - Global Alliance Against Trafficking in Women, Thailand. - Global Fund for Women, USA. - Gramin Mahila shrijansil Pariwar (GMSP), Nepal. - Gramin Samudayik Bikash Sewa Parishad (GSBSP), Nepal. - Hellenic Association of Youth Informatics, Athens, Greece. - Hong Kong Women’s Fund, Hong Kong ICTA, Japan. - Indigenous Women’s Resource Centre. - Indonesian Women’s Coalition for Justice and Democracy, Indonesia. - Institute of Human Rights Communication, Nepal. - Instituto Paulo Freire, Sao Paulo, Brasil. - International Action Centre, USA - International Association of Lawyers Against Nuclear Arms, Aotearoa, NZ. - International Center for Law in Development, New York, USA. - International Feminists for a Gift Economy, USA. - Iraq Occupation Watch, Iraq

Iraq Tribunal, Istanbul, Turkey. - Jagori, India. - Jana Chetana Sarokar Kendra (JCSM), Nepal. - Japan Confederation of A & H Bomb Survivors of Hiroshima, Japan. - Japanese Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bombs, Japan. - Jenin Media Center, Palestine. - Jerusalem Centre for Women, Palestine. - Jubilee South. - Just World, Malaysia. - Justice & Accountability Matters (Jam), India. - Kensington Welfare Rights Union, USA. - Korean Com. For Solidarity with the World People. - La Ligue Algérienne pour la défense des droits de l’homme (LADDH), Algeria. - Learning Network, India. - Lolas Kampanyera, Philippines. - Mahila Atma Nivarta Kendra (MANK), Nepal. - Mama Cash, The Netherlands. - Narigrantha Prabartana, Bangladesh. - National Association for the Defence of Human Rights of Iraq Iraq. - National Coalition Against Racial Discrimination (NCARD), Nepal. - National Federation of Dalit Women, India. - Nawat Group, Palestine. - Newar National Forum, Nepal. - Nga Wahine Tiaki o Te Ao, Aotearoa, New Zealand. - Nihon Hidankyo, Japan. - Nuclear Age Peace Foundation, US. - Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement. - Nuclear Free and Independent Pacific Movement. - Nuclear Free Future Award, Germany. - Oxfam Nepal Team, Kathmandu, Nepal. - Pacific Concerns Resource Centre, Fidji. - Palestinian Democratic Coalition, Palestine. - Palestinian Initiative for the Promotion of Global Dialogue and Democracy (MIFTAH), Palestine. - Palestinian Working Women Society for Development. - Palestinian Youth Union, Palestine. - Palestine Human Rights Organisation, Palestine. - Paschim Banga Dhekaro Samaj Kalyan Samiti. - Paschim Banga Kheria Sabar Kalyan Samiti, India. - Peace Initiative of Turkey, Turkey. - People’s Movement for Human Rights Education (PDHRE), New York, USA. - People’s Vigilance Committee on Human Rights, India. - Plataforma copartes tdh alemania, Peru. - PRATEC, Peru. - Primate’s World Relief and Development Fund, Canada. - Radio Sagarmatha, Nepal. - Ramaq Centre for Awareness and Social Responsibility, Lahore, Pakistan. - Research Centre for Gender and Development, Hanoi University, Vietnam. - Revolutionary Association of the Women in Afghanistan, Pakistan. - Rights and Democracy, Montréal, Québec, Canada. - Rural Community Development Service Council, Nepal. - Safe House For Women, Kosova. - Sangat, New Delhi, India. - Sangram, India. - Satyagraha in Pursuit of Truth, South Africa. - Save the children, Nepal. - Shakti Samuha Nepal, Nepal. - Shirkat , Women’s Resource Centre, Pakistan. - Silicon Valley Health Watch , California, USA. - Simorgh Women’s Resource and Publication Centre, Lahore, Pakistan. - Solidaritas Perempuan, Indonesia. - Sophia Centre for Women’s Studies and Development, India. - SOS Irak, Belgium. - Stop USA , Belgium. - Sumpay Mindanao Inc., Philippines. - Survivors, For Change, Ghana, West Africa. - Sustainable Livelihood Forum (SLF), Nepal. - Tamaynut, Morocco. - Tamil Nadu Women’s Collective, India. - TEAM! USA. - Tenaganita, Malaysia. - Tejaswi, India. - The African Women Empowerment Guild, Nigeria. - The Australian National Committee on Refugee Women, Australia. - The Center for the Study of the Gift Economy, USA. - The Centre for Development Studies, India. - The Centre for Economic and Social Rights, USA. - The Creative Women Forum, Palestine. - The Ecumenical Women’s Forum, Philippines. - The Foundation for Action, Motivation and Empowerment, India - The Girl Child Network, Kenya. - The Group for Cultural Documentation, Inc. - The Institute of Black Studies, University of Natal, South Africa. - The Institute of Philosophy, Cuba. - The Jordanian Women’s Union, Amman, Jordan. - The National Alliance of Women ‘s Organisations (NAWO), London, UK. - The Peace Initiative of Turkey, Turkey. - The Santa Clara Center for Occupational Safety and Health (SCCOSH), California, USA. - The Tamaynut organisation, Morroco. - The United Church of Canada, Canada. - The Women’s Centre, Bombay, India. - Third World Forum, Senegal. - Ubinig, Dhaka, Bangladesh. - Union of the lebanese Democratic Youth (ULDY), Lebanon. - UNLAD KABAYAN, Philippines. - Uttapidit Tatha Janajati Bikash Parishad (UTJBP), Nepal. - Vietnam Peace&Development Foundation. - Visthar, India. - WILPF, Italy. - WINGS, Women’s International News Gathering Service, Texas, USA & Vancouver BC, Canada. - Women Affairs Technical Committee, Palestine. - Women against nuclear power, Pirkko Lindberg, Finland. - Women and Law in Southern Africa Research Trust, Mozambique. - Women for Peace, Lea Launokari, Finland. - Women in Black, USA. - Women Skill Creation Centre (WOSCC), Nepal. - Women’s International League for Peace & Freedom, USA. - Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, Costa Rica section, Heredia Group. - Women’s Voice, India. - Women’s Aid Organization, Malaysia. - Women’s Bank. - Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling, Palestine. - Women’s Institute for New Awakening (WINA), India. - Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom (UK Section). - Women’s Research & Action Group (WRAG), India. - World Council of Churches, Geneva, Switzerland. - Society for International Development, Italy. - Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, UK. - YWCA, Mumbai. - Engender, South Africa. - Women in Black, Canada. - Women in Black, New Mexico, USA.
Women in Black, South Australia. - Deep Griha Society, India.

One of the strengths of the Courts of Women is the tremendous support and solidarity it has gathered from many organisations from the different regions where they have been held. We acknowledge below those organisations who have expressed their solidarity with some of the recently held Courts.

World Court of Women Against War, For Peace,
Cape Town, South Africa, March 6-9, 2001

ALGERIA: SOS Femmes en Detresse; Rassemblement Action Jeunesse; Touiza; Association Nationale Pour L’Entraide Paysanne; Dialogue et Action Akbou; Movement Ecologique Algerien; Association Scientifique de l’Agriculture Saharienne. ARGENTINA: Mesa de los Suenos; Grupo de Trabajo Borradores; Universidad de Buenos Aires; Catedra Abierta de Estudios Americanistas; PCA -en la Pampa - Miembro de Pueblo Unido.AUSTRALIA: Australian National Council for Refugee Women; Australian Federation of University Women. BANGLADESH: UBINIG; Resource Intergration Center; Unnayan Shahojgy Team; Social Assistance and Rehabilitation for the Physically Vulnerable; Naripokkho. BENIN: Groupe de Recherche et d’Action pour le Bien; Etre Social. BOLIVIA: Voluntarios en Action; Instituto Politecnico "Tomas Katari" IPTK; Centro de Informacion Dessarrolo de la Mujer; Centro de Investigacion y Promocion del Campesinado; Oficina Juridica Para La Mujer. BURMA : Movement of Democracy; Lisu Baptist Convention.BOTSWANA : The Botswana Center for Human Rights DITSHWANELO.BELGIUM: PAX Christi International (PXI); Reseau S/N Network. BRAZIL: REDEH; Centro de Atividadis Culturale Economicas e Sociales. BOSNIA: Association ‘Zenah Bih’; Zene Zenama. CAMEROUN: BERDSCO. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: Conseil Inter ONG en Centrafrique. CONGO: Collectif des Organisations Non-Gouvernementales pour l’Essor des Communautes de Base en Afrique. CANADA: Canadian Council for International Cooperation; International Council for Adult Education; Rights and Democracy; International Institute of Concern for Public Health; Match International Center MIC; The Marquis Project; Intercultural Institute of Montreal; Peacefund Canada. CAMBODIA: Gender and Development (GAD/C); Khmer Youth Association; Association de Droits de l’Homme et du Developpement au Cambodge; Cambodian Center for the Protection of Children’s Rights; Cooperation Committee for Cambodia. COLOMBIA: Fundacion Para la Communicacion Popular; Associacion de Trabajo Interdiciplinario; Corporation Colectivo de Abogados; Corporacion Sociedad Colombiana de Pedagogia; Associacion de Cabildos del Consejo; Regional indigena del Tolima; Corporacion Para La Participacion; Cuidadana; Universidad Autonoma Latinoamericana.COSTA RICA: Fundacion CEPPA. CUBA: Instituto de Filosofia; International Court of Women against the Economic Blockade; Federacion de Mujeres Cubanas; Universidad de Oriente; Universidad de Las Villas. Dpto de Filosofia; Centro de Intercambion Educacional "Graciela Bustillos".CHINA: Beijing Foreign Studies University. CROATIA: Center for Women’s Studies; Center for Education and Counseling of Women; Zenska INFOTEKA/Women’s INFOTEKA; Women’s Information and Documentation Center; DENMARK: International Council on Social Welfare; Universidad de Copenhaque. EGYPT: Women’s Progressive Union; The Arab ngo network for Environment and Development; CCFD; Omdurman Centre for Women Studies; Appropriate Communication Techniques; Legal Research and Resource Centre for Human Rights; Arab Research Center for Afro-Arab Studies and Documentation; South Group for Research; Ford Foundation. EL SALVADOR: Equipo Maiz. ECUADOR Agencia Latinoamericana de informacion. ETHIOPIA: Anchor Intergrated Development; International Institute of Rural Reconstruction. FIJI: Fiji Council of Social Services. FRANCE: Catholic Committee Against Hunger for Development; Foundation Abbe Pierre Pour Le Logement Des Defavorises. GERMANY: Nuclear Free Future; Evangelische Zentralstelle Entwicklungshilfe E.V. GHANA: International Needs; The African Development Programme; Youth Development Foundation; Action Aid. GUINEA: Association Guineenne pour l’Allegement des Charges Feminines. HAWAII: Na Koaa Ikaika o Ka Lahui; Nga Wahine Pacifika. HONG KONG: Zi Teng Association; Asian Human Rights; Commission. HUNGARY:Kozossegfejleztok Egyesulete Association for Community Development. HONDURAS:Comite para la Defensa de los Derechos Humanos (CODEH).INDIA : Asian Women’s Human Rights Council ; Vimochana ; CIEDS Collective ; SANGRAM ; Narmada Bachao Andolan ; Women’s Voice; Women’s Centre ; Vacha; Sparrow ; ISST; Mobility India; Joint Women’s Programme; Society for Women’s Action and Training Initiative. - WAADS/Positive Women’s Network; Chattisgarh Mahila Mukti Morcha Samithi; Communalism Combat; VAMP; Anweshi Women’s Counseling Centre ; Rural Education for Development Society; Sanchetana ; RFSTE; Grameen Vikas Karyakram; North East Network; Society for Community Organization Trust; Ahmedabad Women’s Action Group; DEEPALAYA; Bal Rashmi Society;ICSW; Initiative Women in Development; Bhagwati Environment Development Institute (BEDI) Peace Trust; Center for Science and Environment;All India Drug Action Network; Reaching Out; FEDINA; Visthaar; Narmada Solidarity Forum; Women’s Studies, UTC; SAHRWARU; Kerala Stree Vedhi; Sabrang Communications and Publication; Other Media; Pakistan India People’s Forum for Peace and Democracy; Roshni; Action Aid; United Nations Development Programme; Ford Foundation. INDONESIA: Indonesian National Commission on Violence against Women; Gandhi Ashram; Bali Canti Sena. ITALY: Instituto Universitario Orientale-IUO-Napoli Fondazione Respetto et Parita IRAQ: Al-Amal Iraqi Association; Iraqi Women’s League. IVORY COAST: Mouvement International des Femmes Democrates MIFED. JAPAN: Hidankyo - Japan Confederation of A and H Bomb Sufferers Organisation; Japan Gensuikyo-Japan Council against A and H Bombs; Citizen’s Fund for Redress; Plan International Japan; Sotoshu Volunteer Association; International Education Resource and Innovation Center; Pacific Asia Resource Centre. JORDAN: Jordanian Women’s Union; The Arab Thought Forum; Al Urdun Al Jadid Research Center. JERUSALEM: Women in Black KENYA: Horn Relief; Green Belt Movement; Federation of Women Lawyers (FIDA). KUWAIT: Women Cultural and Social Society KOSOVO: Center for Protection of Women and Children; Ministry of Democracy. LEBANON: American University of Beirut; Secours Populaire Libanais; Amel Association Lebanese Association for Popular action; Mouvement Social; Ligue des Droits de la Femme Libanaise; Lebanese Working Women League; Union de la Jeunesse Democratique Libanaise; National Institution of Social Care and Vocational Training; The Lebanese Women Democratic Gathering RDFL; Mahkamet El Nissa. MALASIA: Aliran; Third World Network. MALAWI: Center for Human Rights and Rehabilitation. MALI: Association Subaahi Gumo; Association du Sahel d’Aide a la Femme et a l’Enfance; El Gandal. MAURITIUS : The Call Organization for Community Development and the Protection of the Environment; Mauritius of Social Services.MORROCCO : Association de Solidarite Feminine; Centred’Ecoute et d’Orientation Psychologique pour Femmes Agressees; Union de l’Action Feminine. MEXICO : Equipo Pueblo; El Colegion de Mexico; Centre of Asian and African Studies; Universidad Mesoamericana; "Horizontes Valeologicos" ACs; Catedra "Paulo Freire" -ITESO; Universidad Autonoma de Guerrero, Escuela de Filosofia y Letras; Sociedad Coo. De Trabajadores Aparejos Elecricos; Centro de Estudios Superiores del Comportamiento A.C.; Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla; Equipo Mujeres en Accion Solidaria. MAURITANIA: ONG ESPOIR; InstitutMerieme Diallo; Association Femmes Enfants Developpement; Club des Amis de la Nature et la Protection de l’Environnement. NICARAGUA: Programa Feminista Centroamericano La Corriente. NETHERLANDS: Migratie; Women’s Global Network for Reproductive Rights; SAWA; Ministry of Development Cooperation. NEPAL: Oxfam; Children at Risk Network Group; AATWIN. NIGER: Nouvelle Oportunite pour les Defavorises. NIGERIA: Centre for Conflict Resolution and Peace Advocacy. NORWAY: Anti Racist Center PHILIPPINES: LILA PILIPINA; Philippines Rural Reconstruction Movement; Women’s Rights Movement of the Philippines; Philippines Zontas Foundation; Harnessing Self-Reliant Initiatives and Knowledge inc; Task Force Detainees of the Philippines; Cooperation Foundation Phil., INC; Buhay Foundation for Women and Girl Child; National Council of Women of the Philippines; Roots for Equity; Asian Indigenous Women’s Network; Tebtebba - Indigenous People’s International Center for Policy Research and Education; Asian Women’s Human Rights Council.PALESTINE: MIFTAH; Palestine Human Rights Information Center; Palestinian Youth Union; Palestinian Legislation Council; Gaza Community mental Health Programme; Bisan Centre for Research and Development; Al-Haq; Association for Rural Development (ARD); The Palestinian Center for Dissemination of Democracy and Community Development; Beladna Cultural Center Society for the Protection and Development of the Environment; Al Manhal Woman and Child Cultural Center. PAKISTAN: RAWA; Simorgh Women’s Collective. PANAMA: Legal Assistance Popular Center. PERU: PRATEC; Servicios Educativos Promociony Apoyo Rural. PUERTO RICO: CASEP, Taller de Educacion Alternativa; Universidad de Puerto Rico. REPUBLICA DOMINICANA: Fundacion Solidaridad, INC. RWANDA: Association of Widows of Genocide; Forum des ONG Rwandaises; Association Rwandaise pour la Promotion de l’Environnement Hygiene et Sante; Association pour la Developpement Rural du Bukunzi; Collectif des Ligues et Associations de Defense des Droits de l’Homme au Rwanda; Association Rwandaise pour la Defense des Droits de l’Homme. RUSSIA: The Committee of ‘Soldiers’ Mothers of Russia. - SOUTH AFRICA: African National Congress Women’s League; African Gender Institute; Commission on Gender Equality; Biomatch; Gender Advocacy Programme; Siyabuswa Educational Improvement and Development Trust; Social Change Assistance Trust; El Taller - South Africa; Mahakama Ya Wamama Wa Afrika; Human Rights Commission; Desmond Tutu Foundation; Network on Violence against Women; Rape Crisis; Dept of Social Services; Black Sash; City of Cape Town Metropolitan Council; Cape Town Holocaust Center; Boland Forum; Women on Farms; Trauma center for victims of violence; CAFDA; Call to action campaign; Dept of Justice; Centre for Conflict resolution; IDASA; AFRICON; South Africa Arts Council; Big Issue; Carehaven Shelter; Sisters Incorporateshelters; CATTS; Advice Desks; Child Welfare Society; Community Chest; Community Law Center; Gun Free South Africa; NICRO; Lifeline - crisis line; Congress of South Africa Trade Union; Community Workers Forum; Molo Songololo; RAPCAN; Committee on the Status of Women; Mediawatch; Dept of Labour; Malobongwe Womens Development; Quaker Peace Centre; Truth and Reconciliation Commission; ENGEN; United Sanctuary; Woolworths; Department of Arts and Culture; Gender equity unit - University of the western cape; Cape Technikon; Cape College; Dept on Community Health; FAMSA; DELTA; Femina; LEAP; Law, Race and Gender Institute; Maryland Literacy Project; Mosaic; New Women’s Movement; Disabled People South Africa; New World Foundation; Peace Africa Youth Centre; SACTU; UMAC; Triangle Project; Women’s legal Center; Umtapo Peace Center; St. Anne’s Home; Catholic Welfare and Development Trust; De Beers; British Council; lllitha Labantu; Provincial Networks on Violence against Women; Trust for Community Outreach; Interfund; KAGISO; Rural Women’s Development; Philani; Saartjie Baartman Women’s Center; SCAT; Speakers of the National Parliament and National Council of Provinces; ANC Parliamentary Caucus; National Development of Social Welfare; Provincial Administration of the Western Cape - Department of Social Services; Cape Times; Alliance Francais; CWCI Fund; European Union; Department of Justice and Constitutional Affairs; Cora Weiss; National Arts Council of South Africa; Woolworths; Shell. SIERRA LEONE: Council of Churches. SPAIN: Mujeres de Negro; "ES CALIU" (ONG); Departamento deSociologia (Universidad de la Laguna); Justicia l Pau. SOMALIA: Bari Women Confederation Bosasa. SENEGAL: Rencontre Africaine Pour la Defense des Droits de l’Homme RADDHO; Environment et Developpement du Tiers-Monde Enda-TM; Action Humaine pour le Developpement Integre au Senegal AHDIS. SRILANKA : Lanka Jathika Sarvodaya Shramadana Sangamaya; Community Trust Fund. SYRIA : Syrian Women’s League to Protect Childhood and Motherhood. SWAZILAND : Swaziland Action Group against Abuse. SWITZERLAND : World Council of Churches; Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Switzerland. SUDAN : Al Manar THAILAND : Foundation for Women; Migrant Assitance Programme; GAATW.TUNISIA : El Taller; University of Tunisia; Assciation de Developpement et de Protection de l’Environment La Marsa; Associaion Tunisienne des Femmes Democrates; Enda Inter Arabe; Association pour la Protection de la Nature et de l’eEnviironnement; Ligue Tunisienne pour la Defense des Droits de l’Homme; Association de Protection de la Nature et de l’Environement Sfax; Association El Mourouj II; Association les Amis des Oiseaux Faculte des Sciences, Campus Universitaire; Club Jeunes Science Hamman Lif; Oxfam-Quebec; RAID; Institut Arabe des Droits de l’Homme; Association des Meres Celibataires; Amnesty International (Section Tunisie); CAWTAR; Organization Tunisienne de l’Education et de la Familie; AFTURD. TANZANIA : Center pour l’Education et la Defense des Droits del’Homme. TOGO : Association pour la Promotion des Groupements Agricoles. UKRAINE : Flowers of Wormwood URUGUAY: Catolicas or El Derecho a Decidir; Mujer Ahora-Espacio Feminsta de Salud; SELF MANAGEMENT. UNITED KINGDOM: SEEDS; Action Aid. USA: The Group for Cultural Documentation; Kensington Welfare Association; UUSC; Women Environment andDevelopment Organization; International Center for Law in Development; Global Nonviolent Peaceforce; Council on International and Public Affairs; Towson University; Philosophy Department, Edinbord University; Comision para las Mujeres de la Ciudad de Cambridge; Department of Philosophy, Univerisity of San Diego; Unitarian Universalist Service Society; Samuel Rubin Foundation; Vaughan Foundation; Board of Global Ministries. VIETNAM: Vietnam Women’s Union Research Center for Gender, Family and Environment in Development. REPUBLIC OF YEMEN: Cultural Development Projects Planning Foundation; Human Rights and Training Center. YUGOSLAVIA: University of Belgrade; Laci Balla Lajos. ZIMBABWE: Organization of Rural Associations for Progress; Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Center and Network.

World Court of Women Against Racism,
Durban, South Africa, Aug 30, 2001

In association with: Civil Society Activities Coordinating Committee, Durban, South Africa;Institute for Black Research; niversity of Natal;Concerned Citizens Forum;South African NGO Coalition;Durban Social Forum;National Land Commission;Anti-Privatisation Forum;South African Civic Organization;Anti-Racism Initiative;Palestinian Support Committee;University of the Western Cape Women Support Network, Cape Town, South Africa;National Land Committee;Gender Equity Unit, UWC;Chairperson, Joint Monitoring Committee on the Quality of Life and Status of Women;South Africa NGO Coalition, SANGOCO;New Women’s Movement, South Africa;Africa National Congress Women’s League;Inkatha Women’s Brigade; ENDA – Third World, Sénégal, Environnement et Développement du Tiers-Monde Enda – TM;Center for Women’s tudies, Croatia;Philippines Rural Reconstruction Movement;PRATEC, Peru;Migrante, Netherlands/Morocco;Equipo Pueblo, Mexico;Zene Zenama, Bosnia;MIFTAH, Palestine;Institute of Philosophy, Cuba;Na Koa Ikaka O Ka Lahui Hawaii;Group for Cultural Documentation, USA;Tebtebba Foundation, Indigenous, Philippines;Federacion de ubanas Mujeres, Cuba;Tangata Wheuna, Aotearoa, NZ;National Federation of Daliths, India;Buraku Liberation League, apan;Rroma Center for Public Policies, Aven Amentza, Romania;Slavehouse, Goree Island, Senegal;Arid Land Institute, Kenya;Association of Korean Human Rights in Japan;Citizens for Environmental Justice, USA;Nga Wahine tiaki o te Ao, Aotearoa, NZ;Circumpolar Peoples, Denmark;Accion Ecological, Ecuador;Indigenous Peoples Council on Bio-colonialism, USA;Rassemblement Action Jeunesse, Algeria ;Women of Color Resource Center, USA;Jerusalem Media Communication Center, Palestine;BALADNA, Association for Arab Youth, Palestine 1948;LOLAS, Philippines (Lolas Para Sa Kapayapaan aat Kumpensasyom);Lila Pilipina, Philippines;Vimochana, India;UBINIG, Bangladesh;Simorgh Women’s Collective, Pakistan;Kalyanamitra, Indonesia;Screm Do Mira, Bosnia;Women’s Voice, India;Foundation for Women, Thailand;Beijing Foreign Languages University, China;Bali Canti Sena, Indonesia;Australian National Council of Refugee Women;World Council of Churches, Switzerland;Indigenous initiatives for peace, Guatemala;RAWA, Revolutionary Association of Women, Afghanistan;Movement for Democracy, Burma;Center for the Study of Developing Societies, India;Global Youth Connect;Amnesty International, Tunisia;Women in Black, India;Jerusalem Centre for Information, Palestine;UUSC, USA;Palestinian Youth Union, Palestine;SEEDS, United Kingdom;Flowers of Wormwood, Ukraine;HURIGHTS, Osaka, Japan;International Possibilities Unlimited, USA;Omomo Melen Pacific;SANGRAM, India;Center for the Protection of Women and Children, Kosovo;K’hib Women’s Peace Center, South Africa;Asian Indigenous Women’s Network, Philippines;Panorama Haitadhaman, Tunisia;Indonesian National Commission Against Violence Against Women;Mahakama Ya Wamama Wa Africa, Kenya;Association Tunisienne de la Mere et l’enfant, Tunisia;Union of Lebanese Democratic;Global Alliance Against Trafficking of Women, Thailand;Association Tamaynut-ANCAP, Morocco;Women’s Study Center, UTC, India;Rural Development Women’s Network, Rwanda;Association Mourouj II, Tunisia;Pakistan/India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy;Arab Research Center, Egypt;REDEH, Brazil;Move your World, Netherlands;Unione degli Studenti, Italy;Kerala Stree Vedhi, India;Women in Black, Philippines;Syrian Democratic Youth Union;Hidankyo, Japan Confederation of A+H Bombs Sufferers Organization, Japan;Women in Black, Jerusalem;Rights and Democracy, Canada;Land Center for Human Rights, Egypt;Nga Wahine Pacifica, Aotearoa;Creative Women’s Forum, Palestine;Women’s League, Syria;Vietnam Women’s Union;Women’s Vocational Training Center, Sierra Leone;Bundjalung Aboriginal Nation Association, Australia;Mayan Weavers Organization, Chiapas, Mexico;Survivors for Change, Ghana;Migrant Assistance Program, Thailand;Widows of the Genocide Association, Rwanda;O Emon Women’s Club, Marshall Islands;Pacific Islander and Asian America Ministries;Indigenous Environmental Network;Gabriella, Philippines;Bayan, Philippines;IMADR;The National Council of Women of the Philippines ;Filipino-Chinese Federation of Business and Professional Women, Philippines;Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), Philippines;CIEDS Collective, India.

International Court of Women Against the Economic Blockade,
Havana, Cuba, March 21-24, 2002

El Taller International, Institute of Philosophy Cuba, Federacion Cuban Mujeres in association with:

Asian Women’s Human Rights Council, India/Phillippines;Institute for Black Research, University of Natal, South Africa;Durban Social Forum, South Africa;University of the Western Cape Women Support Network, South Africa;ENDA – Third World, Sénégal, Environnement et Développement du Tiers-Monde Enda – TM;Center for Women’s Studies, Croatia;Philippines Rural Reconstruction Movement;Proyecto Andino de Tecnologias Campesinas PRATEC), Peru;Migrante, Netherlands/Morocco;Equipo Pueblo, Mexico;Zene Zenama, Bosnia;Miftah, Palestine;Tebtebba Foundation, Indigenous, Philippines;BALADNA, Association for Arab Youth, Palestine 1948;LOLAS, Philippines (Lolas Para Sa Kapayapaan aat Kumpensasyom);Lila Pilipina, Philippines;Vimochana, India;UBINIG, Bangladesh;Simorgh Women’s Collective, Pakistan;International Action Centre, USA;Nuclear-Free Future Award;Kalyanamitra, Indonesia;Enda-TW/Relay for Urban Participatory development, Senegal;Women’s Voice, India;Foundation for Women, Thailand;Bali Canti Sena, Indonesia;Australian National Council of Refugee Women;Na Koa Ikaka O Ka Lahui Hawaii;World Council of Churches, Switzerland;Movement for Democracy, Burma;Center for the Study of Developing Societies, India;Women in Black, India;Unitarian Universalist Service Committee, USA;Omomo Melen Pacific;Asian Indigenous Women’s Network, Philippines;Panorama Haitadhaman, Tunisia;Indonesian National Commission Against Violence Against Women;Mahakama Ya Wamama Wa Africa, Kenya;Union of Lebanese Democratic Youth;Women’s Study Center, UTC, India;Rural Development Women’s Network, Rwanda;Pakistan/India Peoples Forum for Peace and Democracy;The Arab Commission for Human Rights, Egypt;REDEH, Rede de Desenvolvimento Humano, Brazil;Kerala Stree Vedhi, India;Women in Black, Philippines;Syrian Democratic Youth Union;Nga Wahine Pacifica, Aotearoa;Widows of the Genocide Association, Rwanda;O Emon Women’s Club, Marshall Islands;Cordillera People’s Alliance (CPA), Philippines;International Needs, Ghana;Anti-Racism Initiative, South Africa;Vaughan Foundation, USA;National Alliance of Women’s Organizations, India;Fondazione Rispetto et Parita, Italy;Center for Development Studies, India;CIEDS Collective, India;FIRE, Feminist International Radio Endeavour, Costa Rica.;Global Fund for Women, USA;GEFONT, General Federation of Nepalese Trade Unions;The Edmonds Institute, USA;VAMP, Veshya AIDS Muqabla Parishads, India;Cuadernos Feministas, Mexico;Durban Social Forum, South Africa;SANGRAM, Sampada Grameen Mahila Sanstha, India;Women’s Association Zena Bih, Bosnia;Mali-Enjeu - Bamako, Mali;Center for Informal Education and Development Studies, India;Associacion Madres de Plaza de Mayo, Argentina;Metaeconomics Research Center, Spain;Cobtrad, Community Based Trainers and Development Consultants, Kenya;Wise Women;Nga Wahine tiaki o Te Ao, Aotearoa;Palestinian Working Women Society for Development, Palestine;Palestinian Support Committee, South Africa;Center for Alternatives, Bangladesh;Women’s Center, India;Migrantie, Netherlands;Anglican World Relief and Development Fund, Canada; Greenpeace Mediterranean;Laboratori de Somnis, Spain;Hurights, Asia-Pacific Human Rights Information Center, Japan;National Land Commission, South Africa;Swiss Chatholic Lenten Fund;Women’s Global Network for eproductive Rights, Netherlands ;Women’s Voice, India;Third World Network, Ghana;Forum for Social Studies, Ethiopia;FEFAM, Femme et Famille, Niger;Center for Refugee Research, Australia;Concerned Citizens Forum, South Africa;South African Civic Organization;Society for International Development, SID, Italy;Anti-Privatisation Forum, South Africa;L’Institut Mediterranéan, iMED, Italy;The Palestinian Human Rights Monitoring Group, Palestine;Migrant Assistance Programme , Thailand;O Emon Women’s Club, Marshall Islands;Arid Lands Resource Management, Kenya;Fluir, Mexico;North American Women for Diversity, USA;National Association for Human Rights and Development, Egypt;Horn Relief, Kenya;Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession, Egypt;Hawaii Pacific Islander and Asian American Ministries;Indigenous women, Australia;Local Artists Alliance for Sustainability, Australia ;Consenso de Mujeres del Barco de la Paz, Colombia ;Asociación de Mujeres cabeza de Familia, Colombia ;Red mujeres de negro de castelló, Spain ;Asociacion mujeres por la salud y la pas de valencia, Spain;Centre de la Femme Arabe, Tunisia;Development Indian Ocean Network;World march of Women, Turkey;Non Violent Peace Force, USA;Union of Lebanese Democratic Youth;Le Gari ngo, France;Creative Women’s Forum, Palestine;Association Paysanne, Democratic Republic of Congo;Council of Churches, Sierra Leone;ONG Vena Solidaria Centro para el cambio y Desarrollo Social, Peru.

South Asia Court of Women on the Violence of Trafficking and HIV/AIDS,
August 11-13, 2003

Francesca Randazzo; Afghanistan: RAWA Argentina:Mujeres de Negro Australia: Union of Australian Women Darebin Group;Australian National Commission of Refugee Women; Centre for Refugee Research; Christ Church Heathmont; Women in Black, Hobart, Aboriginal Women in Australia Austria: Women in Black; Green Women Bangladesh: Anowara Alam; Barlu Mirza; Jehanara Begum; Mirza Tasmimul Islam; Mizan Malik; Sadeq Ahmad Chowdhury Sadi; Samsad Hosan; Sirajun Nahar Shathi; Md. Abdul Hai Khan;Institute of Engineers; Mohila Committee; Nobopran Andolon;Noyakrishi Andolon; PSO; AFEAHRD; Shaymali Samaj Kalyan Samity; BRRI, TMSS; Diploma Nurses Association of B.S.M.M.U.; University of Dhaka; ASDP; Somaj Sangstha; NEDA, BKF; Sahmata Mahila Samaj Unnayan Sansta; ASUS; Bonolata Sahitya Parished; O.J Trust; UTSHO; Durjay Nari Sangho; UBINIG; Bangladesh Police Nari Kalyan Samiti; Bangladesh Mohila Parishad; MUKTI; COAST; SONALI SOKAL; Bill-Cholon Development Project; Breaking the Silence; CODEC; BELA; Action Aid; CARE; Nari Forum; SAP; Sayabittiy Jonokallon Porishod; Radio Tahran; The Ittefaq; New Age; Prothom Alo; Daily Jugantar; Ajker Kagoj;Manab-Sahajya Sangstha ; Bangladesh National Women’s Lawyers Association; Nari Pokko/Durbar; Bangladesh Scociety for Enforcement of Human Rights; IPSA; Garo Upagati Samithi; Shrama Bikash Kendra;Belgium: Women in Black Canada:Angela Miles; International Institute of Public Health; Karuna Community Services (Buddhist Communities of Greater Toronto); Anti-Racism Council of Canada (NARCC); Asia-Pacific Development; KAIROS; Women’s Health Interaction of Canada China: Beijing Foreign Studies University Colombia: Laurel Sulkin;Women’s Consensus; Asociacion de Mujeres cabeza de Familia; Consenso de Mujeres Colombianas del Barco de la Paz; Corporacion Educativa Alfa; Red Nacional de Mujeres de Colombia Costa Rica:Jean Patterson; Radio For Peace International; Women International League for Peace and Freedom; Costa Rican Friends’ Peace Center; Radio Internacional Feminista (Feminist International Radio Endeavour, FIRE) Croatia: Centre for Women’s Studies Cuba: Instituto de Filosofia; Federacion de Mujeres Cubanas; GALFISA Egypt: New Women Research Centre; El Nadim Centre for the Psychological Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence; Arab Program for Human Rights Activists; The Egyptian Centre for the Rights of the Child; Al Sehab; The Association for Human Rights Legal Aid; Arab Women’s Solidarity Association Hong Kong: Asia Pacific Mission for Migrants (APMM) Germany: Women for Women of all Cultures; Women in Black, Bremen; Projecktkoordinationa Tiergesundheit and Agrobiodiversitat India: Jaya Velankar; Tanushree Gangopadhyay;Pramila ;CIEDS Collective; Vimochana; Centre for Women & Law, National Law School of India University; CIVIDEP; DISC; JAGORI; K.K.N.S.S; R.D.O; Samraksha; Samvada; Sangama; Santoshi Mahila Abhudaya Samithi; Society for Rural Education and Development; United Theological College; Visthaar; Women’s Voice; Bailancho Saad; Lawyer’s Collective; Centre for the Study of Developing Societies; World Christian Council; Samatha Vedike; Stree Jagriti Samiti; Manushi; SANLAAP; APWWS; FIRM sex worker’s forum; ODANADI; Vividha; Manasa; CISRS-JWP; Mahila Sarvangeen Utkarsh Mandal (MASUM); EQUATIONS; SANGRAM; Alternative Law Forum;Vimukti/ Jagruthi Mahila Okkoota; Akshara; SNDT Women’s University; South Asia Watch; Indigenous Women’s Resource Centre; Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee; Tamil Nadu Women’s Co-ordination; Center for World Solidarity; Cell for AIDS Research Action & Training; Tata Institute of Social Sciences; Community Health Cell; Zubaan; Women’s Publishers; LITTLES; Women’s Voice;National Federation of Dalit Women; National Alliance of Women; Daily Greater Kashmir; UNDP; SAVERA Voluntary Organisation; Save our Sisters; Bhoruka Public Welfare Trust; SFDRT; BETI; Stop Trafficking, Oppression & Prostitution of Women and Children (STOP); Gania Unnayan Committee; Gramya Centre for Women; VAMP; CWSD; Point of View FilmsIndonesia: Gandhi Ashram, Bali; Komnas Perempuan; National Women’s Commission Israel: Coalition of Women for Peace Italy: Women in Black; Society for International Development Japan: Yokohama City University; Women in Black; Nihon Hidankyo Japan Confederation of and H- Bomb Sufferers Organisations; Center for Japanese-Filipino Families; Asia Japan Women’s Resource Center (AJWRC). Kenya: African Women’s Development and Communications Network (FEMNET); Girl Child Network; Horn of Africa Relief and Development Organisation (Horn RELIEF) Mexico: Convergencia 8 de marzo; Chiapas Morocco: UNESCO Chair "Migration and Human Rights" Mozambique: Eduardo Mondlane University Nepal: Feminist Collective; Mahila Atma Nivarta Kendra (MANK); Co-ordination Committee Against Women Trafficking and Child Sexual Abuse (CCAWT); Gramin Mahila Shrijansil Pariwar (GMSP); Women Skill Creation Centre (WOSCC); Alliance Against Trafficking in Women and Children in Nepal; Shakti Samuha; Radio Sagarmatha; Beyond Beijing Committee (BBC); Tribhuvan University; Institute of Human Rights Communication (IHRICON); Oxfam; Forum for Women Law & Development; ABC Nepal; MAITI Nigeria: Women’s Rights Watch; African Women Empowerment Guild Pakistan: Simorgh Women’s Collective, Lahore; Paradise Environmental & Community Welfare Society; Lawyers for Human Rights & Legal Aid; Madadgar Child Helpline Palestine: The Palestinian Working Women Society for Development (PWWSD); Wi’am Center; MIFTAH Peru: Proyecto Andino de Tecnologias Campensinas PRATEC Philippines: Friends of Lolas; Lolas Kampanyera; The Buhay Foundation for Women and the Girl Child; The Street Children and Child Workers Support Center in the Philippines (SCWSC); The Women’s Rights Movement of the Philippines (WRMP); Secretariat for the International Ecumenical Conference on Terrorism in a Globalised World; AWHRC; Ecumenical Women’s Forum; Women’s Health Care Foundation Puerto Rico: Caribbean Institute of Ecumenical Formation and Action Rwanda: Giribanga Senegal: ENDA TM (Environment and Development Action) Third World Network Serbia: Feminist Publisher; Women In Black; Autonomous Women’s Center Against Sexual Violence South Africa: Institute of Black Studies, University of Natal; Gender Network University of Western Cape; Satyagraha; National Land Committee; Trust for Community and Education Sri Lanka: IMADR ; Organisation for the Protection of Social Environemnt; Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment Switzerland: Women International League for Peace and Freedom; Nord-Sud XXI; EcoSolidar; World Council of Churches, GenevaThailand: Foundation for Women, Bangkok; Shan Women’s Action Network Tajikistan: Swiss Co-operation Office Tunisia: El Taller InternationaUnited Kingdom National Alliance of Women’s Organisations United States of America: The Edmonds Institute; Ellen Reese, University of California, Riverside, Berkeley; Marguerite R. Waller, University of California, Riverside, Berkeley; Women in Black, Women in Black, Washington DC; Center for Economic and Social Rights; International Women’s Tribune Center; International Center for Law in Development; Women in Coalition; The Santa Clara Centre for Occupational Safety and Health (SCCOSH); Health WATCH (Workers Acting Together for Change); Feminists for a Gift Economy; Middle East Children’s Alliance; Women’s Learning Partnership; Center for the Study of the Gift Economy Zimbabwe: Zimbabwe Women’s Resource Centre and Network.

World Court of Women on US War Crimes

International Coordinator : Corinne Kumar

Coordinating Team :

Kalpana Chakravarthy, Vyjyanthi Roy, Prema David, Loredana Brezan, Shakun Mohini,
Madhu Bhushan with the support of Vimochana and CIEDS Collective in India
Amina Hussaini, Philip Thigo, Jouda Matmati with the support of the El Taller International teamin Tunisia.

Gilberto Valdez, Humberto Miranda and El Taller Central America, Cuba
Nelia Sancho, AWHRC, Philippines
Eman Ahmed Khammas (Iraq)
Yayoi Tsuchida (Japan)
Gloria La Riva (USA)
Angela Dolmetsch (Columbia)

Design and Layout : Bharthy
Art: Sa’adi Al-Kaabi, Baghdad, Iraq
Poetic Visuals : Chalam Bennurkar

Acknowledgements
Our special thanks to all those who made this Court and
our other events at the WSF possible with their support

EED, Germany
Foundation for a Compassionate Society, USA
HIVOS, India
UUSC, USA
United Church, Canada
Action Aid Asia, Thailand
Dougherty Foundation, USA
Mama Cash, Netherlands
CCFD, France
Global Fund for Women, USA
Ecosolidar, Switzerland
Action Aid, India
Cultural Committee, WSF

We also thank all those who participated in the Court and contributed with their own financial support