General calendar

Toronto Press Conference

GROUNDBREAKING GLOBAL CAMPAIGN SEEKS TO CORRECT FAILINGS
OF REPARATIONS FOR WOMEN AND GIRL SURVIVORS OF WAR CRIMES

Canadian-led campaign unites women’s organizations on six continents

TORONTO - Women and girls who suffer acts of sexual violence in times of conflict are too often forced to endure the stigma, prejudice and exclusion that accompany being labeled a victim of such crimes by their societies. Changing these attitudes and ensuring women and girl survivors are provided with adequate reparation and remedy needed to rebuild their lives and communities is the focus of a new international campaign led by the Rights & Democracy-based Coalition for Women’s Human Rights in Conflict Situations.

This groundbreaking campaign aims to correct the systemic flaws of national truth and reconciliation initiatives and existing reparation schemes and to inform those being developed by the International Criminal Court.

The campaign and its Nairobi Declaration will be introduced Thursday, May 17, at a press conference co-organized by the Coalition and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund. The event will hear from leading women’s rights advocates and Coalition members from Sierra Leone, Peru and Canada, including:

Diana Avila Paulette is a journalist and human rights advocate dedicated to supporting and protecting displaced people, refugees and others affected by political violence in Latin America.

Ariane Brunet, Coordinator, Coalition for Women’s Human Rights in Conflict Situations, and Women’s Rights Coordinator, Rights & Democracy, Montreal

Gladys Canales Martinez was wrongly accused of membership in the Shining Path guerrilla movement and incarcerated under Peru’s Antiterrorist Law. After eight years of unjust imprisonment characterized by torture and abuse, she was proved innocent and pardoned.