'Women and War'

galway | anti-war / imperialism | event notice Thursday November 27, 2008 14:11 by Sarah - Amnesty International Galway

Vigil for Congo and a dicussion- 'Iraqi Women, between sectarian war and American occupation’

Amnesty International Ireland and the Galway Rape Crisis centre are organizing two events on Dec 5th to mark the international campaign ‘16 Days in opposition to violence against women’ .

The first event is a candle lit vigil in solidarity with the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo - this will take place at 5 PM at Lynches castle, Shop Street, Galway.

Women are never more at risk than in times of war and Galway people will be offered an opportunity to show solidarity with the people of the Democratic Republic of Congo at a candlelit vigil in the Galway city centre. In 2007 Congolese women made up 28% of clients who attended the Galway Rape Crisis Centre's asylum seeker clinic, the largest single national group. The majority of these women reported that they had been victims of multiple perpetrator rapes carried out by members of the Congolese armed forces.
The situation in Democratic Republic of Congo:
The DRC has, since last August been plunged into a fresh round of devastating armed conflict. This new outbreak of fighting has, so far resulted in the displacement of 250,000 people and a massive escalation in the use of rape by armed forces, murders of civilians and the recruitment of child soldiers.
Last week the UN Security Council authorised the deployment of 3,000 extra troops to bolster the 17,000 Peacekeepers already stationed in DRC. Amnesty International Ireland is calling for the immediate deployment of these UN troops to provide security and protection for the people of the region.

This will be followed by the second event @ 7.30 ‘Iraqi Women, between sectarian war and American occupation’ a discussion with exiled University of Baghdad Academic, Dr Sawsan Al-Assaf of the Irish Centre for Human Rights. This will take place in the Amnesty International Freedom Café.

Dr Al-Assaf has lectured in political science in several universities in Iraq. Her main interests are issues of democracy, US strategy towards the Middle East, International relations, human rights and Iraqi women. In this informal discussion Sawsan will be focusing on both her personal experiences and her research on the effects of the invasion and occupation of Iraq on Iraqi women. There will be an opportunity for questions.

For further information please contact:

Sarah Clancy, Campaigns Officer at our Galway office,
sclancy at amnesty.ie or 086 7924095
Aobheann Mc Cann, Coordinator ,Galway Rape Crisis Centre, 091 583149