Our Work

The General Assembly circulated the Declaration at the 63rd Annual UN DPI/NGO Conference that took place in Melbourne 30 August to 1 September, 2010, as the official document A/65/525 for General Distribution, on 19 October 2010. For more details, please click here (pdf file) .

A Briefing Paper OF INTERNATIONAL EDUCATIONAL DEVELOPMENT Prepared by Kristen McNutt, Researcher, Association of Humanitarian Lawyers Presented to The United Nations Commission on Human Rights 2005 Session March Geneva Contact: ied@igc.org Iraqi female detainees have been illegally detained, raped and sexually violated by United States military personnel. Women who stay at home in traditional roles are more likely to be imprisoned as bargaining chips by US troops seeking to pressurize male relatives, according to the New Statesmen (UK)[1]. In December 2003, a woman prisoner, “Noor”,  smuggled out a note stating that US guards at Abu Ghraib had been raping women detainees and forcing them to strip naked. Several of the women were now pregnant.[2] The classified enquiry launched by the US military, headed by Major General Antonio Taguba, has confirmed the note by “Noor” and that sexual violence against women at Abu Ghraib took place. Among the 1,800 digital photographs taken by US guards inside Abu Ghraib there were, according to Taguba’s report, images of naked male and female detainees; a male Military Police guard “having sex” with a female detainee; detainees (of unspecified gender) forcibly arranged in various sexually explicit positions for photographing; and naked female detainees.[3] The Bush administration has refused to release photographs of Iraqi women prisoners at Abu Ghraib, including those of women forced at gunpoint to bare their breasts (although these have been shown to Congress). [4] UK Member of Parliament Ann Clwyd (L) has confirmed a report of an Iraqi woman in her 70s who had been harnessed and ridden like a donkey at Abu Ghraib and another coalition detention centre after being arrested last July. Clwyd said: “She was held for about six weeks without charge. During that time she was insulted and told she was a donkey.”[5] The Italian journalist, Giuliana Sgrena, reports that in the middle of the night, American soldiers broke into the home of Mithal al Hassan and arrested both her and her son. “The soldiers later ransacked the apartment. Denounced as part of a vendetta, Mithal was condemned without trial to eighty days of horror in the company of other women prisoners who, like her, were subjected to abuse and torture. She has since spotted her tormentors on the internet.” [6] A culture of honor prevents many women from telling stories of rapes.  The account given by “Selwa”, illustrates this.  In September 2003,  Selwa was taken by US military personnel to a detention facility in Tikrit, where an American officer lit a mixture of human feces and urine in a metal container and gave Selwa a heavy club to stir it. She recalls, “The fire from the pot felt very strong on my face.” She leans forward and sweeps her hands through the air to show how she stirred the excrement. “I became very tired,” she says. “I told the sergeant I couldn’t do it.” “There was another man close to us. The sergeant came up to me and whispered in my ear, ‘If you don’t, I will tell one of the soldiers to fuck you.’” Selwa could not continue with the story.[7] An Iraqi girl, Raghada, reports that her mother, imprisoned at Abu Ghraib, was forced to eat from a toilet and was urinated on[8] Iman Khamas, head of the International Occupation Watch Center, a nongovernmental organization which gathers information on human rights abuses under coalition rule, has said; “one former detainee had recounted the alleged rape of her cell mate in Abu Ghraib.”  According to Khamas, the prisoner said; “she had been rendered unconscious for 48 hours.”  She claimed; “She had been raped 17 times in one day by Iraqi police in the presence of American solders”.[9] Another woman, “Nadia,” reported that she was raped by US soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison. She continues to be “imprisoned” by painful memories that left her psychologically and physically scarred. [10] Late last year, attorney Amal Kadham Swadi, one of seven female lawyers now representing women detainees in Abu Ghraib, began to piece together a picture of systemic abuse and torture by US guards against Iraqi women held in detention without charge. This was not only true of Abu Ghraib, she discovered, but was, as she put it, “happening all across Iraq”. Amal Kadham Swadi  states that “sexualized violence and abuse committed by US troops goes far beyond a few isolated cases.” [11]  It is unknown as to exactly how many female detainees there are. ‘The International Committee of the Red Cross reports that 30 women were housed in Abu Ghraib last October, 2003, which was reduced to 0 by May 29, 2004”.[12] Swadi visited a detainee held at the US military base a Al-Khakh, a former police compound in Baghdad. The detainee disclosed that, “Several American soldiers had raped her and that she had tried to fight them off and they had hurt her arm”.[13] These and other incidents are being covered up for US domestic consumption. President G W Bush has insisted that these were the actions of a few and were not the result of military policy. However, a fifty-three-page report, obtained by The New Yorker, written by Major General Antonio M. Taguba and not meant for public release, points to complicity to sexual torture by the entire Army prison system. Specifically, Taguba found that between October and December of 2003 there were numerous instances of “sadistic, blatant, and wanton criminal abuses” at Abu Ghraib.[14] The cover-up by the Bush Administration appears to include the silencing of victims. Professor Huda Shaker al-Nuaimi, a political scientist at Baghdad University, who is interviewing female prisoners as a volunteer for Amnesty International,  reports that the woman, called “Noor,” who smuggled the letter out of Abu Ghraib, is now presumed dead.  “We believe she was raped and that she was pregnant by a US guard.  After her release from Abu Ghraib, I went to her house.  The neighbors said that her family had moved away.  I believed that she was killed”.[15] It is well known that the US has

General Assembly Distr: General 10 December 1948 Third session Resolutions adopted by the General Assembly [Part A of General Assembly resolution 217 (III). International Bill of Human Rights] 217 A (III). Universal Declaration of Human Rights Preamble Whereas recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world, Whereas disregard and contempt for human rights have resulted in barbarous acts which have outraged the conscience of mankind, and the advent of a world in which human beings shall enjoy freedom of speech and belief and freedom from fear and want has been proclaimed as the highest aspiration of the common people, Whereas it is essential, if man is not to be compelled to have recourse, as a last resort, to rebellion against tyranny and oppression, that human rights should be protected by the rule of law, Whereas it is essential to promote the development of friendly relations between nations, Whereas the peoples of the United Nations have in the Charter reaffirmed their faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person and in the equal rights of men and women and have determined to promote social progress and better standards of life in larger freedom, Whereas Member States have pledged themselves to achieve, in co-operation with the United Nations, the promotion of universal respect for and observance of human rights and fundamental freedoms, Whereas a common understanding of these rights and freedoms is of the greatest importance for the full realization of this pledge, Now, therefore the General Assembly proclaims this Universal Declaration of Human Rights as a common standard of achievement for all peoples and all nations, to the end that every individual and every organ of society, keeping this Declaration constantly in mind, shall strive by teaching and education to promote respect for these rights and freedoms and by progressive measures, national and international, to secure their universal and effective recognition and observance, both among the peoples of Member States themselves and among the peoples of territories under their jurisdiction. Article 1. All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood. Article 2. Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty. Article 3. Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person. Article 4. No one shall be held in slavery or servitude; slavery and the slave trade shall be prohibited in all their forms. Article 5. No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Article 6. Everyone has the right to recognition everywhere as a person before the law. Article 7. All are equal before the law and are entitled without any discrimination to equal protection of the law. All are entitled to equal protection against any discrimination in violation of this Declaration and against any incitement to such discrimination. Article 8. Everyone has the right to an effective remedy by the competent national tribunals for acts violating the fundamental rights granted him by the constitution or by law. Article 9. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest, detention or exile. Article 10. Everyone is entitled in full equality to a fair and public hearing by an independent and impartial tribunal, in the determination of his rights and obligations and of any criminal charge against him. Article 11. (1) Everyone charged with a penal offence has the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty according to law in a public trial at which he has had all the guarantees necessary for his defence. (2) No one shall be held guilty of any penal offence on account of any act or omission which did not constitute a penal offence, under national or international law, at the time when it was committed. Nor shall a heavier penalty be imposed than the one that was applicable at the time the penal offence was committed. Article 12. No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks. Article 13. (1) Everyone has the right to freedom of movement and residence within the borders of each state. (2) Everyone has the right to leave any country, including his own, and to return to his country. Article 14. (1) Everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution. (2) This right may not be invoked in the case of prosecutions genuinely arising from non-political crimes or from acts contrary to the purposes and principles of the United Nations. Article 15. (1) Everyone has the right to a nationality. (2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his nationality nor denied the right to change his nationality. Article 16. (1) Men and women of full age, without any limitation due to race, nationality or religion, have the right to marry and to found a family. They are entitled to equal rights as to marriage, during marriage and at its dissolution. (2) Marriage shall be entered into only with the free and full consent of the intending spouses. (3) The family is the natural and fundamental group unit of society and is entitled to protection by society and the State. Article 17. (1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well

Organized and chaired by Dr. Kalayjian Press Release (April 2007) United Nations Ambassador Mr. Francois Oubida, from the government of Burkina Faso, together with the non-governmental organizations Human Rights Committee, held a unique briefing at the United Nations with invited panelists to discuss human rights violations and recovery issues on February 15, 2007. Entitled Human Rights Violations and Recovery: Mind-Body-Spirit Practices, Ambassador Oubida welcomed attendees and panelists to the first ever combined government/NGO UN program to include examination of mind-body-spirit practices and stated that he was looking forward to hearing from other representatives on how they work to protect the human rights and indigenous rights of their nation’s citizens. In support of Mr. Oubida, Dr. Ani Kalayjian, President of Association for Trauma Outreach & Prevention (ATOP), who organized and chaired the symposium, emphasized the importance of addressing mind-body-spirit interventions to restore individuals and communities. Dr. Kalayjian, who also holds the office of an NGO Representative for the Armenian International Women’s Association, set the stage by identifying a few of the many emails she had received earlier in the day that all related to human rights violations. She brought attention to women “mules” dying in drug trafficking between Mexico and the US; violations to women in the sex-trade industry in Russia; injuries to the Tibetan community in China, child prostitution in Asia, the conflicts between the Tutsi and Hutu in Africa, and she remarked on the recent assassination of her friend, a Turkish-Armenian journalist Hrant Dink, who offended Turkish loyalists by publicly claiming his Armenian heritage. After a moment of silence in honor of Hrant Dink, Dr. Kalayjian introduced Dr. Beth Hedva, a transpersonal psychologist from Calgary, Canada, who, under the auspices of SEFA (Save Emergency For Aceh), trained recovery workers.  In Aceh, which lost 170,000 souls, everyone is a survivor of double trauma due to suffering 30 years of civil war at the time of the Boxing Day Disaster. Dr. Hedva briefed the group on The Bio-Psychosocial and Spiritual Model – case study in post tsunami Banda Aceh. Dr. Hedva showed slides of both human-made and natural disasters, outlined six- steps to recovery based on field research of Dr. Kalayjian’s Biopsychosocial and Spiritual Model, and described how she extended Kalayjian’s model through the practice of using ancient and indigenous cross-cultural rites of passage as described in Hedva’s book Betrayal, Trust and Forgiveness.  Dr. Hedva reported on the experiences of local recovery workers who learned to train themselves and others to use both psychological and intuitive, spiritual resources to recover from shock, loss or traumatic stress, and to renew courage, faith and self-respect for both personal healing and community renewal. With 83 percent of donated funds held back as “already allocated,” mind-body-spirit healing and community renewal in Aceh, Hedva concluded, need to also include a global healing that addresses and closes the “rich-poor” divide between more developed nations and those nations that were hit hardest hit by the tsunami. Dr. John L. Bolling, a psychiatrist who works with at-risk youth from Harlem, New York, briefed attendees about his Soul-Centered-Model – case study with inner city African American youth and how he utilizes his Soul-Centered Model with his clients who do not respond to traditional interventions. Dr. Bolling emphasized the importance of incorporating feminine spirituality as part of ‘soul’ and referred to African and indigenous cultures identification of the Earth as our Mother (Mother Nature) who teaches us to focus on our interdependence upon each other, by understanding the relationship between the individual and the whole. Dr. Bolling discussed how he incorporated traditional, pre-Christian African approaches in his work. He used the example of the African traditions, which honor one’s ancestors, including speaking to one’s ancestors and “hearing” their voices, without being labeled as “crazy” or suffering from a psychiatric disorder worthy of sedation or anti-psychotic medications. Dr. Bolling spoke about the importance of the soul and how its affect on a person’s functioning has been overlooked. He stressed the importance of uniting both a person’s right, more spiritual, side of the brain with their left, more rational or concrete, side of the brain to develop a more complete soul-centered model. After a period of questions and answers, Dr. Kalayjian invited Dr. Hedva to instruct attendees in some of the breathing practices that release anxiety and foster stability and relaxation under stressful conditions.  Dr. Kalayjian concluded the session with the statement “When one helps another, BOTH are strengthened.”