Uganda

Jan Passion

Jan Passion — Tue, 22 Jan 2008 13:53:09 -0600

Jan Passion M.A. Currently residing in California, Jan worked in
Sri Lanka for 3 years as the Deputy Director and Team Manager with the
Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP). Prior to
his work in Sri Lanka, Jan worked with NP conducting field research and
outreach in West Africa and Palestine/Israel and also helping develop NP’s
infrastructure. He has worked as a peacebuilding trainer with the Conflict
Transformation Across Cultures Program, (CONTACT), the Karuna Center for
Peacebuilding and with Lesley College in Israel. Jan has been peace activist and war tax resister for over twenty
years. For ten years he worked as a psychotherapist working with perpetrators
and victims of various forms of violence and trauma. Jan has worked as a
bus driver, mediator, self-defense instructor, massage therapist, refugee host,
and emergency medical technician. His
hobbies include sailing, racket ball, frisbee and yoga. Jan's peacebuilding experience includes work
in USA, Macedonia, Colombia, Sri Lanka, Palestine, Thailand, Israel, Sierra
Leone, India, Ecuador, the former USSR, Guinea, Ghana, South Africa and
Cyprus. He earned his BA at the
University of Massachusetts with a self-designed degree on gender and power and
he earned a MA in International and Intercultural Management from the School
for International Training and wrote his thesis on building nonviolent
intercultural peaceteams.

Kristin Antin, New Tactics in Human Rights Online Community Builder

kantin — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 08:36:34 -0600

As the newest member of the New Tactics in Human Rights Project team, I will be working to expand our online community of human rights practitioners as well as keep members actively participating in activities through the website.

My academic background includes a B.A. in Humanities from the University of Colorado, where I focused my studies on Philosophy, Art History, and funny enough - Computer Science. Subsequently, I pursued my M.A. in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights at the University of Essex in the United Kingdom. There, my classmates and I developed a strong community of human rights advocates that continues today. Academically, I focused my studies on International Law and International Relations and geographically I focused on Africa.

After finishing my graduate degree in 2005, I worked as an intern for the International Capacity Building Project at the Center for Victims of Torture (www.cvt.org) in MInnesota. Through this internship I gained a wide range of knowledge of non-profit activites such as grant management, reporting, fundraising, etc. I was also able to volunteer my services to the New Tactics in Human Rights Project. I helped the project to prepare for and document a training workshop held in Minnesota on torture and the United States.

After finishing this internship, I pursued an internship in the field at the African Centre for Treatment and Rehabilitation of Torture Victims (ACTV) in Uganda (www.actvuganda.org). I worked closely with the Advocacy and Communications Officer there, and broadened my knowledge of human rights advocacy in Africa. I was fortunate enough to meet many human rights activists throughout Uganda and East Africa.

I arrived back in Minnesota in September, 2007 to find that the New Tactics project was looking for someone to help build their online community of human rights practitioners. The job intrigued me as it combines my interests in technology and information management with human rights advocacy! I am very happy to be the newest member of this team, and excited to strive to strengthen and building our innovative and active community!

Please get in touch with me with any questions or comments regarding our community. My skype account is 'kjantin'.

Familiar Tools, Emerging Issues

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:02 -0500

Familiar Tools, Emerging Issues

by Jennifer Prestholdt

Download full notebook below. [*note]

Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights uses traditional human rights monitoring methods to document human rights abuses, but in this notebook we will learn how the group has also made a practice of adapting this methodology to emerging human rights issues. Minnesota Advocates has identified and developed practical and sustainable strategies for adapting human rights monitoring methods to address domestic violence (in Eastern Europe and the U.S.), child survival (in Mexico, Uganda and the U.S.) and transitional justice (in Peru).

With the help of hundreds of volunteers, Minnesota Advocates has monitored human rights conditions and produced more than 50 reports documenting human rights practices in more than 25 countries. Minnesota Advocates uses traditional human rights monitoring methods to document human rights abuses, but has made a practice of adapting the methodology to address cutting-edge human rights issues. The findings on violence against women in Mexico, Nepal, Eastern Europe and the Commonwealth of Independent States have been published in reports that include an analysis of each country’s legislation related to women’s rights and the local law enforcement system, as well as recommendations on how to bring laws and practice into conformity with international human rights obligations.

We have recently adapted the methodology used overseas to help us investigate and document the difficulties that refugee and immigrant women in our own community face in obtaining services and protection from domestic violence. Minnesota Advocates also used traditional human rights monitoring methods to document excessive and preventable child mortality as a human rights violation in three countries, each representing different levels of development: the United States, Mexico and Uganda. We then published a report, Global Child Survival: A Human Rights Priority, using these case studies to illustrate that certain groups of children, minority children for example, suffer systematic violations of their rights. Underlying economic and social factors linked to child survival must be addressed in order to effectively combat high rates of preventable child deaths.

Most recently, we have adapted our methodology to monitor transitional justice mechanisms and processes. Countries such as Peru and Sierra Leone are in the process of transitioning from violence and repression to peace, justice and reconciliation; the growing momentum for transitional justice marks a new era in human rights work. More and more frequently, that shift involves confronting past human rights abuses and making institutional reforms in order to protect human rights. Human rights monitoring is one way to help ensure that transitional justice processes move forward.

Using this tactic of monitoring and reporting, we feel that we have been able to make some significant longterm improvements in human rights. This notebook will discuss how Minnesota Advocates identifies and develops practical and sustainable strategies for adapting human rights monitoring methods to emerging human rights issues. By documenting the tactic in this notebook, we hope to spark some creative applications of common human rights monitoring methods in order to improve human rights in different contexts.

*Note: You need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open the files marked with an asterisk (*). You can download a free version of this program from www.adobe.com.