French

Using Popular Theater to Break the Silence Around Violence Against Women

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

By Oulimata Gaye

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In this notebook, Oulimata Gaye explains how she and her organization are breaking the wall of silence surrounding violence against women in Senegal, just as it is happening in numerous other countries and cultures. How are we to begin to "regulate" human rights problems when people will not talk about them? How are we to get people to talk? The tool that we use here is theatre. Sometimes funny, sometimes sad, the plays engage the public, both literally and metaphorically, in familial situations. The public sees these situations set on stage and they also have the chance to play a role and to discuss what they saw. As a result, people begin to recognize abuse that they have wanted to hide or to silence: it is a first step to stopping this abuse.

What can be done so that people examine subjects they do not want to face? How can a cultural taboo that is not discussed, but from which numerous people are suffering, be overcome? Human Rights problems are, at times trendy – and the public can come to life and rally around a particular cause by which it’s affected. However, sometimes there are threats to human rights that remain concealed. We consider them given facts that are part of daily routine, that which is normal. These abuses are often the most difficult ones to address, because society refuses to consider them as authentic abuses. RADI, a human rights organization in Senegal, found a way to break this silence: using the people’s theater. Thanks to their years of experience in raising awareness about human rights issues for groups of women, RADI paralegals knew that conjugal and sexual violence against women were part of these disregarded abuses; a taboo subject about which even the victims themselves did not want to speak. This violence is justified as a "family problem", it is perceived as a male prerogative in a patriarchal society, where victims are convinced that it is they who are to blame – or that there is nothing wrong with the violence to which they are subject. And no one speaks nor doubts this state of things. Through a campaign that incorporates professional actors into groups of women in order to perform sketches on the theme, RADI succeeded in opening a public dialogue about violence against women in numerous communities. The women were themselves, invited to participate in the sketches, which gave them the opportunity to play roles side by side with well-known actors of the region. The sketches were both amusing and serious, breaking the silence surrounding this question. For the first time, communities were able to recognize the severity of this problem, its consequences from a human rights standpoint, and the search for solutions. People’s theater is a former method of political education. There is also street theater, union theater, political theater and many others. This practice had remarkable effects in terms of discrimination, war and peace, and all types of injustices. Each culture has a theatrical tradition – and many are those that think that one of theater’s principal functions is to stimulate the people’s political and social awareness. The traditional human rights movement is learning that in order to change behavior, it does not suffice simply to tell them what is wrong. It is necessary to touch the heart, through laughter and tears, so that they reflect upon that which seems "normal" to them in their society. In Senegal, RADI gives us an example of this strategy that is both practical and inspiring.

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Powerful Persuasion

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:10 -0500

Powerful Persuasion

By Emile Short

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See Phillipe Duhamel's creative take on this resource at interTactica!

In this notebook, we learn about some of the most difficult human rights violations to eradicate–customary or traditional practices based on deep-seated beliefs, particularly those with a spiritual dimension. One such practice is the Trokosi, in Ghana, a system of servitude that meets the community need for justice and the material and sexual needs of fetish priests. Women and young girls are brought and kept in fetish shrines to atone for sins or crimes allegedly committed by one of their relatives. The Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ) recognized that legislation outlawing such practices may not be effective and may, in some cases, result in driving a customary practice further underground. Respected leaders–at local and national levels–engaged in direct dialogue with perpetrators, victims, other community leaders, and the community at large to facilitate understanding of the practice, while providing alternatives and avenues for abandoning the practice without losing status. There are many ways in which respected leaders can be enlisted to help community members understand the dynamics of customary or traditional practices, and to address the underlying complexities of such practices in order to transform or change those that violate basic human rights.

Some of the most difficult human rights violations to address are customary or traditional practices based on deep-seated beliefs of a community or people, particularly practices that have a spiritual dimension. In the Trokosi system in Ghana, women and virgin girls are taken without their consent to fetish shrines to atone for sins or alleged crimes committed by family members. They are forced to serve the shrine priests through manual labor, including farming and cooking, and are sexually exploited as well. The practice occurs mainly in remote areas of the Volta Region of Ghana, which is dominated by an ethnic group called the Ewes. Through a coalition effort involving the Commission on Human Rights and Administrative Justice (CHRAJ, a constitutional and statutory body), International Needs Ghana (ING, an NGO), the National Commission on Civic Education (another constitutional body), and the traditional leaders from the Ewe communities, we have succeeded in liberating thousands of young women and girls held in this bondage.

Our tactic is to mobilize the support of respected community leaders, such as chiefs, queen mothers, and local governmental officials, using them as resources in seminars and durbars2 on the human rights implications of the practice and recommending voluntary liberation of the victims. After these meetings, we enter direct negotiations with the shrine priests and elders, persuading them to voluntarily end the Trokosi practice. Because they speak the same language and hail from the same communities as the practitioners, the community leaders have played a crucial role in changing the mind-set, beliefs, and behavior of those involved in the human rights abuse. This approach is useful when dealing with cultural or traditional practices based on deeply entrenched beliefs, especially when the practice has a spiritual dimension and practitioners are reluctant to abolish it for fear of incurring the wrath of the gods. Experience combating female genital mutilation taught us that legislation prohibiting traditional and customary practices is ineffective if not preceded by intense public education programs.

In addition, human rights groups must engage in dialogue with practitioners, working to change their mindset and persuade them to voluntarily give up the abusive practice. It can be difficult, however, for human rights groups to achieve such engagement if they are perceived as "outsiders" by the traditional communities. Well-intentioned human rights efforts can easily be construed as an attack on people’s fundamental cultural and religious beliefs. Experience suggests that you cannot change deep-seated beliefs and practices by attacking them, nor can the law be enforced if there is no public cooperation. A different path must be found. We set out to convince practitioners and other stakeholders of the necessity of changing the Trokosi practice. We wanted the communities to see the practice for what it was: an abuse of human rights and an attack on the dignity and humanity of women in their own communities. We also wanted them to recognize that traditions are flexible and can be transformed over time, and that this practice could be changed without offending the gods. Unless we could achieve such an attitudinal change, legislation and enforcement could result in the practice being driven underground, and women and girls continuing to be trapped in this system of bondage.

ING provided support and oversight of the effort, setting up initial meetings with the Trokosi priests, shrine elders, and community chiefs, and arranging the seminars and durbars. I represented the CHRAJ, while the third key participant was Mama Adokua Asigble IV, Queen Mother from the Tefle traditional area and member of the National Commission on Civic Education. This process has taken more than a decade, and has involved a complex series of integrated steps: human rights advocacy and education in the various communities; negotiations with shrine priests and elders; and, for the freed Trokosi women, vocational skills training programs, emancipation ceremonies, and counseling and rehabilitation support. In this notebook we focus on the crucial method of engaging with respected community leaders to gain access, conduct educational programs, negotiate with the shrines, and carry out the emancipation process. According to the estimates of our NGO partner, 3,000 Trokosi women and children have so far been liberated through these efforts. In 1998 we also secured the passage of the "Prohibition of customary servitude" law; this has helped give momentum to the process, despite the fact that no prosecutions have yet taken place under this law.

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Making Allies

bharris — Fri, 25 May 2007 20:08:07 -0500

Making Allies: Engaging Government Officials to Advance Human Rights

By Boris Pustyntsev

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View a brief summary in Cantonese.

In this notebook, we read about a collaboration tactic used by a local Russian nongovernmental organization, Citizens’ Watch, to engage governmental officials, who in many cases are seen as the adversary and not considered as collaborative partners. Citizens’ Watch recognized the potential for engaging bureaucrats who illustrated a level of interest and the potential in significantly advancing human rights. In this notebook, you will read about the unique uses of this tactic, highlighting examples of cross-sectoral cooperation between a nongovernmental organization and the Russian government to advance human rights. As with all tactics, it is not an approach that will work for everyone: well-connected individuals and organizations with highly-developed diplomatic skills will have the most success. But we all can learn, and perhaps get new ideas, from Citizens’ Watch use of collaboration with key government officials to strengthen these officials ability to further human rights from inside government. This notebook will describe how Citizens’ Watch, a Russian NGO based in St. Petersburg, has effectively built collaborative relationships with influential bureaucrats within the Russian administration. These relationships encourage the development of a democratic and participatory connection between the state and its citizens, one in which human rights are respected and the government functions to serve the people, rather than to rule over it. The legacy of Soviet rule and totalitarianism left extremely unpromising conditions for the development of democracy in Russia, in which bureaucrats had neither the experience nor the motivation to be responsive to the public as a transition to democracy demands. Thus, Citizens Watch was swimming against the tide, facing massive inertia and resistance. The development of a positive and collaborative relationship with government insiders in each case required a tailored and respectful approach.

Some of the key techniques Citizens’ Watch used to implement this arduous task included:

a.) An individualized and diplomatic approach – carefully selecting promising and influential players in the administration and approaching them in a respectful and supportive manner.

b.) The effective use of the "carrots" of invitations to domestic and international seminars, trips and meetings. Potential collaborators inside the administration were invited to interesting and useful gatherings outside of Russia, where they would meet international colleagues in their profession who would encourage their personal political transition. Meanwhile, educational events and conferences inside Russia would bring them together with academics and other experts in their field to help them see alternatives to the way the government currently functions.

c.) The provision of helpful resources and information to the bureaucrats, such as translations of documents and training materials from other countries, etc.

d.) Finally, in some cases, the creation of a collaborative relationship allowing for the development of joint strategies to address shared problems. This notebook will use several examples to illuminate the lessons learned from a decade of careful, diplomatic work. The final section will discuss some of the general questions an organization should ask when considering the use of this tactic in its own situation.

View full notebook in English, Espanol, Urdu, Bangla, or Francais.

View a brief summary in Cantonese.

*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.