Tag Archives: international rescue committee

Special Screening of Half the Sky with a Keynote Address by Sheryl WuDunn

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Sheryl WuDunn, co-author of Half the Sky is coming to Seattle, Saturday Nov 17! Join us for a special screening of the new PBS documentary based on the book by her and Nicholas Kristof. 

Inspired by the best-selling book by Pulitzer Prize winners Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn, Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide addresses one of the central moral challenges of our time: the oppression of women and girls worldwide. Shot in six different countries, the series follows Kristof and a group of American actresses to some of the places in the world where gender inequality is most extreme, and introduces audiences to the indomitable individuals who are fighting to make a difference. This special screening will feature 45 minutes worth of clips focusing on access to education in Vietnam and human trafficking in Cambodia. View the trailer for the film series.

Following the screening will be a panel discussion featuring WuDunn and representatives from youth serving organizations including The Girl Scouts of Western Washington, International Rescue Committee, One by One, and Room to Read. The panel will be moderated by Lisa Clarke, a Washington Teacher Ambassador Fellow with the Department of Education. Continue reading →

Gender-Based Violence: A Worldwide Crisis

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The victimization of women and girls is one of the most common, yet least visible forms of oppression. Its effects extend beyond the bruises and the fear to tear at the very fabric that holds families and communities together.

Although the civil war in Sierra Leone  ended in 2002, the war on women has not. Despite the fact that more than a decade has passed since open conflict ended, many fear that rape is more of a problem today than it was during the war. In a country where it is no longer acceptable to shoot someone, raping women is still common practice.

Amie Kandeh, coordinator of an International Rescue Committee program in Sierra Leone, says “Gender-based violence encompasses a lot of things: rape, female genital mutilation, child sex abuse, domestic violence, and wife beating.”

As the manager and leader of the Rainbo Centers in West Africa, Amie is one of the leading voices against rape in Sierra Leone. The Rainbo Centers are a network of facilities that provide medical care, counseling, legal aid, and educational support for survivors of sexual violence. These are among the first sexual-assault referral centers in West Africa, and in their first eight years, they have served over 9,000 survivors – 80 percent of whom were children, some as young as two months old. Continue reading →

The Day My God Died Online Social Screening

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Login for a free online social screening of The Day My God Died on Wednesday, July 11 at 1 pm PT / 4 pm ET at womenandgirlslead.org. Filmmaker Andrew Levine will be online and fielding questions from viewers. The event will take place here.

Young girls whose lives were shattered by the child sex trade describe the day they were abducted from their villages as “the day my god died.” By weaving footage from the brothels of Bombay with these girls’ stories, filmmaker Andrew Levine offers an unforgettable examination of the growing plague of child sex slavery.

Join Women and Girls Lead and the International Rescue Committee (IRC) for a special online social screening of The Day My God Died. Watch and chat live with filmmaker Andrew Levine, who spent four years traveling the world to gather stories and statistics about the child sex trade, and Kathleen Morris, who leads the Washington Anti-Trafficking Response Network for the IRC. Find out what U.S. advocates are doing to support survivors of the global child sex trade and what you can do to help.

Presented in partnership with Friends of Maiti Nepal and the PBS series Global Voices.

International Rescue Committee Launches Report on Domestic Violence in West Africa

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The International Rescue Committee is a partner of ITVS’s Women and Girls Lead campaign.

Years after the end of war in Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Ivory Coast ­— women continue to suffer violence at alarming levels and with shocking frequency. The primary threat to their safety is not strangers or men with guns; it is their husbands.

This is among the findings of the International Rescue Committee Commission on Domestic Violence in a new report that calls attention to the urgent problem of domestic violence in West Africa and other post-conflict zones.
Continue reading →