Minnesota Human Rights Week 2007

Robert F. Kennedy Memorial
www.rfkmemorial.org

Robert F. Kennedy boldly faced tough problems and challenged the comfortable and complacent. To keep his vision alive, his family and friends founded a living memorial in 1968.

Today, the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial is a non-profit organization that strives to realize his dream of a peaceful and just world through domestic and international programs that work to empower the disadvantaged and oppressed, build our next generation of leaders and tackle the toughest problems facing our society. Through journalism, the “Robert F. kennedy Book award” and human rights awards, the memorial recognizes authors, journalists and human rights activists who expose injustice which is often hidden from the view of mainstream society.

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center of Human Rights (RFK Center) partners with its human rights laureates to develop programs to enhance the effectiveness of their work. in addition, The RFK Center engages in long-term partnerships with human rights activists to initiate and support sustainable social justice movements. RFK Center utilizes a professional human rights staff, the Kennedy family and their networks to realize the change our partner activists seek. these changes include overcoming unjust social norms, and changing policies and actions of governments, intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions and corporations.

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Speak Truth to Power
www.speaktruth.org

Speak Truth to Power is dedicated to the promotion of Human Rights awareness. It is a division of the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the human rights movement through providing innovative support to courageous human rights defenders around the world.

Speak Truth to Power seeks to proactively engage the general public in an ongoing series of issue-related programs and events, bringing human rights activists and their work into contact with ever-increasing audiences. Through the combined power of arts and education, they aim not only to inspire, but also to empower individuals and communities to take up the defense of human rights.

Speak Truth To Power has grown from a book exploring the quality of courage through the words of leading human rights defenders around the world to a moving and inspirational play by esteemed Chilean writer Ariel Dorfman, a stirring photographic exhibition by Pulitzer Prize-winner Eddie Adams, a PBS documentary film, an education packet and five public service announcements on COURT TV. In addition, the play has been produced to acclaim in Geneva, London, Helsinki, Athens, Madrid and Sydney, among others. The exhibition of 51 portraits has toured four countries and more than 20 cities across America, including Boston, San Francisco, Washington, New York, Chicago, San Diego, Detroit, Houston and Atlanta.

Play by: Ariel Dorfman
Based on the book by: Kerry Kennedy
With photographs by: Eddie Adams
Directed by: Peter Brosius
Starring: Pat Miles, Alan Page, Gloria Reuben, Martin Sheen, Bradley Whitford
Master of Ceremonies: Aaron Brown

The Children’s Theatre Company
2400 3rd Ave S, Minneapolis
Monday, October 1, 2007
7:30 p.m.

For ticket information, please visit our Sponsorship and Individual Tickets pages.

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American Refugee Committee (ARC)
www.arcrelief.org

The American Refugee Committee (ARC), an international humanitarian relief agency based in Minnesota, works as a partner with survivors of war and tragedy throughout Africa and Asia. Last year alone, ARC helped nearly three million survivors of war and disaster worldwide take back control of their lives. ARC programs provide health care, clean water, shelter repair, refugee camp management, legal aid, trauma counseling, micro-credit, community development services, conflict mitigation and repatriation assistance. ARC bases its relationship with uprooted people on mutual respect and a compassionate exchange of knowledge and values.

ARC works with refugees and local communities to build programs that:

Utilize the knowledge and experience of the people it serves
Improve the lives of people in the community
Train survivors and build the capacity of the community
Sustain themselves years into the future

ARC currently operates relief programs in Darfur (Sudan), Guinea, Liberia, Pakistan, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Southern Sudan, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Uganda.

Founded in 1979, ARC is the largest international relief agency based in the midwest.

“My entire life I have had to walk a long way from this village, only to fetch dirty water. My life began the day I could get clean water only footsteps from my home.”

An elderly woman from Ditu village, Darfur, Sudan. ARC built a well to provide clean water to the tens of thousands of farmers in Ditu and the surrounding area in South Darfur. ARC currently provides relief services to more than 400,000 conflict-affected people in Darfur.

“I had nothing when I got to Guinea. My friends at ARC taught me how to run a market stand. They gave me a loan and helped me change my life into a better one.”

Fatumata, a Liberian refugee living in an ARC refugee camp in Guinea.

“ARC helped me build a shelter for the cold winter. If ARC had not been here, it would have been impossible for us to survive.”

Mohammed Ashraf, who lives in Dima village, Pakistan. ARC provided relief and recovery services to 100,000 people in the mountainous areas of Pakistan that had been devastated by the October 2005 earthquake.

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Center for Victims of Torture (CVT)
www.cvt.org

“You have a very hard job, because it is your job to put the soul back in the body.”

Client of the Center for Victims of Torture

Torture is one of the oldest and most abhorrent human rights abuses in the world. Yet it is routinely USED in more than 100 countries. Some believe torture is an effective interrogation tool, but this is a myth. Information gained under torture is notoriously unreliable.

Torture is an effective weapon of fear used to destroy leaders and terrorize communities. Even after the torture ends, leadership is lost and people are too frightened to engage in public life.

But there is hope.

The Center for Victims of Torture (CVT) has helped thousands of torture survivors from 67 countries heal and regain productive lives of dignity. Founded in 1985, CVT was the first comprehensive torture treatment center in the nation and only the third in the world.

Today, CVT works locally, nationally and internationally to begin healing communities where torture survivors feel welcomed, protected and healed.

We do this by:

Providing services directly to torture survivors, including medical and psychological treatment and social services.
Training health, education and human services professionals who work with torture survivors and refugees.
Conducting research on the effects of torture and on effective treatment methods.
Advocating for public policy initiatives in Minnesota, in the U.s. and worldwide that will help survivors heal and put an end to the
practice of torture.

CVT is forging new ways to think about human rights advance by advocating from a unique position – one of healing and reclaiming civic leadership. when survivors heal, we all gain. They once again become contributing members of society and leadership is recovered and brought back to work.

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Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights (Minnesota Advocates)
www.mnadvocates.org

For nearly 25 years, Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights (Minnesota Advocates) has been promoting and protecting human rights locally and globally. A volunteer-based, non-governmental, 501(c)(3) organization, Minnesota Advocates’ mission is to implement international human rights standards to promote civil society and reinforce the rule of law.

With the help of more than 700 active volunteers who contribute nearly $4.0 million of in-kind services annually, Minnesota Advocates documents human rights abuses, advocates on behalf of victims, educates on human rights issues, and provides training and technical assistance to address and prevent human rights violations.

“I can now breathe fresh air, have security and have freedom.”

Client of Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights

Minnesota Advocates’ work is transformational. By involving volunteers in hands-on human rights work, the lives of clients and the volunteers who serve them are changed. Dedicated volunteers help hundreds of victims of human rights abuses obtain asylum in the United States, document human rights abuses and advocate for change.

Minnesota Advocates’ work is collaborative. This innovative approach involving local partners is a successful formula for bringing about real change. For example, Minnesota Advocates’ reporting of the human rights violations against women in former Soviet Union countries has led to the passage of the first domestic violence laws in the region.

Minnesota Advocates’ work has local and global impact. From empowering educators to teach international human rights in the classroom to advocating before the United Nations on global human rights crises, Minnesota Advocates brings human rights issues to the forefront.

Minnesota Advocates is “one of the most prominent US-based campaigners for fairness around the globe—[that] has opened the eyes of people here at home…It has brought human
rights concerns to local classrooms—and into neighborhood conversations.”

Minneapolis Star Tribune

Minnesota Advocates’ work is transcendent. From developing the protocol setting forth international standards to prevent and investigate extrajudicial executions (“Minnesota Protocol”), to groundbreaking work engaging Diaspora communities in the truth and reconciliation processes of their homelands, Minnesota Advocates uses innovative approaches to bring about long-lasting solutions to human rights problems.

Minnesota Advocates holds Special Consultative Status with the United Nations. Minnesota Advocates has been recognized by the American Immigration Lawyers Association and by the National Lawyers Guild for exemplary representation in support of refugee and immigrants’ rights. U.N. bodies, governments, and human rights organizations around the world have invited Minnesota Advocates to collaborate on important work advancing human rights. more than 50 Minnesota Advocates reports document human rights conditions in more than 20 countries.

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The Children’s Theatre Company (CTC)
www.childrenstheatre.org

The Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) exists to create extraordinary theatre experiences that educate, challenge and inspire young people.

Established in 1965, CTC is the leading professional theatre company for young people and families in America. In 2004, the Theatre was honored by TIME magazine as the #1 theatre for young people in the U.S. and, in 2003, was awarded the Regional Theatre Tony award for sustained artistic excellence and contributions to the field nationally. It remains the only theatre for young people to have received this honor.

CTC is committed to improving the quality of life for children and families in its community, state and region. Over the past decade, artistic director Peter C. Brosius has reached beyond the conventions of children’s theatre to develop fresh material by working with acclaimed national and international theatre artists.

To honor the intelligence and curiosity of young people, CTC has commissioned work about such challenging topics as the Holocaust, the lost boys of Sudan and adolescent rebellion. The results have created a new standard for the field.

The Children’s Theatre Company serves more than 300,000 young people and families annually in five different program areas: