12308: 6/27--Columbia Law School--Celebrating Haitian-Dominican Women=MUDHA with Sonia Pierre (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: "tminsky@ix.netcom.com" <tminsky@ix.netcom.com>

Join us in celebrating The Movement of Haitian-Dominican Women (MUDHA)

"I am a woman. I am a Dominican. My rights are not recognized.
I am an immigrant worker. I build the country, but my rights are not respected.
We demand justice."   (MUDHA)


JUNE 27 at Columbia University


A private reception with renowned author Edwidge Danticat and other local artists, who will be reading, presenting poetry, singing and performing.  A representative of MUDHA will also be present to talk about the organization and its work.

It offers an intimate environment with Edwidge Danticat and the other artists. This invitation-only reception will take place at 6:00 PM in Room 600/601 of William June Warren Hall of Columbia Law School (1125 Amsterdam Ave, corner of West 115th Street).

RSVP to Cathy Albisa.
Check payable to NCHR,
Send to: Cathy Albisa, Center for Economic and Social
Rights, 162 Montague St. 2nd fl.  Bklyn, NY 11201 (Write MUDHA on "memo" line.)

6:00 June 27, William and June Warren Hall, Rm 600/601, Columbia Law School,
1225 Amsterdam Ave., 6th fl.

$100
[More if you'd like]

*******************FOLLOWED BY:

The private reception will be followed by a public event commemorating MUDHA's 10 year Anniversary. The event will begin at 8:00 PM in Altschul Auditorium of the School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA) at Columbia University (International Affairs Building, 420 West 118th Street).

8 pm, June 27, Columbia School of International Affairs, Altschul Auditorium, 420 W. 118, New York, NY

********* [Background]

The Struggle of Haitian-Dominicans for Citizenship and Justice

Since the current Executive Director of MUDHA, Solain "Sonia" Pierre, founded the organization in July of 1992 it has dedicated its efforts to three primary objectives:

--defending the civil and human rights of the minority group comprised of Dominican nationals of Haitian descent residing in the Dominican Republic;
--defending the civil and human rights of Haitian immigrants and their children;
--defending the rights of women in the Dominican Republic, especially those who are Dominican nationals of Haitian descent or Haitian immigrants.

Through the sponsorship of schools and educational programs in the bateyes, where the Haitian-Dominican communities often live, MUDHA promotes an awareness and understanding of Haitian-Dominican culture and social identity. The organization works with children of all ages to foster self-esteem and a positive cultural identity. Through a network of community run schools and programs, MUDHA helps to provide basic education and, in some cases, vocational training, for Dominican boys and girls of Haitian descent.

MUDHA employs similar strategies to educate its constituency about personal health and hygiene, with an emphasis on preventive medicine. Through a network of community-based committees, it helps to instruct youngsters living on the bateyes or in minority neighborhoods about sexuality and reproductive health, as well as environmental health issues.

Rounding out MUDHA's diverse mandate is the organization's commitment to defending, through legal action and education, the civil and human rights of the ethnic Haitian minority and its descendents. MUDHA not only provides legal advice to persons whose rights have been curtailed by the Dominican authorities, in particular those subjected to illegal expulsion or detention, but also trains members of its constituent communities to do the same.

MUDHA has also pioneered impact litigation in the Dominican Republic and internationally around highly polemical issues affecting the Haitian minority, such as obtaining Dominican documentation for the children of Haitian immigrants and their descendents born in the Dominican Republic, and the practice of mass expulsions.

Finally, MUDHA's annual, nation-wide Campaign for the Right to a Nationality is a path-breaking initiative that takes human rights advocacy to new heights. The Campaign unites diverse sectors of society around the right of all persons born in the Dominican Republic to a Dominican nationality, a right that is systematically denied to the children and descendents of Haitian immigrants.

MUDHA has organized and conducted an international conference on the subject every year since 1995, while carrying out a host of related activities throughout the country, such as workshops, marches and the publication of materials. It has done more than any other organization in the Dominican Republic, or the world, to raise awareness of this deep-rooted problem and to begin to overcome it.

As a result of their critical contribution to improving the human rights situation of the ethnic Haitian community in the Dominican Republic, Sonia Pierre and MUDHA have been nominated for UNESCO's Prize for Human Rights Education, to be awarded in December of the this year.

July 2002 marks MUDHA's 10-year anniversary. Learn more about this organization working on behalf of Haitians in the DR.


Event questions or comments:
Arturo Carrillo,
Human Rights Institute
Columbia Law School
(212) 854-5709



--------------------------------------------------------------------
mail2web - Check your email from the web at
http://mail2web.com/ .