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Calendar of ICHR Events and Announcement

November

• Friday, November 7th: ICHR General Meeting
  • 12:40, Room 285
    
  • We will be talking about new projects
  • There will be snacks!
  
  
• Tuesday, November 11th: Shelter House
• ICHR is Volunteering at Shelter House- an organization that provides meals to homeless families in the area. We are making Chili, Cornbread, and Brownies!
• Monetary donations to offset the cost of food would be appreciated- if you can contribute a few dollars please leave your donation in Lorraine Gaynor's 1L mailbox!

• Wednesday, November 12th: Tabling for Reproductive Justice
• ICHR is teaming up with LSRJ to sell safe birthing kits for women in refugee camps.
• Safe birthing kits contain the minimum supplies (a clean sheet, sanitizer, a razor, etc) needed for women giving birth without the aid of trained personal.
  
• Please sign-up for a time to work.
  

• Monday, December 1st: World AIDS day
  
• Friday-Sunday, December 5th-7th: UICHR colloquium
  

Non-ICHR Events and Announcements:

• Human Rights Interactive Calendar
  • The University of Iowa Center for Human Rights now has an interactive calendar.  To check on the latests human rights events in our area, or to post an event, visit UICHR's Calendar
• Human Rights Classes Offered at the University of Iowa
  • Go to http://www.uichr.org/ then click "education", then "human rights themed classes"
• The University of Iowa Center for Human Rights is looking for areas of interest for professional students.
  • If you have an idea, please email Amy Weisman.
• War Resister's League (WRL)  is forming locally. 
  • War Register's League is a national and international pacifist organization that "affirms that all war is a crime against humanity. [They] therefore are determined not to support any kind of war, international or civil, and to strive nonviolently for the removal of all causes of war."  The national website is http://www.warresisters.org/.  Contact the local group at glowalker22@hotmail.com (Gloria).
• Crimes Against A Beverage Workers Union: SINALTRAINAL
  • Excerpt from the State Department report on Columbia: http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2004/41754.htm:
    • Section 6 Worker Rights
      Union leaders contended that perpetrators of violence against workers operated with virtual impunity. There were few successful prosecutions of crimes against trade union members. A major obstacle to bringing cases to trial was  witnesses' reluctance, for personal security reasons, to testify or come forward with information. Prosecutors and judicial investigators frequently were subject to threats, intimidation, or coercion by illegal armed groups. According to the Ministry of Social Protection, approximately 70 percent of cases involving the killings of trade unionists since 1994 remained in the preliminary investigative stage despite a regulation requiring cases to be brought to trial or closed within 2 years. Action on 18 percent of cases was suspended due to lack of evidence. Approximately 4 percent of cases had been brought to trial. In January, however, authorities arrested Adolfo Hickly for his suspected involvement in the 2002 killing of Adolfo Munera, a leader of SINALTRAINAL, a food and beverage workers union, in Barranquilla, Atlantico Department. Several labor organizations continued to pursue civil suits against alleged authors of paramilitary antilabor violence. For example, SINTRAMINERGETICA's 2003 civil suit in a foreign court against the Drummond
      Company, which operated a large coalmine in Cesar Department, alleged that the company ordered or acquiesced in local paramilitaries' killings of three union activists.
  • A 2003 State Department Report on Coca-Cola that names Coke and includes more references to SINALTRAINAL:  http://www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2003/27891.htm
  • More about Coca-cola's human rights abuses at:  http://www.killercoke.org/

 Spotlight Organization: 

Justice For Our Neighbors (JFON)

The mission of JFON is to:

• Provide high-quality, accessible, free immigration legal services to low-income immigrants. 
• Welcome immigrants in a safe, hospitable and confidential setting. 
• Provide volunteers with the opportuinty to express their faith through hospitality for immigrants. 
• Foster awareness of our JFON mission and to stimulate involvement and support through education of our volunteers, clients, churches and community. 
• Promote justice within our United States system of immigration laws, policies, and social practices. 
• ICHR is currently involved in a number of JFON projects relating to the rights of detained immigrants. Many of these projects, including "know your rights" presentations at detention facilities, are possible because of students who are willing to volunteer their time.

If you would like to help JFON with immigration cases or advocacy relating to detained immigrants, please email: law-ichr@uiowa.edu and put JFON in the subject line.

The mission of the Iowa Campaign for Human Rights (ICHR) is to promote awareness and activism concerning domestic and international human rights violations.  ICHR achieves this mission through academics, activism, and volunteer activities open to the University of Iowa community and the general public.

Website Manager: Mila Febles  

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