International Women's Rights Project

Canadian Coalition Memeber and Advisor to the Afghan Women's Organization: Marilou McPhedran
Email: iwrp@uvic.ca

To be on the list server and for further information please contact (The Listserv is an information list only)

Email: stoph@idirect.com

Regarding the web site please contact
Maryam
Email: m.alefi@usa.net

Mentoring Group

Building capacity in Canada to help women suffering under the Taliban. Canadian women's groups are linked up across the country to work on local action plans developed at the founding conference of the Canadian Coalition in Support of Women in Afghanistan. The volunteer steering group is composed of Afghan Canadian women and women who have been settled in Canada - within their own cultural community, Ontario and Canada. We believe that this will strengthen our democracy, provincially and nationally. We want to change how Canadians who are not from Afghanistan, in coalition with Afghan Canadians, engage our democratic mechanisms on this issue. Even though they have escaped the Taliban, Afghan Canadian women continue to be deeply affected, through the traumatization of people they care about who are still suffering under the Taliban regime and because the cruel reach of the Taliban regime can impact on their life chances in this country. By supporting the leadership potential of individual Afghan Canadian women and the Afghan Women's Organization, we support their contributions to making Canada a more just society.

Canada is a credible international presence on issues of human rights. Governments are influenced when Canadians raise their voices in concern. Engagement in our democracy by individuals and organizations that would not be considered "mainstream Canada" is an important indicator that immigrants and refugees are participating as Canadians in Canadian processes, to strengthen Canada's role as a global leader in the implementation of human rights. Individual and organizational mentoring can catalyse this engagement and build bridges between refugee and immigrant communities and more privileged, established Canadians. In addressing the oppression of women in Afghanistan, Afghan Canadian women seek to find their own voice to shed light on the situation in Afghanistan and to engage as many Canadians as possible in the change strategies. The injustice perpetrated by the Taliban is better understood in the context of our Canadian democracy and the forthright articulation of women's rights as human rights in the modern framework of our country. Thus we have committed to providing ongoing support in building the capacity of individuals and organizations to engage Canadian democratic ideals and processes in making systemic change. Aspects of the informal mentoring process that resulted in our steering group meeting with Canada's foreign minister in 1999, his subsequent speech as the chair of the Security Council of the United Nations, the establishment of the Canadian Coalition, the federal minister for international cooperation. The Honourable Maria Minna, reporting to the June conference and the local action plans are all contributors to the systemic changes being sought.

For further information in Toronto area contact:

Afghan Women's Organization President:
Adeena Niazi Email: aniazi@afghanwomen.org

2333 Dundas St. West, Suite 205
Toronto, Ontario M6R 3A6
Tel: (416) 588-3585