لحـظـة مـن فضـلك!

Quote: The National Endowment for Democracy and The American Federation of Teachers invite you to a lunch forum featuring recipients of the AFT’s 2006 Bayard Rustin Award for Human Rights: Osman Hummaida of the Sudan Organization Against Torture, and Jane Alao of the Amel Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Darfur, Sudan Human Rights in Sudan Monday, July 17, 2006 1101 15th St. NW, Suite 700 12:30-2:00 p.m. Please RSVP (acceptances only) to [email protected] Mr. Osman Hummaida is the Director of the Sudan Organisation Against Torture (SOAT), an NGO founded in 1993 with offices in London, Khartoum and Cairo, and with members worldwide. SOAT’s mission is to support, assist and defend individuals who have been tortured and to work for the exposure, reduction and eradication of torture and other human rights violations in Sudan. Since 1993, SOAT has developed a program which includes provision of medical treatment, rehabilitation, training and support for victims of torture and other human rights abuses; raising awareness about the existence of torture and exposing its perpetrators; researching and documenting issues concerned with torture and human rihts abuse s and campaigning and lobbying in favor of human rights. Mr. Hummaida is also a member of the Assembly of Delegates of the World Organisation Against Torture representing the Africa Region. He is an outspoken advocate for peace and justice in Sudan, with years of experience in human rights promotion. He is the author of annual country reports on torture and human rights violations in Sudan and a consultant to the UN Special Rapporteur on Sudan and the European Parliament. He has contributed to numerous reports on the Darfur crisis, the rights of women and girls in Sudan and the rights of children. **** Ms. Jane Alao is a psychosocial counselor at the Amel Centre for the Treatment and Rehabilitation of Victims of Torture in Nyala, Darfur, in Sudan. The Centre provides legal aid to victims of torture and sexual violence and represents individuals at risk of cruel, inhuman and degrading punishments including the death penalty and amputations. Specialist-provided medical treatment and psychosocial support is offered to torture and rape survivors, to enable them to rebuild their lives with dignity. The Amel Centre has offices in Khartoum and El Fashir in addition to the branch in Nyala, south Darfur, which opened in October 2004 in response to the alarming deterioration in the human rights situation in the region. Ms. Alao is a woman deeply committed to human rights, and the rights of the IDPs who have been forcibly displaced from their homes throughout the conflict in Darfur. An IDP herself, Ms. Alao fled from Southern Sudan to Khartoum during the 22-year war between the government of Sudan and the SPLM. In 2004, she relocated to Darfur to help set up the Amel Centre in Nyala. Since that date, she has received hundreds of victims of torture, rape and other human rights violations, has documented their cases and provided sustained psycho-social support to facilitate their recovery. Ms. Alao works closely with a team of lawyers at the centre to document cases of violations, alert the international community to the human rights situation and document the psychological effects of torture and other violations which the civilians of Darfur have suffered. In 2005, Ms. Alao represented SOAT's concerns with regards to the human rights situation in Darfur at the African Commission on Human and People's Rights.