WITNESS is a New York-based organization that advances human rights advocacy through the use of video and communications technology. In partnership with non-governmental organizations and activists, WITNESS strengthens grassroots movements for change by providing video technology and assisting its partners to use video as evidence before courts, regional commissions and the United Nations, as a tool for public education, and as a deterrent to further abuse. WITNESS also gives local groups a global voice by distributing their video to the media and on the Internet, and by helping to educate and activate an international audience around their causes.
Today, we launched our latest video collaboration, "Operation Fine Girl: Rape as a Weapon of War in Sierra Leone." Excerpts of this full-length documentary can be viewed online at www.witness.org along with background information, links to relevant resources and an "Act Now" section. The following is the press release announcing this launch: Go to http://www.witness.org to watch excerpts and take action now! NEW YORK, December 6, 2001 - "Operation Fine Girl: Rape Used As a Weapon of War in Sierra Leone" looks at the widespread and strategic use of rape and sexual violence against women - many of them young girls and teenagers - during the decade-long civil war in Sierra Leone, the world's poorest country. "Operation Fine Girl" was produced in collaboration with Peter Gabriel's human rights organization WITNESS, who put together Binta Mansaray, their local partner in Sierra Leone, and Academy Award-nominated director Lilibet Foster to make the documentary. "Operation Fine Girl: Rape Used As a Weapon of War in Sierra Leone," will air on Oxygen TV on Sunday, December 9th at 8:00 p.m. EST and will be licensed for international broadcast by Films Transit. "Operation Fine Girl " was a specific and targeted operation carried out by the rebels in Sierra Leone to find and abduct pretty girls and especially virgins -- the younger the better. It tells the personal stories of four Sierra Leoneans - a young mother, a teacher, a teenage sex worker, and a boy child soldier - who were each targeted, abducted and held against their will by rebels fighting to control the diamond trade and take over the government. The youngest of the girls recounts the harrowing story of how she was abducted from her home, gang raped and used as a sex slave when she was only eight years old, and the young man reveals how he was abducted, forced to become a soldier, and fed drugs that made him "feel like doing bad things," including killing. Since the start of the Sierra Leone's civil war in 1991, women have been abducted by rebels in massive numbers to perform domestic chores, become "rebel wives" and sex slaves, and to be trained as fighters. Rape and sexual violence against women is a tactic that the rebels use to undermine the values and integrity of the society and terrorize the civilian population. In a country where three foreign journalists have been killed recently, the filmmakers traveled to the headquarters of the Revolutionary United Front (RUF) to get the first interview in which the RUF spokesman Colonel Gibril Massakhoi addresses questions about the treatment of women by his troops - his initial chilling denial of their actions, and then his contradictory defense. His perspective and attitude towards rape brings home one of the key dilemmas that leads to the continued use of rape in war - for the rebels, rape is considered a byproduct of war, to be expected - and not a crime against humanity. The documentary also reveals the perspective of some local groups and international experts that the most effective ways to change this attitude globally is to recognize and prosecute rape in a post-war special court. "Operation Fine Girl" also tells the story of a nation working to heal itself, and victims trying to put the past behind them and reclaim their lives. It features the personal work of local doctors, human rights activists, journalists and community leaders - many of whom reveal the true scope of the devastation that the civil war has inflicted on Sierra Leone. Gillian Caldwell, Executive Producer of "Operation Fine Girl: Rape Used As a Weapon of War in Sierra Leone" for WITNESS, says, "This documentary is being used as a tool by local organizations as part of the peace and reconciliation process now facing Sierra Leone." Cheryl Mills, Senior Vice President of Corporate Policy and Public Programming for Oxygen says, "We hope this documentary will inspire our viewers to do what they can support Sierra Leone's peace process - be it learning more about organizations such as The Forum for African Women Educationalists (FAWE), which educates young mothers and teaches them skills they need to support themselves, or by encouraging the U.S. government to support Sierra Leone's Truth and Reconciliation Commission and the establishment of a special court." Go to http://www.witness.org to watch excerpts and take action now! For more information, contact WITNESS Executive Director Gillian Caldwell at [EMAIL PROTECTED] ***End-violence is sponsored by UNIFEM and receives generous support from ICAP*** To post a message, send it to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To subscribe or unsubscribe, send a message to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>. In the 1st line of the message type: subscribe end-violence OR type: unsubscribe end-violence Archives of previous End-violence messages can be found at: http://www.edc.org/GLG/end-violence/hypermail/
