Information packet for Senator Bob Dole for Overseas Education Fund Women in Development Awards Luncheon
Item
of 1
- Other Media
-
c019_058_010_004_tr.txt - Transcription (Scripto)
- Read Full Text Only (TXT)
- Extent (Dublin Core)
- 34 Pages
- File Name (Dublin Core)
- c019_058_010_004
- Title (Dublin Core)
- Information packet for Senator Bob Dole for Overseas Education Fund Women in Development Awards Luncheon
- Date (Dublin Core)
- 1990-06-13
- Date Created (Dublin Core)
- 1990-06-13
- Congress (Dublin Core)
- 101st (1989-1991)
- Topics (Dublin Core)
- See all items with this valueWomen refugees
- See all items with this valueWomen--Developing countries
- Policy Area (Curation)
- International Affairs
- Record Type (Dublin Core)
- memorandums
- Names (Dublin Core)
- See all items with this valueDole, Robert J., 1923-2021
- See all items with this valueUllmann, Liv
- See all items with this valueO'Neill, Catherine, 1942-2012
- See all items with this valueBaker, Nancy Kassebaum, 1932-
- See all items with this valueMikulski, Barbara
- Rights (Dublin Core)
- http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/CNE/1.0/
- Language (Dublin Core)
- eng
- Collection Finding Aid (Dublin Core)
- https://dolearchivecollections.ku.edu/index.php?p=collections/controlcard&id=52&q=
- Physical Location (Dublin Core)
- Collection 019, Box 58, Folder 10
- Institution (Dublin Core)
- Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics, University of Kansas, Lawrence, KS
- Archival Collection (Dublin Core)
- Robert J. Dole Speeches Collection, 1958-1996
- Full Text (Extract Text)
-
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
(International Rescue Committee, Inc. logo)
IRC
FOUNDED 1933
INTERNATIONAL
RESCUE
COMMITTEE, INC.
386 PARK AVENUE SOUTH · NEW YORK, NEW YORK 10016 · TEL (212) 679-0010
CABLE INTERESCUE NEW YORK
TELEX 237511
FAX 212:689-3459
LIV ULLMANN
Liv Ullmann, the world renowned Scandinavian film and stage actress, is also a best selling author and a volunteer leader for the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Born of Norwegian parents in Japan on December 16, she lived her early years in Canada, New York and then returned to the family home in Norway when World War II ended. She studied drama in England and made her debut at Stavanger (Norway) in the title role of "The Diary of Anne Frank". She became world famous for her roles in the films of Ingmar Bergman and received many acting honors, including four awards as Best Actress by the New York Film Critics. Recently she has starred in films made in Australia, Italy and France, Argentina and Germany, and theatrical presentations in Norway, England and the United States.
Her book, Changing, published in 1976, has been translated into more than 24 languages and has established Ms. Ullmann as a writer of exceptional ability. Her second book, Choices, was released at the end of 1984, and has reconfirmed Ms. Ullmann as a worldwide best selling author.
No less important to Ms. Ullmann than her writing, theatre and film career is her work for international social causes. She is Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and, since 1980, has served as an active member of the International Rescue Committee (IRC) Board of Directors as well as Vice President-International. Her first mission for IRC, in February 1980 in company with such people as Elie Wiesel, Alexander Ginsburg, Bayard Rustin and IRC Chairman, Leo Cherne -- was an effort to move food and medical supplies into Cambodia from Thailand. This "March for Survival" was stopped at the border, but the movement rekindled worldwide concern about the Cambodian victims of the genocidal Khmer Rouge.
During the decade that followed, Ms. Ullmann continued her extraordinary activities in behalf of IRC and the cause of refugees -- always concentrating on the tragic plight of uprooted women and children. Of particular concern to her are the Indochinese refugees -- Cambodians, Laotians and Vietnamese boat people; her trips to Thailand, Hong Kong and Macao refugee camps called worldwide attention to their
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 61 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
critical conditions and to the action that is needed to alleviate their suffering. The human rights aspect of Ms. Ullmann's humanitarian work is always reflected in her refugee efforts.
In 1989, Ms. Ullmann co-founded the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, organized with the assistance of IRC. In early January 1990, Ms. Ullmann co-chaired a group of Commission members who traveled to Hong Kong to report on the forced repatriation of Vietnamese boat refugees and the appalling conditions of their confinement.
Ms. Ullmann's worldwide activities over the past decade for UNICEF have also been extensive, taking her to many countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. For both UNICEF and IRC, Ms. Ullmann's press conferences, interviews and talks have stimulated widespread attention to the millions of sick, hungry and uprooted people throughout the world -- especially the children.
Ms. Ullmann has been honored by the King of Norway with the Order of St. Olav, the youngest person ever to receive this honor. She also has been awarded nine honorary degrees in the Arts and Humanities and numerous awards for her humanitarian work. Her daughter, Linn graduated with honors in Literature from New York University in 1988 and is completing a master's degree program. Ms. Ullmann is married to Boston real estate developer, Donald L. Saunders, a member of the Board of Directors of the U. S. Committee for UNICEF, and also a supporter of IRC.
* * *
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 62 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
BIO DATA - CATHERINE O'NEILL
CATHERINE O'NEILL. Born in New York City, 1942; graduated from St. Joseph's College and received a Master's Degree in International Relations from Columbia University. In addition she has completed all the coursework towards a Ph.D.
Ms. O'Neill has recently returned from Paris where she was Director of Public Affairs for the International Herald Tribune. Prior to joining this newspaper, she served as Program Director of the Foreign Policy Association where she coordinated the largest foreign affairs education program in the United States.
Ms. O'Neill has also served as Editorial Director for Westinghouse Broadcasting and, on two occasions, received the Associated Press award for best editorial writing.
Ms. O'Neill has been a member of the Board of Directors of the International Rescue Committee since 1982; she was a member of the Citizens Commission on Indochinese Refugees and more recently has traveled to Pakistan as a member of the Citizens Commission on Afghan Refugees.
In 1985 she organized and moderated the seminar on Health Care Problems of Refugee Women and Children at the International U.N. Conference on Women in Nairobi. In May, 1989 she participated as a member of a panel discussion on Afghan Refugees at a conference sponsored by Refugees International in Washington, D.C.
Ms. O'Neill has written extensively on refugees issues and has testified before the U.S. Congress as well as appeared on national television. She has traveled extensively on behalf of IRC and the refugee cause including Thailand, Pakistan, Costa Rica, Honduras, and the West Bank.
Ms. O'Neill is the Founder and Chairwoman of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children. The Commission was founded in January 1989.
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 63 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
Women's Commission Founded
"Eighty percent of the 14 million refugees around the world are women and children, yet in many instances, their voices are not heard and their needs are not met."
--- Catherine O'Neill. Commission Chairwoman
Displacement and civil strife, ongoing realities for most refugees, often leave families without husbands and fathers.
(black and white photocopied image of a several women in a building)
Mabel Haith visiting Chiumbangumi Camp in Malawi.
Increasingly women must participate in the process which creates assistance programs.
The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children was founded in January, 1989 by Catherine O'Neill and Vera Blinken, IRC Board and Executive Committee Members, and Liv Ullmann, IRC Vice President, International.
In just a year the Commission has:
·Created Afghan Women's Social Service Center
Last February, Dr. Cynthia Haq traveled to Pakistan where Afghan women told her they wanted, "a center of our own." In a politically charged atmosphere where threats are aimed at programs serving Afghan women their plea was even more urgent. With a seed grant of $14,100 from the National Endowment for Democracy, the Women's Center was created. In September, Dr. Haq returned to Peshawar for the official opening. Dr. Haq especially noted their choice of logo for the Center: the Koran opened to a page heralding cooperation between men and women.
·Traveled to Thailand in June
Seven members met with U.S. Ambassador William O'Donohue, leading Thai officials, IRC field staff and Cambodian refugee women in camps. While peace for the region was being discussed in Paris, the delegation warned against a hastily prepared repatriation which did not insure the 300,000 Cambodian refugees' safe return and called for a greater role for women. Returning from Thailand, Commission member Gail Sheehy wrote with her adopted Cambodian daughter Mohm (who accompanied the delegation) an August cover story in Parade, "Who Will Help The Children of Nowhere?" which generated over 2,000 letters.
·Traveled to Malawi in August
Led by the Hon. Mabel Smythe Haith, former U.S. Ambassador to Equatorial Guinea and Cameroon, and Dr. Jane Schaller, Chairwoman, Department of Pediatrics, Tufts University, they visited refugee camps in Malawi where over 800,000 Mozambicans wait to return to their shattered homeland. IRC medical and sanitation teams assisted over 200,000 of these refugees.
"The Malawian people have opened their hearts and shared their scant resources to care for their desperate, destitute neighbors. But Malawi is one of the poorest countries in the world and their generosity is not enough. The tragedy is that children continue to die of malaria, dysentery and upper respiratory infection. Food and medicine shortages are endemic. It is easy to ignore the silent suffering of the Mozambican refugees," notes Ambassador Haith.
·Traveled to Geneva in October
Commission members presented a comprehensive report of recommendations to the UNHCR.
But the work is not over. Commission members are interviewed on radio, write articles, lecture at universities and testify before Congress. In 1990, more missions abroad are planned as well as continued public education and outreach. △
Additional information on the Women's Commission is available from Susan Stark at IRC-NY.
From the International Rescue Committee's "Worldwide Newsletter" December, 1989
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 64 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
SENATE REPUBLICAN LEADER
BOB DOLE
Kansas Senior Senator
Senate Finance Committee
Senate Agriculture Committee
Senate Rules Committee
(black and white photocopied portrait photograph of Bob Dole)
Leadership
Senator Bob Dole, one of America's most respected and best known leaders, has a distinguished record of public service that spans almost 4 decades.
A tough, common sense conservative from America's heartland, Senator Dole has earned national acclaim with his leadership for budget responsibility, tax reform, a sound Social Security system, quality and affordable health care, rights for the disadvantaged and people with disabilities, and a better future for rural America.
Also respected as a legislator and for his exceptional ability to build bridges among the diverse elements of Congress and the Executive Branch, he was unanimously reelected by his Republican col- leagues to a third term as their Senate Leader on November 28, 1988.
Service
Bob Dole was first elected to the United States Senate in 1968, after serving four consecutive terms in the House of Representatives. From 1981 to 1984, he was Chairman of the powerful Senate Finance Committee, where he was instrumental with President Reagan in laying the foundation for America's strongest economic recovery in thirty years.
Born and raised on the plains of western Kansas, Bob Dole has been a fixture on the Agriculture Committees ever since he came to Washington in 1961. In fact, he has often been called the voice of American Agriculture on Capitol Hill.
On behalf of three Presidents, the Kansas Senator has also traveled throughout the world to address hunger and refugee problems, human rights, international trade, and defense matters.
Sacrifice
During the second World War, Bob Dole left premedical studies at the University of Kansas to enlist in the Army. Rising quickly to a position of command, he became a platoon leader in the legendary Tenth Mountain Division in Italy. In 1945, he was gravely wounded on the battlefield and was later twice decorated for heroic achievement. His decorations include two Purple Hearts and a Bronze Star with Oakleaf Cluster.
As a result of his injuries, Bob Dole spent thirty-nine months in hospitals fighting for his life, an experience that helped make him a lifelong advocate for veterans and individuals with disabilities. In 1948, he was honorably discharged from the Army with the rank of Captain.
Achievement
At age 26, Bob Dole entered public office for the first time when he was elected to the Kansas House of Representatives. Two years later, he became Russell County's prosecuting attorney, an office he held until his 1960 election to Congress. Senator Dole later became Republican National Chairman and President Gerald Ford's running mate in the 1976 Presidential election. In the past two Senate elections in Kansas - 1980 and 1986 - Bob Dole won every one of the state's 105 counties.
Senator Dole was born in Russell, Kansas, on July 22, 1923, the eldest son of Doran and Bina Dole. He attended local public schools and later the University of Kansas. After the war, he continued his education at the University of Arizona at Tucson and at Washburn Municipal University in Topeka, from where he earned his bachelor's and law degrees.
Senator Dole is married to Elizabeth Hanford Dole, President Bush's pick to be America's new Secretary of Labor. She also served in Ronald Reagan's cabinet as Secretary of Transportation, only the seventh woman in history to hold a cabinet post. Senator Dole also has a daughter, Robin, who resides in Washington, D.C.
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 65 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
(seal of the United States Senate)
UNITED STATES SENATE
Nancy Landon Kassebaum
United States Senator
Kansas
Elected to the U.S. Senate, 1978. Re-elected in 1984.
Born July 29, 1932. Daughter of Theo Cobb Landon and Alfred M. Landon, Governor of Kansas from 1933 to 1937 and Republican presidential nominee in 1936.
B.A. Degree, University of Kansas, political science
M.A. Degree, University of Michigan, diplomatic history
Mother of four
Former member, Maize, Kansas, School Board
Member, Carnegie Council on Adolescent Development
·Council studies problems faced by nation's teenagers
Honorary chairman, 1988 Commission on the Future of Community Colleges
Member, 1989 U.S.-Mexico Commission
·Commission studies issues of common concern to the two nations
Committee Assignments
Committee on Foreign Relations
·Ranking member on the Subcommittee on African Affairs
Committee on Labor and Human Resources
·Ranking member on the Subcommittee on Education, Arts, and Humanities
Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs
·Subcommittee on Securities
Special Committee on Aging
(photocopied office footer follows)
Senator Kassebaum's Offices
Washington, D.C.
302 Russell Senate Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20510
(202) 224-4774
Prairie Village, Kansas
4200 Somerset, Suite 152
Prairie Village, Kansas 66208
(913) 648-3103
Wichita, Kansas
155 North Market, Suite 120
Wichita, Kansas
67202 (316) 269-6251
Topeka, Kansas
444 Southeast Quincy, Box 51
Topeka, Kansas 66683
(918) 295-2888
Garden City, Kansas
911 North Main
Garden City, Kansas 67846
(316) 276-3423
(end of office footer)
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 66 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
Willie Campbell
President
Cynthia A. Metzler
Executive Director
(OEF International logo)
OEF INTERNATIONAL
Since 1947. Helping Women Help Themselves
EXAMPLES OF OEF AT WORK
ISRAEL DE NORTE BARRIO, TEGUCIGALPA, HONDURAS
"We had been asleep to the possibilities of how we could help ourselves and our children, but after OEF came to our barrio and we participated in the courses, we awoke and saw many ways to help our families and communities."
- Vilma de Ortega
In January of 1990 a delegation of OEF's New York Committee visited our project in the Israel de Norte barrio in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. A group of women had completed six weeks of training in community development and had built a community center with skilled volunteers and donated materials. After dramatically overcoming obstacles of recruiting volunteer teachers, securing land and negotiating with government officials, they were also building a school for the children. Vilma de Ortega has risen as a village leader and reflects the barrio residents' eagerness to improve their community life.
MBAO VILLAGE, CAP VERT REGION, SENEGAL
"So we're working, we're working for tomorrow, we're working for the future"
- Awa Gueye
"My dreams for the children - for my daughter, I would like her to be an accountant in a big company, and for my son, I would like him to be an import-export agent."
- Fatou Samba Seck
Awa Gueye and Fatou Seck are involved in OEF's small enterprise development project in Mbao -- smoking and drying fish. The fish production business was developed to both serve as a source of income for the women and to provide a source of protein through appropriate technology -- smoking and drying the fish results in a transferable and storable food product despite the absence of adequate refrigeration. The project has enabled the women of Mbao to increase their incomes, expand local food production and improve socio-economic conditions for themselves and their families. Awa and Fatou's comments are excerpts from a video-letter exchange they participated in with low-income women in Chicago's Women Self-Employment Project. OEF launched these video-letter exchanges in 1988 as an unique public education tool, linking low-income women in the U.S. with women involved in our projects to allow them to learn first-hand about each other's lives.
WOMEN, LAW AND DEVELOPMENT NETWORK
"No one has a monopoly on ideas. We have a moral obligation to help one another."
- Rani Jethmalani
Attorney to India's Supreme Court
OEF International's Women, Law and Development network provides a forum for women in developing countries to discuss and share solutions to their problems in the legal arena. Lack of knowledge, fear of the court system, socio-economic inequities, domestic and political violence, and misinformation resulting from interpretations of religious and customary laws are major obstacles to equality.
Formerly the Overseas Education Fund
Contributions to OEF are deductible for income tax purposes.
1815 H Street. N.W., 11th Floor Washington. D.C. 20006
202/466-3430 FAX 202/775-0596
Cable Ovation Telex 6718249 OEFINT
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 67 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
6/26/90 Family Circle
(circular graphic of a hand, palm facing upwards, holding several city buildings and trees)
Women Who Make a Difference
By Stephanie Abarbanel
Reaching Out to Refugees
Hai had the misfortune to go into labor early, while she was still with her family. This was against the rules. Because of the lack of medical facilities, no Vietnamese refugee is permitted to give birth inside the detention camps.
Hai is one of the more than 60,000 "boat people" who fled the Communist regime in her homeland and landed in Hong Kong. Depending upon the route, those who escape by sea can risk a 50% chance of being killed in typhoons and a 70% chance of being pillaged by pirates. These refugees hope to be permanently resettled, but first they must seek temporary asylum in detention centers in neighboring countries.
In Hong Kong they face another, equally brutal, reality. Every day in the camps operated by this British colony, independent observers say that women are routinely deprived of their human dignity and rights as mothers. In the last months of pregnancy, a woman is taken to a ward in a local prison to wait until term and then sent to a prison
hospital to deliver. Isolated from her husband and family, she faces labor alone.
(the following two sentences are present in a graphic which appears as a ripped portion of a typed document)
If a newborn requires medical assistance, he is separated from his mother, who must return to the camp soon after giving birth. Some women say they never see their babies again.
(photocopied image of a woman and many children in the foreground, with small structures and other women in the background)
Liv Ullmann greets children at a Vietnamese refugee camp in Hong Kong.
In Hai's case contractions had begun in earnest while she was lying on the 4' x 8' wooden pallet where her family lives inside a large camp.
She claims that orderlies swept into the barracks to remove her forcibly from the premises. The baby's head was already emerging. Hai's legs were held together to prevent the infant from being born on the spot.
"They did not release my legs until I got to the delivery room," she explained later. "When I delivered, my child was no longer alive. It had suffocated. Our family lost a child so painfully...."
It is Liv Ullmann, the internationally acclaimed Norwegian actress, who is telling Hai's story. She is not on a stage or a movie set now. This is another role, perhaps her most dramatic and certainly her most emotional - as diplomat and spokeswoman for the deprived and the dispossessed around the world. She is sharing what she has heard and seen so the world will know the desperate plight of Hai and other mothers.
In early January Liv, along with six other women, went to Hong Kong to investigate human rights violations in the detention centers there. In the past 10 years (Continued)
FC's "Women Who Mane a Difference" Is featured on HOME, weekday mornings on ABC-TV.
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 68 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
Women Who Make A Difference
continued from page 15
she has been to over 30 countries, from Guatemala to Ethiopia, on a wide variety of fact-finding missions. She serves as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and is a vice president of the International Rescue Committee (IRC), the largest volunteer U.S. relief group for refugees.
On this trip she was traveling as a member of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children, which she helped found last year under the auspices of the IRC. The vast majority of the 14 million refugees in nations around the world are women and children, and the commission focuses on identifying and solving their special needs.
What Liv and the delegation en- countered in Hong Kong was a living nightmare. In the shadow of high-rise buildings and well-tended city streets, the Vietnamese refugees live behind barbed wire in concrete warehouses, packed in like sardines.
"I have never seen what we saw inside the camps," says Liv in her softly accented English. "These are people with a culture. They're not criminals - they are refugees."
And victims. Some women told of being raped by masked gangs that terrorize the camps at night. One woman says she was sexually assaulted while she held her child in her arms.
Others are separated from husbands and children who have been assigned to different camps. Liv tells of one woman who was about to be relocated. That day her 3-year-old was playing somewhere out of sight. Though the mother pleaded with the guards, she was not allowed to find her little girl and take her along.
"When you go into these barracks, the women say, 'Please come to meet our section. We have something to tell you,' and they open their hearts," says Liv. "At one point a male interpreter cried. He could not believe what he was hearing."
Liv Ullmann's second career began while she was at the height of her first. She had already (Continued)
6/26/90 Family Circle 17
Women Who Make A Difference
continued from page 17
been nominated for an Oscar for her role in The Emigrants and was shuttling between Hollywood and London and her home in Norway.
In 1979 the plight of the Vietnamese boat people and the persecution of Cambodians by the Pol Pot regime were headline news. At a benefit to present funds raised by the theater community to Leo Cherne, chairman of the International Rescue Committee, Liv told him, "If there's anything I can do to help, please call."
"I was just being polite!" she says now with a laugh. But soon Cherne did call. The IRC was mounting a huge demonstration on the Cambodian border, and he asked Liv to participate. She hesitated. "I was so scared. I had no idea what it would be like to be so close to such misery."
Soon afterward UNICEF asked her to join its ranks too. For decades celebrities such as Peter Ustinov and Danny Kaye had circled the globe as Goodwill Ambassadors.
Liv's mission is to question and observe. "She is deputized by women," says Bob Brennan, public affairs officer for UNICEF who has accompanied Liv on field trips. "She comes back to America and says, "Here's what the mothers in Thailand wanted me to tell you.'"
And she never forgets the children. Once in Colombia she was adopted by some homeless street urchins. "She followed them around the whole day," recalls Brennan. "Later the children took her to the alley where they slept in boxes. They wanted her to tuck them in."
Liv does not breeze in and out of devastation, however. She uses her gifts and status as an actress to galvanize the media to her cause, giving press conferences, lectures and speeches on behalf of UNICEF or the IRC. She testifies frequently at Congressional hearings and international conferences, telling the stories women have entrusted to her.
In 1980 President Reagan proposed cutting the United States' annual contribution to UNICEF by half.
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 69 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
Those were fighting words to Liv, who had just returned from Somalia and Ethiopia, where thousands were dying for lack of food and water.
She and others testified before Congressional committees on UNICEF's behalf. "I told a story about a mother who had to decide whether to let her child die of thirst or risk giving him polluted water," she re- calls. "The Congressmen said, "We forget that these people are not statistics.' " UNICEF funding was not cut that year - it was increased.
Liv stil does some stage work and about two films a year, mostly in Europe. Now in her early 50's, she is gathering notes for her third book. In her 30's she wrote an international best seller, Changing, about her relationship with Ingmar Bergman, the renowned Swedish film maker and father of her daughter, Linn. Her next decade produced Choices, focusing on her work with UNICEF and the IRC.
Her daughter, now 23, married and a freelance writer, is also an advocate for refugees, (Continued)
6/26/90 Family Circle
Women Who Make a Difference
continued from page 19
having traveled around the world on her own and with her mother. And now Liv has a new traveling companion: In 1985 she married Boston real-estate developer Donald Saunders, who is on the board of directors of the U.S. Committee for UNICEF.
True to form, when she first moved to Massachusetts Liv volunteered to work for the Salvation Army. "You can't just talk about refugees in Asia or Africa. If you live in Boston, that should be part of your conscience too."
Today she is back on the campaign trail, lobbying at the United Nations on behalf of a new resolution titled "The Convention on the Rights of the Child." Twenty nations must ratify the declaration - which states that all children are entitled to food, medical care and education - before it can be instituted.
Talking about it, Liv sighs in frustration. "You think, my God, why isn't everyone immediately saying, 'Yes, of course, the rights of the child!' " she says. "All that comes out of these conferences are declarations. Someone has to remind everybody why we are here. A child is dying."
Still, she has seen progress in the last 10 years. "Some things do change, maybe not enormously, maybe not in the way we had hoped," she says. For instance, many more children are inoculated against childhood diseases. "A decade ago maybe 20% were reached," Liv says. "Now many countries have a record of 80%." Recently El Salvador had a three-day cease-fire in the midst of hostilities so that the children could be immunized. Their record is better than that of the United States."
But the plight of the world's displaced peoples is growing worse. "There are so many refugees because there are so many more internal conflicts. Third World children are paying with their lives," Liv says sadly. "We have closed our hearts and our borders."
As for the Vietnamese boat people, their fate remains in limbo. The Hong Kong Government wants to return them to Vietnam, even though many would risk imprisonment or worse. Other nations, including our own, urge that repatriation be delayed for a year to consider the options. In April Liv testified before the U.S. Senate about human rights violations she'd found in the camps.
Organizations such as the IRC and Amnesty International are the world's conscience, she believes. "If you are watched, you are more careful. So with the help of the media, we say 10,000 times over that these are not detention camps. They are concentration camps.
Still, even Liv sometimes battles compassion fatigue. "You come back from a trip and your husband wants to be with you," she says. "You talk about what you saw and friends' eyes glaze over. Suddenly nobody wants to listen anymore. And you don't want to talk about it either!"
But she does. "You may be held accountable," she points out. "Your child may ask one day, What did you do?' And you may be ashamed to say, 'I didn't do anything. I just stepped over.'" ■
Stephanie Abarbanel is a FAMILY CIRCLE editor-at-large.
20 Family Circle 6/26/90
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 70 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
Willle Campbell
President
Cynthia A. Metzler
Executive Director
(OEF International logo)
OEF INTERNATIONAL
Since 1947. Helping Women Help Themselves
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Friday, June 8, 1990
Contact: Jeanne Winnick
213-696-4559 or
Beth Hoffman
202-466-3430
SENATORS DOLE, KASSEBAUM, AND MIKULSKI TO ADDRESS OEF INTERNATIONAL'S WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT AWARDS LUNCHEON
Actress Liv Ullmann to Receive Award
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- On Thursday, June 14, distinguished actress and author Liv Ullmann and Catherine O'Neill of the Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children will be honored at OEF International's Sixth Annual Women in Development Awards Luncheon at the Capital Hilton Hotel. The luncheon program begins at 12:00 noon, and press availability with Ms. Ullmann will follow the program. Honorary Co-Chairs of the luncheon, Senators Nancy Kassebaum (R-KS) and Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), will discuss OEF's assistance programs, and Senator Bob Dole (R-KS) will deliver the keynote address, OEF President Willie Campbell announced today.
"With the support of Senators Dole, Kassebaum, and Mikulski, we're pleased to present our Sixth Women in Development Award to Ms. Ullmann and Ms. O'Neill for their impressive humanitarian efforts on behalf of women and children. Worldwide, women and children compose 80% of the estimated 14 million refugee population, and OEF is proud to honor the Women's Commission for its advocacy on behalf of refugee women and children," Campbell said.
Formerly the Overseas Education Fund
Contributions to OEF are deductible for income tax purposes.
1815 H Street. N.W., 11th Floor Washington, D.C. 20006
202/466-3430 FAX 202/775-0596
Cable Ovation Telex 6718249 OEFINT
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 71 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
2
Senators Dole, Kassebaum, and Mikulski have each heard testimony by Ms. Ullmann and the Women's Commission on the international refugee situation. Senator Kassebaum will discuss OEF's worldwide programs on behalf of women and specifically recount her experiences visiting OEF's agroforestry project in Somalia.
Ms. Ullmann will be honored as a founding member of the Women's Commission and for her work as a Vice President of the International Rescue Commission. Ms. Ullmann's international efforts on behalf of refugees have spanned over a decade. Ms. O'Neill, co-founder and Chair of the Women's Commission, will also be honored for her work with Afghan, Cambodian, and Malawian refugees.
OEF International, a private, non-profit organization created in 1947 as the Overseas Education Fund, is a leader in the design and delivery of training and technical assistance programs which address the economic and social needs of low-income women in developing countries. OEF's efforts have enabled tens of thousands of women in over 50 countries to work together to manage profitable enterprises, increase local food production, overcome legal inequities, and organize to improve their communities. In the U.S., OEF works to increase public awareness about the critical roles of Third World women in development.
MEDIA LOGISTICS
Press who wish to cover the luncheon and the following media availability will be able to pre-set equipment on Thursday at 11:00 a.m. in the Presidential Ballroom of the Capital Hilton Hotel. A mult will be provided.
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 72 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
June, 1990
OEF INTERNATIONAL SIXTH WOMEN IN DEVELOPMENT AWARDS LUNCHEON
FACT SHEET
OEF International
For more than 40 years, OEF has worked to promote the empowerment of low-income women and has been recognized as a pioneer and leader in the areas of self-employment for rural women and legal rights. OEF often collaborates with indigenous organizations to develop and apply practical strategies that make a difference in women's lives -- in terms of how they regard their own potential, how they earn income for their families, and how they participate in community life.
Thousands of women and their families have been assisted through OEF's economic programs in countries such as El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Mexico, Haiti, Senegal, Mali, and Somalia. OEF's policy and law programs support women's networks throughout Asia, Central and Latin America, the Caribbean and Africa.
Since the early 1950s, OEF's institutional development programs have enabled indigenous groups and institutions to organize themselves to tackle the economic, legal, environmental, health, and educational challenges facing their communities. OEF, in collaboration with refugee councils and local governments, has provided training to refugee leaders to develop and carry out long-term comprehensive economic development programs.
The Women's Commission for Refugee Women and Children
Founded in January, 1989, by International Rescue Committee (IRC) board members Catherine 0'Neill and Susan Forbes Martin and IRC International Vice President Liv Ullmann, the Women's Commission works to increase public awareness of the plight of the refugee women and children throughout the world who make up almost eighty percent of the overall refugee population. In this first year, the Commission conducted several missions to refugee camps in Pakistan, Thailand and Malawi, opened the Afghan Women's Social Service Center in Peshawar, presented a comprehensive report of recommendations to the UNHCR in Geneva, lectured at universities, and testified before Congress.
International Rescue Committee (IRC)
IRC is the largest voluntary agency devoted to helping refugees who escape from political, religious and racial persecution, as well as uprooted victims of war, aggression and famine. IRC facilities are located in Afghanistan, Poland, Ethiopia, Cuba, Cambodia, the
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 73 of 86
This document is from the collections at the Dole Archives, University of Kansas
http://dolearchives.ku.edu
-2-
Soviet Union, Iran, Nicaragua, Laos, Czechoslovakia, and Vietnam. Founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein to help those trapped by Hitler, IRC has become 'the leading American agency assisting refugees throughout the world to survive and rebuild their lives.
Today, with the world refugee population exceeding 14 million, IRC's first concern is relief and medical aid to enable the sick, hungry and wounded to survive. IRC's training and self-help programs enable uprooted people to assist their own countrymen in achieving self-reliance.
# # #
c019_058_010_all_A1b.pdf
Page 74 of 86
Position: 3778 (1 views)