Julie Florio- Shine Intern and Award Winning filmmaker

“People see clowns and perceive that they are happy, but after the makeup comes off, it is revealed that clowns are people and they have lives and struggles, too” says Julie Florio of her short documentary Patchwork. Florio, along with Kim Plummer and Tevita Toutaiolepo, were recently awarded the Broadcast Education Association (BEA) Best of Festival King Foundation Award for their touching portrait of Clown Chips and the man behind the makeup, 62-year-old Julius Carallo.

Clown Chips is a beloved addition to birthday parties and uses his painted smile and joyful antics to get a laugh out of everyone he encounters. The three filmmakers were looking into the subculture of clowning when they met Clown Chips at a convention in Seaside Heights, N.J. “I remember filming him, and we asked him, ‘Why did you become a clown?’” Plummer said. “He broke into this story about [a past tragedy and how he] wanted to share positivity instead of bitterness. It was a stark contrast from all the other answers about loving to be around children.” Intrigued by the disconnect between Cavallo’s heartbreaking story and his profession, they set out to unmask Chips the Clown.

Through a series of interviews with clients, fellow clowns, families, and children, Patchwork gathers together the different pieces of Cavallo and Clown Chips to show that the joyful clown and the grieving man are two sides of the same person. “I hope viewers recognize the spaces between the cracks that form the narratives of our life stories,” said Toutaiolepo. “Patchwork shows these cracks and doesn’t judge or try to mend them. Big stories are great, but it’s the smaller ones that we are able to absorb.”

Even more striking than the story is the beautiful way in which it is told. We watch the intimate ritual of Chips putting on and then later removing his makeup to reveal his wrinkles and the fact that he is not always smiling. Interspersed with the footage are stop animation sequences (a specialty of Florio). All in all it is a real visual joy.

Julie Florio has been an intern with Shine Global since January and is currently using her skills at putting together beautiful and heartfelt stories to create a series of webisodes for Shine Global featuring migrant child farmworkers. Stay tuned for news on when this series will premier. Florio is certainly a filmmaker to watch.

Patchwork is now available online for download at Indie Pix. Please visit http://www.indiepixfilms.com/film/4543 to watch this touching and beautiful story.

Refugee Law Project: Helping Uganda

“We envision a country that treats all people within its borders with the same standards of respect and social justice. We work to see that all people living in Uganda, as specified under national and international law, are treated with the fairness and consideration due fellow human beings.” – The Refugee Law Project

Larissa Russell NY, NY–For decades, refugees from several African countries have been forced to abandon their homes, jobs, friends – and in some cases, their families – in order to save their own lives and seek asylum elsewhere; namely, Uganda.  While several failed asylum seekers have been deported violently, those that remain in Uganda continue to exist in a sort of “legal limbo,” facing discrimination, cultural alienation and unemployment.

Ten years ago, Dr. Barbara Harrell-Bond and Dr. Guglielmo Verdirame conducted a joint, three-year research project and came to the conclusion that the refugees who sought asylum in Uganda were too often denied basic human rights because of their legal status.  Out of their research came the Refugee Law Project (RLP), initially meant to provide aid to the refugees by tackling the legal nuances underlying their hardships.  According to director Chris Dolan, the RLP remains “the only civil society organization in Uganda providing legal aid specifically to forced migrants in Uganda.”

A community outreach endeavor of Makere University (Uganda) that also has an international focus, the RLP brings about internal change in the country by providing free legal assistance, language training and psychosocial counseling to refugees.  The company also advocates for domestic legislative changes with regard to refugee policy and universal human rights.

As the RLP has grown and developed, however, it has expanded its scope of interest far beyond refugees and asylum seekers.  “With global shifts in asylum policy and practice and a corresponding increase in the numbers of Internally Displaced persons,” writes Dolan, “the Refugee Law Project has increasingly found it necessary to confront issues of internal displacement alongside its ongoing work with those who have crossed international boundaries.”

The RLP is also dedicated to protecting the rights of refugee/forced migrant children within Uganda.  Currently, neither the Government of Uganda nor the UNHCR have a suitable procedure to care for lone children seeking asylum:  Some are placed under foster care, but their security and livelihood are not monitored effectively.  Others are left to fend for themselves, risking abuse from strangers.  For all forced migrant children, RLP advocates for a fast-track Refugee Status Determination process, a social support system, post-trauma counseling, and access to education and medical services.

The RLP is currently working on establishing a memorial to commemorate the “internally displaced” Ugandans – including the children – who made sacrifices as a result of the war in Northern Uganda.  Proudly, Shine Global has donated copies of War Dance and War Dance Returns to be presented at the memorial, helping to inspire change and raise awareness about child soldiers and their families who have been denied basic human rights for too long.

For more information about the Refugee Law Project, please visit

http://www.refugeelawproject.org

http://www.beyondjuba.org

LRA Conducts Massive Abduction Campaign

HRW
August 11, 2010

(Washington, DC) – The Ugandan rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) has abducted more than 697 adults and children in a largely unreported campaign in the Central African Republic and the neighboring Bas Uele district of northern Democratic Republic of Congo over the past 18 months, Human Rights Watch said today. Nearly one-third of those abducted have been children, many of whom are being forced to serve as soldiers or are being used for sex by the group’s fighters.

During the abduction campaign, the LRA has brutally killed adults and children who tried to escape, walked too slowly, or were unable to bear the heavy loads they were forced to carry, Human Rights Watch found in its investigations in the region. The LRA has killed at least 255 adults and children, often by crushing their skulls with clubs. In dozens of cases, the LRA forced captive children to kill other children and adults.

“The LRA continues its horrific campaign to replenish its ranks by brutally tearing children from their villages and forcing them to fight,” said Anneke Van Woudenberg, senior Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The evidence points to Joseph Kony, the LRA leader, as the author of this atrocious campaign.”
Human Rights Watch called on the affected governments and their allies to strengthen their protection of civilians and to put greater emphasis on efforts to rescue the abducted children and others.

A month-long Human Rights Watch research mission to the Central African Republic (CAR) and the Bas Uele district of northern Congo from July 12 to August 11, 2010, in which over 520 civilians were interviewed, including 90 former abductees, in individual and focus group interviews, found that the LRA’s abduction campaign was similar in both countries and is having a devastating impact on affected communities.

In southeastern CAR, the LRA began large-scale abductions on July 21, 2009, and to date has abducted 304 people, including many children. The LRA first attacked the villages surrounding Obo, before moving west toward Rafai, Guérékindo, Gouyanga, Kitessa and Mboki, along the Congolese border, and north toward Djema, Baroua, and Derbissaka. Most recently, on June 12 and 13, 2010, the LRA abducted 16 people in farms surrounding the town of Rafai, including a mother and her 2-year-old daughter, both of whom the rebels later killed.

A similar LRA abduction campaign is under way in the remote Bas Uele district of Congo. On March 15, 2009, the LRA attacked the town of Banda, abducting some 80 people. In the months that followed, the LRA progressed westward, conducting raids on the towns and villages of Dakwa, Bayule, Disolo, Esse, and further north in Digba, Sukadi, and Gwane, among others.

On May 27, 2010, the LRA attacked numerous villages near Ango, the territorial capital, abducting 23 people, including 16 children. Some abductees who later escaped told Human Rigths Watch that the LRA questioned them about the location of schools in Ango, indicating the rebels may have been seeking specifically to abduct children. The LRA advance was halted when they encountered Congolese soldiers less than 15 kilometers from Ango, forcing them to change direction.

During the LRA’s campaign in Bas Uele between March 2009 and June 2010, the rebels abducted at least 375 people, at least 127 of them children, most ages 10 to 15. More recent information indicates that there have been more LRA attacks.

There has been very little reporting of the LRA’s numerous abuses in the region because it is so remote and communications are so poor. Few humanitarian agencies are working there, and there is only a small United Nations presence.

Tens of thousands of people have fled the area. In southeastern CAR an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people have sought refuge in the main towns, leaving entire villages abandoned. In the last few months, the government has deployed about 200 troops to the area to help protect civilians, too few to provide adequate protection. The Ugandan army has made some troops available to help protect civilians in the area.

Civilian protection concerns in Bas Uele district are even greater. An estimated 54,000 civilians have been displaced in the district or have sought refuge across the border in CAR. The Congolese army has deployed an army battalion to the area, but it is ill-equipped and has little or no transportation and communications equipment.

The UN peacekeeping mission in Congo, MONUSCO, with 19,000 peacekeepers across the country, has only 1,000 in the LRA-affected areas of northeastern Congo – far too few for the scale and geographical breadth of the problem. No peacekeepers are based in Bas Uele district. In the past two months, the MONUSCO base in Dingila, Bas Uele district, was closed and new MONUSCO bases expected to open in Dakwa and Digba have not yet been established.

“The protection of civilians under LRA attack across central Africa is woefully inadequate, with some communities receiving no protection or humanitarian aid at all,” Van Woudenberg said. “National governments, the Ugandan army, and the UN need to take urgent steps to protect people from these LRA attacks.”

To Read More Please visit the Human Rights Watch report: http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/08/11/cardr-congo-lra-conducts-massive-abduction-campaign

CATA and Farmworkers Rights

El Comité de Apoyo a los Trabajadores Agrícolas (CATA- The Farmworkers Support Committee) is a migrant farmworker organization that is governed by and comprised of farmworkers who are actively engaged in the struggle for better working and living conditions in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and the Delmarva Peninsula founded in 1979.

CATA has made a great impact in the lives of the tens of thousands of migrant workers who have lived and worked in the area over the past 31 years.  By providing education on workers’ rights, building leadership capacity, and organizing the community to provide testimonies and coordinate immigrant marches, CATA’s work continues to advance farmworker issues in solidarity with others so policies affecting all workers are improved.

CATA has advanced based on the belief that only through organizing and collective action can farmworkers achieve justice and fullness of life. CATA’s programs actively involve farmworkers in the process of social change and the analysis and proposed actions come directly from them. CATA’s mission is to empower and educate our membership through leadership development and capacity building so that they are able to make informed decisions regarding the best course of action for their interests.

In the 1970’s and 1980’s, workers fought for the Right to Know laws, enabling them to know the dangerous chemicals they work with on a daily basis.  They fought for the Right to Access laws so they would not be isolated on farm labor camps and receive visitors, like CATA staff, to educate them on their rights.

In the 1990’s, workers organized unions throughout the mushroom industry in Pennsylvania, with the Kaolin Workers Union’s experience as the example for others to pursue better wages and safer working conditions.  CATA, along with others, created the Farmworker Health and Safety Institute that provides training and research on farmworker health and safety issues.  Thousands of farmworkers have been and still are trained by CATA in the Worker Protection Standard to reduce their risk of pesticide exposure, and in HIV Prevention to improve their health and that of their families.

In the last decade, CATA has pressed for a just food system by working with partner organizations across the country to establish social justice standards in organic agriculture.  The Agricultural Justice Project and the Domestic Fair Trade Association have become significant endeavors in the national effort for food justice.  During this time, CATA received ECOSOC status at the United Nations and works on migration issues on a global level.

Currently, workers are organizing to push for just immigration reform, in solidarity with others.  Other areas of work include food security, health and safety, and workers’ rights. CATA strategically positions itself to influence these and other policies that not only benefit the immigrant community, but the larger community, as well.

For more information, please visit  www.cata-farmworkers.org.

Somalia’s gov’t orders probe into child soldiers

By MALKHADIR M. MUHUMED (AP) – Jun 17, 2010

NAIROBI, Kenya — Somalia’s president has ordered an investigation into reports that the Somali army is recruiting children in its fight against powerful Islamic insurgents, a decision welcomed by rights groups on Thursday.

The recruitment of child fighters in Somalia is on the rise. The country’s continuous violence appears to have increased recruiting efforts of young fighters, minors who can easily be indoctrinated.

Human rights groups and media outlets have been reporting about the existence of child soldiers in Somalia for years. The Associated Press reported in May that militants are increasing their use of the child soldiers, but that government forces also have minors in their ranks. The New York Times reported this week that the Somali government is using child soldiers and noted that the military is funded in part by the United States.

Somali President Sheik Sharif Sheik Ahmed said late Wednesday that he had ordered his army chief to conduct an investigation of the use of child soldiers and report back to him in a month.

“The president also instructed the army to demobilize any underage recruits without delay,” a government statement said.

A Somali human rights group estimated that thousands of child soldiers are used by both the government and Islamist militias like al-Shabab. Ali Yasin Gedi of Elman Peace and Human Rights Center welcomed the government’s announcement.

“It is a victory for us, human rights groups, that called time and time again to demobilize children,” said Gedi. “Our children have borne the burden of the conflict in this country far too long.”

Ahmed, in his announcement, also asked the international community to provide his cash-strapped government with the resources it needs to deal with about 100,000 armed militiamen of all ages in the country.

Ahmed accused al-Shabab militants of “intentionally and many times forcefully” enlisting underage children. Children make up the bulk of Somalia’s estimated 7.5 million residents.

Gedi said al-Shabab’s recruitment of children may partly stem from a lack of willing adults alienated by the group’s extremist views. But the government is also so desperate for fighters that it has been reluctant to kick out gun-carrying children from its ranks.

“The only chance open for the children in Somalia is to join the army — be they the government’s or its enemies’,” Gedi said. “The children get excited whenever recruitment opportunities beckons, because they don’t have any other opportunities.”

The U.N. believes that children as young as nine are being targeted and often taken through force or deception.

On Wednesday, the Security Council approved a presidential statement urging the U.N.’s most powerful body to consider tough measures — including possible sanctions — against countries and insurgent groups that recruit child soldiers and violate international law on the rights and protection of children in armed conflicts.

In a recent report, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon accused both Somalia’s government and its enemy, al-Shabab Islamist militants, of trying to maim or kill children by putting them in the line of fire.

Somalia has not had a functioning government since clan-based warlords toppled dictator Mohamed Siad Barre in 1991 and then turned on each other, sinking the Horn of Africa nation into chaos.

Copyright © 2010 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

To read the AP article on Google: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hi-HKi4d2fh01ZzqxodVPZZzACXAD9GD1N703

U.S. Cracks Down on Farmers Who Hire Children

From the NYT, June 18, 2010
By Erik Eckholm

WHITE LAKE, N.C. — The Obama administration has opened a broad campaign of enforcement against farmers who employ children and underpay workers, hiring hundreds of investigators and raising fines for labor and wage violators.

A flurry of fines and mounting public pressure on blueberry farmers is only the opening salvo, Labor Secretary Hilda L. Solis said in an interview. Ms. Solis, the daughter of an immigrant farm worker, said she was making enforcement of farm-labor rules a priority. At the same time, Congress is considering whether to rewrite the law that still allows 12-year-olds to work on farms during the summer with almost no limits.

The blueberry crop has been drawing workers to eastern North Carolina for decades, but as the harvest got under way in late May, growers stung by bad publicity and federal fines were scrambling to clean up their act, even going beyond the current law to keep all children off the fields. The growers were also ensuring that the workers, mainly Hispanic immigrants, would make at least the minimum wage of $7.25 an hour….To Read More Click Here.

President Obama Signs LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act

Just after 5pm yesterday [5/25/10], President Obama signed the LRA Disarmament and Northern Uganda Recovery Act into law, and released a personal statement recognizing the “hundreds of thousands of Americans who have mobilized in response to this unique crisis of conscience.” In doing so he became the first U.S. President to publicly pledge that ending LRA violence and recovery for affected families across central Africa would be lasting priorities.

In a rare move of recognition for the nationwide movement that made this moment happen, the President invited our team and several of our partners to join him in the Oval Office for a ceremony as he signed the bill.

Together, we have just reached a historic summit. As we soak it in, we also recognize that a tough climb remains ahead. Joseph Kony and the LRA are still at large, and vulnerable communities across central Africa remain under attack. Overcoming decades of international neglect toward this crisis will take more than a single meeting — even with the President — or one piece of legislation alone.

But yesterday’s accomplishment provides concrete hope that change is possible. We now have an unprecedented chance to ensure President Obama uses this mandate to lead an international effort truly capable of ending LRA violence once and for all.
–From Resolve Uganda (https://salsa.democracyinaction.org/o/2241/shop/custom.jsp?donate_page_KEY=6249)

HRW’s New Report on Child Labor in the US

In this 99-page report Human Rights Watch found that child farmworkers risked their safety, health, and education on commercial farms across the United States. For the report, Human Rights Watch interviewed 59 children under age 18 who had worked as farmworkers in 14 states in various regions of the United States.

To read the report visit http://www.hrw.org/node/90126

To read the press release visit http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2010/05/04/us-child-farmworkers-dangerous-lives.

To learn about facts visit http://www.hrw.org/support-care.

The Forgotten Victims: Women and Girls in Uganda

Kampala — The fate of thousands of women and girls held as sex slaves and child soldiers by Uganda’s Lords Resistance Army rebels hangs in the balance.

Since the insurgency began in 1986, the LRA has abducted thousands of women and girls. Some find opportunities to escape their captors, but according to a 2008 UNICEF Humanitarian Situation Report, approximately 3,000 women and children are still held by the rebels.

The delay in signing a peace agreement between the government of Uganda and the LRA has raised fresh concerns about their fate.

Forgotten victims of war

“The women in captivity have actually always been forgotten. We must advocate for them. They are still suffering,” says Jane Adong Anywar, Legal Officer at the Women’s Initiative for Gender Justice, an organisation advocating for justice for women in armed conflict and war through the International Criminal Court….

To read the rest of this article please visit http://allafrica.com/stories/201004201051.html.

Uganda Enlists Former Rebels to End War

OBO, Central African Republic — The night is inky, the helicopters are late and Cmdr. Patrick Opiyo Makasi sits near a dying cooking fire on a remote army base, spinning his thoughts into the darkness.

“It was either them or me,” Commander Makasi said of the countless people he has killed. “Them or me.”

The Lord’s Resistance Army, a notoriously brutal rebel group, snatched him from a riverbank when he was 12 years old, more than 20 years ago, and trained him to burn, pillage and slaughter. His name, Makasi, means scissors in Kiswahili, and fellow soldiers said he earned it by shearing off ears and lips.

But now he has a new mission: hunting down his former boss.

In an unorthodox strategy that could help end this seemingly pointless war, the Ugandan Army is deploying special squads of experienced killers to track down the L.R.A.’s leader, Joseph Kony, one of the most wanted men in Africa, who has been on the run for two decades.

To read the rest of this article please visit: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/11/world/africa/11lra.html?scp=1&sq=kony&st=cse

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