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Just over 64% of eligible voters voted in the 2008 US Presidential election. Though that was one of the highest turnouts in decades, that’s not even three-quarters of the electorate.

For most US citizens, the risk of voting today is potentially a long wait in line.

Sunday I learned about a woman whose conviction to participate in electoral politics is so strong that she is facing life in prison.

Birtukan Mideksa, a 35 year old former judge and mother of a four-year-old daughter,  is serving a life sentence in Kaliti Prison in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for her leadership in the opposition Coalition for Unity and Democracy party.

You can read more about her case here and also  find a sample letter to petition on her behalf.

Why is Birtukan Mideksa in jail?

She was arrested in November 2005 after her party disputed results of local and parliamentary elections. Because post-election demonstrations had turned violent — Ethiopian security forces shot and killed 187 people and wounded 765 others while six police  officers were also killed — the government charged Mrs. Birtukan, who had neither used nor advocated violence, with treason.

She was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Local leaders negotiated a pardon which lead to her release in 2007. In December 2008 she had her pardon revoked and was re-arrested and re-sentenced to life in prison after she refused to recant public remarks she had made in Sweden about the events that led to her pardon and release.

In today’s action for universal Human Rights, you can send a message of hope and support to Birtukan Mideksa by sending her a postcard or letter mailed to:

Birtukan Mideksa
c/o Ethiopian Women for Peace and Development
P.O. Box 1318
Wheaton, MD 20915

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Some of you may have seen the “60 Minutes” program Congo’s Gold that aired November 29, 2009. The story detailed how the selling of “conflict minerals” such as gold are paying for the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). With almost five million dead, this war has been described as the deadliest war since WWII.

Amnesty International USA describes this as a ” ‘war against women’ where “women and girls are being raped in great numbers as a means of destroying their families and communities.”

What seems so far away and removed from our lives came to us up close Sunday when Congolese refugee Albert Mulenda Rajabu spoke about his experiences in the DRC at the Write-a-Thon for Human Rights sponsored by Group 49 of Amnesty International USA.

Mr. Rajabu, a former teacher,  stoically shared his own story of surviving two civil wars despite arrest and jailing for his human rights work in the DRC. But he wept when he reported incidences of sexual violence perpetrated against women and girls. He shared with the room the following story of a survivor’s account of the sexual violence. (Warning: the letter is graphic.)

“As you requested, here is my story:

“It was in August 2008 when I and my children (two daughters, aged 17 and 14, and my 12 year old son) were going to cultivate our field.

“On the way, we were surprised by three gunmen in military uniform. While pointing their guns at us, they commanded us to stop, throw away our tools, and to lie down.

“My son started running, screaming and crying for help. One of the gunmen caught him in his run and hit him in the head with the point of his gun, seriously injuring him.

“It was then they started raping us with atrocity, my daughters and I. One of the gunmen held my son’s face toward us so that he could see us being sexually violated.

“Afterward they left, taking our clothes and leaving us naked. We had to wait for dark to get home.

“We were taken to the nearest health center two miles away but for lack of money the treatment we received was not enough to cure our injuries.

“My 14 year old daughter who had two men on her is till bleeding heavily. My son ran away from home to an unknown destination. My husband divorced me because, according to him, we were left with diseases and have a curse on us.

“Now we are living in such a bad situation that we cannot move from home to continue our daily activities, being afraid following what happened.”

It grieves us to share this letter and we debated long and hard whether to do so. Unfortunately, generalizations about hundreds of women and girls being raped has failed to move enough people to action. Perhaps the voice of this one woman, sent across the ocean, will touch your heart and move you to do at least one small thing to help women and girls in the DRC.

How you can help.

One place to start is to download the AIUSA action packet: No Excuses, No Delay. Protect civilians in the Democratic Republic of Congo.  In the packet you’ll find some sample letters, including one asking that the President of the DRC ensure the safety of  another woman, Justine Masika Bihamba, who has been threatened and her children attacked for her human rights work. She is the coordinator for the women’s human rights organization Synergie des femmes contre les violences sexuelles (SFVS).

At the Write-a-Thon, we sent our appeal for the safety of Justine Masika Bihamba, and on behalf of all civilians in the DRC.

Please spread the word. It is the least that we can do.

In honor of this occasion, it is worth repeating the first two Articles of the Universal Declaration.

Article 1.  “All human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.They are endowed with reason and conscience and should act towards one another in a spirit of brotherhood.”

Article 2.  “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status. Furthermore, no distinction shall be made on the basis of the political, jurisdictional or international status of the country or territory to which a person belongs, whether it be independent, trust, non-self-governing or under any other limitation of sovereignty.”

Unfortunately, our world leaders are examples of the difference between what organizational theorists Chris Argyris and Donald A. Schön described as one’s espoused theory, or what we tell ourselves we believe, and our theory-in-use, or what we actually do.

While the leaders of the world say they believe in the principles of the Universal Declaration, unfortunately, they routinely violate those very principles.

In many organizations, our leaders may sincerely be unaware of how their theory-in-use differs from their espoused theory. In the case of human rights, however, it takes a pretty serious mental pretzle for a leader to believe that extrajudicial killings, torture, sexual assault and imprisonment without charge could possibly uphold the human rights principles set out in the Universal Declaration.

That’s why it is so important for each of us to hold governments worldwide accountable for bringing their practices into agreement with their expressed values.

So Jon and I spent yesterday afternoon writing appeals to governments around the world on behalf of 10 prisoners of conscience during  the annual Write-A-Thon for Human Rights. We were joined by over 50 community members, young and old, under the auspices of Group 49, the Providence Chapter of Amnesty International USA.

W are proud to say that AIUSA is one of our longest running memberships.

(By the way, for those nonprofit governance junkies out there, Amnesty International is a very interesting example of a multinational nonprofit that brings together professional staff and a worldwide movement of volunteers who also have a significant say in governing the organization.)

During the late 70s and early 80s, Jon and I were very active in the local chapter, serving as co-coordinators and participating in regional and annual meetings of AIUSA.  Jon served for a time as a member of the South Asia Coordination Group, a network of volunteers who acted as resources to US chapters w0rking on behalf of prisoners of conscience or other cases from that region. While the demands of a young and growing family caused our direct service to Group 49 to ebb, our commitment to human rights and our support for Amnesty International has never waivered.

To commemorate Human Rights Day, throughout this week we’ll be sharing the stories of the human rights workers who were highlighted in this year’s write-a-thon.

Please join us and consider how you might act to help protect human rights worldwide. For those of you already active in this area, you have our deepest appreciation.

“But there is a calling that is yet above high office, fame, lucre, and security.  It is the call of conscience. ” - Lasantha Wickramatunga

A Sri Lanka friend of ours has asked that we add our voices to the outcry against the carnage that is taking place today in Sri Lanka and that we not allow the world to continue to stand by.

According to Amnesty International USA, “the total estimated casualty figures of the conflict since January are more than 7,000 killed and 13,000 injured. There are an estimated 50,000 civilians still trapped in the area.”

I want to share with you an excerpt from a speech by the widow of murdered Sri Lankan Journalist Lasantha WICKREMATUNGE on World Press Freedom Day on May 3rd. He husband was posthumously honored as the 2009 UNESCO WORLD PRESS FREEDOM LAUREATE.

“The free Sri Lanka in which I was born no longer exists. Our country has entered a Dark Age characterized by tyranny and state-sponsored terror, where the government publicly, cynically and unapologetically equates democratic dissent to treason….

“… violence against journalists is only the tip of the iceberg. Tens of thousands of ordinary Sri Lankan civilians-men, women, children, and the aged-have been herded into concentration camps where they are held against their will…

… the government itself has plastered the countryside with enormous placards lauding the military with the slogan, in Sinhala, the language of the Sinhalese majority to which I too, belong, stating: “Soldiers, our race salutes you!” Not “the people”, not “the country”, but the race.

“…I make this point because it is urgent and important that the world realizes what is happening in Sri Lanka before it is too late.”

You can read her full speech here.