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Biographies of the Attendees

CENTRAL ASIA

2Afifa Azim, Afghanistan2

Afifa Azim

Afifa Azim represents the Afghan Women’s Network (AWN). AWN is a non-partisan Network of women and women’s NGOs working to empower Afghan women and ensure their equal participation in Afghan society. The members of the Network also recognize the value and role of children as the future of Afghanistan and, as such, regard the empowerment and protection of children as fundamental to their work. The Network seeks to enhance the effectiveness of its members by fostering partnership and collaboration between members, undertaking advocacy and lobbying, and building their individual capacities.

2Masuda Sultan, Afghanistan2

Masuda Sultan

Masuda Sultan is program director of Women for Afghan Women (WAW), an organization providing assistance to, and a platform for, women’s rights activists. She spearheads the group’s congressional and international advocacy and works on community outreach and support for WAW’s Afghan Women’s Fund, which organizes programs for widows and orphans—including schools, poultry farms, and sewing and carpet weaving classes. Ms. Sultan lost 19 members of her extended family during the American bombing campaign to remove the Taliban. A member of the Advisory Board of the Business Council for Peace, Ms. Sultan provides advice on the economic empowerment of Afghan women. She is a founder of the Young Afghan-World Alliance, an organization coordinating humanitarian aid initiatives in the country. As a member of the Electoral College of Afghanistan-USA, she represented New York’s Afghan-American community in the process leading up to the Loya Jirga. She holds a bachelor’s degree summa cum laude in economics from Queens College in New York City.

THE MIDDLE EAST

2Nadwa Sarandah, Palestine2

Nadwa Sarandah

A manager of a large factory and mother of two, Nadwa joined The Parents Circle- Families Forum after her sister was killed on the streets of Jerusalem in 2002. The Parents Circle is an organization of over 500 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families, who have all lost relatives to the violence in the Middle East. They promote reconciliation as an alternative to fear, hatred and revenge through projects that communicate, educate and inspire more moderate approaches to peace building. Nadwa values both the benefit of sharing her pain and the importance of conveying the messages of dialogue and reconciliation to people on both sides of the conflict and across the world.

2Robi Damelin, Israel2

Robi Damelin

Robi Damelin lost her son David on military duty two years ago. Nadwa Sarandah lost her sister Naila, killed in the streets of Jerusalem, four years ago. They are both members of the Parents Circle – Families Forum, an organization of over 500 bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families, who have all lost close relatives to the violence in the Middle East.

Robi Damelin lives in Tel Aviv. Her son, David, 28 years old, was studying for his Masters Degree in the Philosophy of Education and part of the peace movement, when he was killed by a sniper. After David’s death, Robi decided to close her successful PR firm and devote her entire time and energy to the Parents Circle and its activities promoting dialogue, tolerance and reconciliation.

2Naba S. Hamid, Iraq2

Naba S. Hamid

Ms. Naba Saleem Hamid is a scientist, educator, trainer and feminist activist at a time in her country where tumultuous political, social and personal upheaval is a daily reality. Ms. Hamid is a Professor at the University of Baghdad. She holds an appointment as Professor of Parisitology and Invertebrate Biology in the College of Education. In 1982 Ms. Hamid’s Ph.D. thesis was suspended as a result of a resolution by the former Ba’ath regime. She has been prohibited since 1982 from pursuing any scientific activities as a result of her refusal to join the Ba’ath party. Prior to the suspension, she won a W.H.O. fellowship and trained at London University.

In September 2003, Ms. Hamid founded New Horizons For Women (NHFW), reaching out to women of all ages. NHFW was established to help women deal with the “multiple traumas that have robbed them of hope and skills for their future.” One of the long term goals of NHFW is preparing women to take their place in political life as leaders who will help build the new Iraq. By providing the women they encounter with necessary information, education and skills as well as helping them heal from trauma, NHFW builds hope and self-esteem. Through her organization, Ms. Hamid is helping Iraqi women become active members of society that are able to communicate with others regardless of gender, race, religion and political affiliation. The women with NHFW are building cross-cultural bonds through the Internet to support the peace building work of women globally.

2Raed Jarrar, Iraq, Washington, DC2

Raed Jarrar

Raed Jarrar is a Middle Eastern architect. Last year he completed his Master’s thesis at the University of Jordan on post-war reconstruction in Iraq where he examined the impact of the years of war, embargo, and the current occupation on Iraq’s infrastructure, civil society, and culture. During the 2003 invasion of Iraq, Raed Jarrar was in his native city of Baghdad where he founded and directed an Iraqi NGO named Emaar, which carried out over 150 reconstruction projects in Baghdad and 9 cities in war-torn southern Iraq. These projects, which ranged in scale, mobilized Iraqi citizens and resources in a non-hierarchical manner that involved Iraqis on all levels of decision making and implementation. Jarrar was also the country director for the Campaign for Innocent Victims in Conflict (CIVIC), which collected data on civilian casualties of the war. Jarrar moved to the U.S. in September, 2005 and he maintains a weblog of his observations about the political situation in Iraq and the region.

2Nesreen Ahmed, Iraq2

Nesreen Ahmed

An intermediate school teacher in Baghdad, Iraq, Nesreen has linked her students with their counterparts in Brooklyn, New York through the 121 Contact project initiated by Peaceful Tomorrows member Bruce Wallace. The goal has been to give a human face to those living in war as well as allowing the students the opportunity to see how their similarities far outweigh their differences.

PACIFIC ASIA

2Febby Firmansyah Isran, Indonesia2

Febby Isran

Isran is a survivor of the JW Marriott Hotel bombing in Jakarta, Indonesia which took place on August 5, 2003. A suicide bomber detonated a car bomb outside the hotel lobby, killing 12 people and injuring 150. Jemaah Islamiyah, an organization allegedly affiliated with al-Qaeda, was believed responsible for the bombing. Isran is part of the “Forum 58” group, which grew out of the tragedy. The Forum gives support to others affected by violence, and petitioned the government to cover hospital costs for those injured a year later when a second bomb exploded outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. After the tsunami struck Aceh in December, 2004, the Forum contributed food, clothing and medical supplies. In solidarity, it invited victims of the October 12, 2002 Bali bombing to participate in commemorations last year, and members share their experiences with the media and in university settings in order to add to the understanding of trauma and to aid others in recovery.

2Jully Isran, Indonesia2

Jully Isran

After her son was injured in the Jakarta Marriott bombing, Jully helped establish the foundation Forum 58 to help victims of terrorism. Forum 58 petitioned the government to cover hospital costs for those injured in 2003 when a second bomb exploded outside the Australian Embassy in Jakarta. In solidarity, she invited victims of the 2002 Bali bombing to participate in commemorations. Members share their experiences with the media and in university settings in order to add to the understanding of trauma and to aid others in recovery.

2Nakayama Takamitsu, Japan2

Nakayama Takamitsu

Mr. Nakayama Takamitsu is a survivor of the World War II atomic bombing of Nagasaki. As a member of Nihon Hidankyo— the only nation-wide organization of A-bomb survivors (Hibakusha) of Hiroshima and Nagasaki— he has taken part in a number of international conferences, including the Nonproliferation Treaty Review last year, and has visited the Nevada Test Site to meet the downwind victims and Native American protesters. Nihon Hidankyo has member organizations in all 47 Japanese prefectures, thus representing almost all organized Hibakusha. Its officials and members are all Hibakusha. Its goals include: prevention of nuclear war and the elimination of nuclear weapons; state compensation for the A-bomb damages; and improvement of the current policies for protection and assistance for the Hibakusha

2Rieka Asato, Japan2

Rieka Asato

Rieka Asato, Nakayama’s translator, represents the Japan Council Against Atomic and Hydrogen Bomb (Gensuikyo), which has been working since 1955 for a total ban on nuclear weapons and support and solidarity for the A-bomb survivors and victims of all nuclear developments in the world.

AFRICA

2Father Michael Lapsley, South Africa2

Michael Lapsley

Father Michael Lapsley was born and raised in New Zealand. He went to South Africa in 1973 as a young Anglican priest determined to oppose the racism and oppression of apartheid. In 1976, at the insistence of the apartheid government, Father Lapsley was exiled from South Africa. For many years, while in exile, he served as a chaplain and spiritual advisor to the antiapartheid movement. In 1990, while living in Zimbabwe, he was sent a letter bomb from South Africa. He survived an immense explosion which was intended to kill him but, instead, he lost both hands, suffered shattered eardrums and lost one eye. With the fall of apartheid, Father Michael returned to South Africa and eventually became Chaplain of the Trauma Centre for Survivors of Violence and Torture in Cape Town. In 1998 he became the founding director of the Institute for Healing of Memories, an organization which conducts healing and reconciliation workshops in South Africa and other conflict ridden societies worldwide. Nelson Mandela has said, "Michael’s life represents a compelling metaphor: ...a foreigner who came to our country and was transformed...(His) life is part of the tapestry of the many long journeys and struggles of our people." Father Michael has been a visiting professor at Manhattanville College and the New School University.

2Themba Lonzi, South Africa2

Themba Lonzi

Themba is a child of apartheid and a community theatre for development artist. He lost a close friend in the political violence in the Crossroads township. The “Wit doeks” (Afrikaans for white cloth/white armbands)- the police who tried to stop youth from resisting the system- murdered and burnt his friend beyond recognition. Themba has worked with Michael Lapsley’s Insitute for Healing of Memories since 1995; currently he is the Coordinator for Youth Development programs.

2Father Romain Rurangirwa, Rwanda2

Romain Rurangirwa

Father Rurangirwa was born and raised in a remote village of Karama in southern Rwanda. Today, his village no longer exists. In 1994, the Tutsi genocide of Rwanda killed a million of people in three months. Approximately 35,000 people died in Karama Catholic Parish on April 21st. They included Rurangirwa’s entire family: his parents, nine siblings, 17 nieces and nephews, their uncles and their families, in-laws, neighbors and friends. The village was totally cleansed, and all the animals butchered to be eaten, or left to feed the dogs. During this time, Rurangirwa was away from home, narrowly escaping death narrowly by hiding in latrines, bushes or abandoned houses. He witnessed the murders of many people with machetes and clubs, including 14 children with whom he hid for a month.

After the genocide, he found meaning in his life by attending Seminary to become a Roman Catholic priest. After ordination he received various assignments to Parishes, Campus ministries and Diocesan Chanceries, but made it clear in every case that his first mission was among the survivors of genocide, especially widows and orphans. Joining a group of four persons with same interests, he visited survivors in their villages, listening to their stories, helping them in the process of grief and loss, attending to their material needs, health care and education for their children, and linking them to aid organizations. He visited the local jail every week, counseling people who knew him, had grown up with him, and had killed numerous people, including his own family. His goal was to help them to understand their responsibilities before moving towards the concepts of reconciliation and forgiveness. His team’s work among the survivors and perpetrators, made Karama into an example that reconciliation and forgiveness are possible.

Rurangirwa came to United States in 2002, obtaining a Master’s Degree in Pastoral Care and Counseling, and will pursue an additional Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution at Brandeis University. He will then return to work in Rwanda.

2Jean Baptiste Ntakirutimana, Rwanda2

Jean Baptiste Ntakirutimana

Mr. Jean Baptiste Ntakirutimana was born and raised in Rwanda. At age 24 he left for university studies in Nigeria and in Zaire. His return from the holidays coincided with 1994 Rwanda genocide which took the lives of his parents, nine brothers, a sister, all of his uncles and aunts, and hundreds of nephews and nieces. He now lives with three surviving nieces. Of his entire extended family, the only others remaining are one step sister and three cousins. Ntakirutimana did his studies in Rwanda, Nigeria, Kenya and the U.K., where he received his MA in international development. After his studies he served the poorest communities in the areas of trauma healing, peace building and reconciliation as part of World Vision International; he headed a local microfinance institution primarily serving widows of the genocide and HIV/AIDS; through his work with Africare, he has greatly contributed to raising funds and implementing projects to support orphans and vulnerable children in Rwanda. Currently he is the Country Director of Orphans of Rwanda, Inc. (ORI), a U.S. registered charity organization dedicated to relieving the suffering of orphans in Rwanda by providing educational support, health services, and psychosocial support to them and their caregivers.

Ntakirutimana is actively involved in many peacebuilding and reconciliation initiatives in Rwanda and the region, and sits at the Rwanda Microfince Forum as a Board member. His utmost wish is to find sufficient resources to facilitate the healing process for HIV/AIDS orphans and widows in Rwanda, to mitigate the effects of the genocide and to promote a meaningful and independent adult life for orphans, their country and the whole human race.

2Dr. Julia Duany, Sudan, Bloomington, IN2

Julia Duany

Dr. Duany was born in Akot, a small town 30 miles east of Rumbek town in Lake Region, South Sudan, Africa. She came to the United States as a refugee where she founded the South Sudan Friends International (SSFI), an advocacy and technical assistance organization that supports grassroots communities in self-help and reconciliation projects. Duany holds the position of research associate at the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University, Bloomington, Indiana, where she also earned a Ph. D. in Higher Education. She taught at both elementary and secondary schools in Sudan and the United States. Her focus is social justice issues, and her most recent work centers on gender and conflict in Africa. Her book, Making Peace & Nurturing Life : A Memoir of an African Woman About a Journey of Struggle and Hope, was published in 2003. She is the mother of three boys and two girls, and is now a resident of the United States. She speaks Dinka, Nuer, Arabic and English.

2Asma Guenifi, Algeria2

Asma Guenifi

In 1994, Asma’s 20 year old brother Hichem was killed by Islamic terrorists. After receiving several death threats for not wearing the Islamic hedjab (veil), she was forced to move to France with her family. Once in France, she created an organization in the memory of her brother “Group Hichem,” to denounce and prevent the dangers of Islamic fundamentalism. She is a practicing psychologist working on a thesis about the victims of terrorism.

2Cherifa Kheddar, Algeria2

Cherifa Kheddar

In 1996, after her brother, sister and uncle were tortured and murdered by Islamic terrorists, Cherifa joined a group of terrorism victims to create the Djazairouna (“Our Algeria”) organization. In 1999 she started The International Federation of Associations of Victims of Terrorism. She has traveled extensively speaking about the dangers of Islamic terrorism.

EUROPE

2Joanna Berry, UK2

Jo Berry

In 1984 a huge news story hit the British newsstands: The IRA had planted a bomb in the ’Grand Hotel’ in Brighton where delegates, including Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, were assembling for the Tory party conference. Five people were killed. One of them was Sir Anthony Berry, a British MP. His daughter, Joanna, was inevitably shocked and grief-stricken.

However, she decided that she did not want this terrible life event to leave her bitter and twisted and she determined to do what she could to draw meaning from this tragedy. Eventually her path led her to Ireland, to other victims of the IRA and indeed people who had suffered on both sides of the divide between Catholic and Protestant. She started to work to build bridges between people and to give support to victims of conflict.

Jo decided that as part of her journey she would like to meet the man who planted the bomb that killed her father. Patrick Magee had been released from prison under the ‘Good Friday’ agreement in 1999. The story of Jo’s journey and her meeting with Patrick Magee was recorded in the moving award winning BBC documentary called “Facing the Enemy”. Since their initial three-hour meeting Jo and Pat have worked together for peace. In Jo’s words, “In blaming and dehumanising the enemy, our hearts shut down, we lose some of our own humanity, and we become part of the problem. In the process of compassion and understanding we can start to end the terrible cycle of violence and retribution.” Ms. Berry has founded the organization, Building Bridges for Peace.

2William Frazier, Ireland2

William Frazier

William grew up in Whitecross, Co. Armagh, in one of the few Protestant families living in the town. When regional strife began, Republicans pelted his house with stones and attacked his family on a nightly basis. Their home was wrecked five times with bombs and gasoline, and at one point the army had to guard his family for three days. He witnessed kidnappings and murders by bomb, gun and other forms of violence. Ultimately William lost his father, two uncles, two cousins, and five friends to an IRA attack. William founded Families Acting for Innocent Relatives (FAIR), to create a permanent remembrance of the region’s 25 years of violence and to insure that lessons are learned so history does not repeat itself.

2Viviana Mantragola, Italy2

Viviana Mantragola

Viviana’s mother, Renata Fonte, was Councillor in charge of the Municipality of Nardo in the south of Italy. In 1984, when Viviana was ten years old, her mother was killed in a mafia hooting as a result of her opposition to real estate speculation on a local nature preserve. Today, Viviana is president of Libera Association, a network of more than 1,200 political and cultural associations, groups and schools committed to promoting and creating a culture of lawfulness while fighting against the mafia and other organized crime groups. Their activities include promoting laws, which convert real estate confiscated from organized crime into public property; promoting democratic principles and fighting against corruption; running camps for anti-mafia ducation; and promoting work, development and economic fairness.

2Juan Gutiérrez, Spain2

Juan Gutiérrez

Juan Gutiérrez lives in San Sebastián, Basque Country, Spain. A civil engineer and Ph,D in Philosophy, he is an expert in conflict mediation.

Juan has been engaged in the peace movement since 1968. In 1987, he founded the Peace Research Center, “Gernika Gogoratuz,” in Guernica and served as its first director until 2002. During this time he established contacts with about 400 survivors of the Guernica bombing, led the team which collected and published their remembrances as survivors, and organized their first public meeting, April 26, 1997. The German President, Dr. Roman Herzog, accepted Juan’s invitation to send a personal message to all of the survivors. In it, he acknowledged the German authorship of the horror, declared his sorrow for it and asked for reconciliation. Juan has been awarded the German Cross of Merit (1999) and the first Guernica Price for Peace and Reconciliation (2005). Additionally, Juan helped the Guernica survivors to establish contacts with the survivors of Dresden, Hiroshima, and victims of the widespread, armed struggles in Colombia and Guatemala. In 1990-91 Juan acted as European and 1992-93 as World coordinator of the “International Week for Science and Peace” proclaimed 1988 by UN General Assembly.

In March 2004 Juan delivered a letter from September 11th Families for Peaceful Tomorrows containing a message of sympathy, solidarity and hope to victims of the March 11, 2004 train bombing in Madrid. Some of these families later came together to form the “Asociación 11-M Afectados por el Terrorismo” of which Juan is also a member.

2Jesús Abril Escusa, Spain2

Jesús Abril

Jesús Abril Escusa is the father Óscar Abril Alegre, killed in the Madrid train bombings of March 11, 2004 at Atocha station while on his way to university. Escusa was a high school teacher for 30 years but retired due to health problems in January, 2004. He lives in Madrid with his wife, Maribel, a public school teacher, and his daughter Beatriz, who is a translator and interpreter. “Peace was part of my human nature until March, 11th 2004,” Escusa says. “After this date, peace became my life’s aim, on behalf of my son Óscar.” Escusa is a member of the Executive Board of the Asociación 11M Afectados del Terrorismo (Association March 11M, Affected by terrorism), which works independently of the Spanish government. An early achievement of the group was to capture the attention of the Deputies Congress and stress the goal of peace. Escusa organizes the Association’s agenda and prepares speeches for a number of events including conferences, exhibitions, summer camps, concerts, and meetings.The Association’s most intensive work centers on integrating the thousands of people affected by the 3/11 attacks, working for psychological, financial, legal and medical support, and demanding the rights guaranteed by Spanish democracy, including truth, justice and reparation.

Through workshops and meetings, they try to redirect emotions and sorrow and move those affected toward inner and outer peace. Escusa has participated in many events in Spain, speaking in schools, working with children to eradicate violence and war, and teaching moral values including tolerance, respect, and sharing. He assisted the 6th Assembly of the People’s UN, the meeting with Peaceful Tomorrows members in Bologna (Italy), the 3rd Congress of Terrorism Victims in Valencia, Spain, and various meetings with terror victims of Spain and other countries around the world.

2Beatriz Abril, Spain2

Beatriz Abril

Beatriz lost her 19 year-old brother Óscar, in the terrorist attacks of March, 11 th. She is a member of Asociación 11-M Afectados de Terrorismo, which helps her convert negative feelings into energy to fight for peace. Her brother has become her reason to live her life with absolute intensity.

"Asociación 11-M Afectados de Terrorismo" was created to insure that those affected by the 3/11/04 train bombings in Madrid received necessary medical, psychological and legal support as they sought an honest examination about the causes and consequences of the attacks.

2Irene Villa Gonzalez, Spain2

Irene Villa

When Irene was 12 years old, ETA, a Basque separatist organization, planted a bomb in her mother’s car. Irene lost both legs and three fingers, and her mother lost her right arm. She has since used her tragedy to share her joy with the world, broadcasting to victims of terrorism the strength and optimism that saved her and her mother. Her book, Know That It Can Be Done, deals with giving back hope to the world, bringing calm to all hearts, spreading strength and good will, opening a path to peace, and showing the world how to be happy.

2Olga Takaeva, Russia2

Olga Takaeva

A member of the Mothers of Beslan, Olga was present during the Beslan school hostage crisis, which began in September 1, 2004 when armed Chechnyans took hundreds of schoolchildren and adults hostage. During the crisis Takaeva joined psychologists in supporting the hostages and providing them with food, water and prayer. When the standoff entered its third day, shooting erupted between Russian security forces and the hostage takers and continued for four hours, killing 344 civilians, 186 of them children. Hundreds more were wounded. “It is impossible to explain the horror of those minutes and the terrible shock at seeing people coming towards us, stained with the blood of children,” she writes. As one of the coordinators of the social movement, "For the Health of the Nation," Takaeve is engaged in charitable efforts aimed at assisting the invalids, orphans, and parents lost in the Beslan tragedy. She also assists graduates of Beslan schools in gaining admission to higher educational institutions in Moscow, St.Petersburg, Vladikavkaz.

SOUTH AMERICA

2Sofía Gaviria, Colombia2

Sofía Gaviria

Sofía Gaviria lives in Medellin, Colombia. She studied Political Sciences from Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá and has a Masters in Public Policy from John Hopkins and Pompeu Fabra in Barcelona. She works as a journalist and as a consultant in international cooperation. When she was 15, Gaviria’s mother was kidnapped by guerrillas. After four months of threats, her mother was released after a ransom was paid. Twenty years later, her oldest brother, Guillermo Gaviria, was elected as a governor of the State of Antioquia, one of the most important elected positions in Colombia. He undertook a financial and social revolution in Antioquia by leading a strategic alliance between the public sector, civil society, and entrepreneurs. Gaviria’s main objective was to change the culture of violence that develops as a result of the terrible mixture of cartels of drugs traffic, guerrillas and paramilitaries way of life. Following the principles of non-violence, he organized a march for peace with 2000 people to support and reconstruct Calcedo, a small mountain town destroyed by Guerrillas because the farmers refused their extortion demands. After a 125 mile march over five days, the terrorist group, Farc, blocked the marchers only three miles before they arrived at Caicedo. Gaviria was kidnapped along with three others. Two of the hostages were released some hours later, but Gaviria and his Peace Advisor were retained. After more than one year of torture, the terrorists killed both of them along with 11 police and army officers who had been taken at other times. Guillermo Gaviria was nominated for the Nobel Peace Price by The University of Rhode Island in 2003.

During Guillermo’s kidnapping, Sofia went to several international institutions including the European Parliament, the Spanish Government, the Congress of Spain, and the Belgium Government in order to show the reality of the kidnapped and the helplessness of their families. After Guillermo was killed, she was invited to the second congress of Victims of the Terrorism in Bogotá in 2005. From that moment on, she has become a voice of the victims of Colombia. She writes, represents and helps to empower the victims and institutions that work for victim’s rights. She is convinced that victims will play an important role in shaping international policies as long as these victims speak with the very same voice. For that purpose, she is forming an association of victims of any type of terrorism that are ready to change the cycle of violence. The formal consolidation of The Association of Victims of Terrorism in Colombia is expected this summer in Bogotá during the Congress of Colombian Victims of Terrorism.

2Marcia Scantlebury, Chile2

Marcia Scantlebury

In 1975, during the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet Eliszalde was arrested and tortured. She was in various concentration camps and I was a member of the direction of female political prisoners of Chile. In 1976, she went into exile to Colombia.

She returned to Chile in 1987, where she started to work as Direction Assistant in the magazine Análisis, a vehicle of resistance to the dictatorship. Afterwards, she became a member of the international press team of Concentración (opposition coalition) for the plebiscite and afterwards worked in the campaign that brought Patricio Aylwin to the Presidency in the democratic transition. In 1994, she worked as Press Chief in the candidacy for the Presidency of the then Minister of Education, currently ex president, Ricardo Lagos. When he lost the primary elections of the Concentración she started to work in the press board of Eduardo Frei Ruiz Tagle, candidate and later president.

After being the Press Manager during the transition period of the Presidential Mandate, she was appointed Director of Culture by the First Head of the State. she managed this unit, which is the highest in the Chilean Government in the field of culture. She also represented the Government of Chile in the Cabinet of Ministers and Managers of Culture.

Apart from Chile, she has also lived in the United States, Colombia, Italy, Costa Rica, the Dominican Republic and Mexico. Her work has also taken her to other countries of Latin America and Europe.

During her stay in Colombia, she belonged to the Women’s International League for Peace and Disarmament and traveled as Delegate of this organization to a meeting in Paris. In San José de Costa Rica (1978-1983) she did a postgraduate study on Human Rights in the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, whose headquarters were in this city. While living in Rome, she participated in the campaign against the death penalty, driven worldwide by the Catholic Community of San Egidio, which promoted peace in the world through activities that try to identify common themes in the three monotheist religions. In Chile, I became member of OMIDES (Women’s Organization for Disarmament, Integration and Latin American Development).

Currently, together with her activities as a journalist activities, she is President of the Commission of the 50th Anniversary of the Journalist Association in Chile and Head of the Corporación Villa Grimaldi.

NORTH AMERICA

2Bud Welch, Oklahoma City, OK2

Bud Welch

After his daughter Julie’s death in the Oklahoma City bombing, Bud became an outspoken opponent of the death penalty. He has testified before the U.S. Congress, State Senate and House Judiciary Committees and has met frequently with the father of Timothy McVeigh. He is a member of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation and serves on the Board of Directors of the Oklahoma City National Memorial Foundation. Bud has been awarded the "Champion of Justice Award" by the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the "Abolitionist of the Year Award" by the National and Oklahoma Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty, and the ACLU Oklahoma Foundation "Anti-Death Penalty/Prison Project Award.” He has addressed the British Parliament and the European Parliament as part of the Amnesty International Journey of Hope in Paris, London and Brussels.

2David Hartsough, San Francisco, CA2

David Hartsough

David Hartsough is Executive Director of Peaceworkers based in San Francisco, CA USA and is Co-Founder and Capacity Building Director of the Nonviolent Peaceforce. He is a Quaker and member of the San Francisco Friends Meeting. He has a BA from Howard University and an MA from Colombia University in International Relations. Hartsough is deeply committed to nonviolence and has been working actively for nonviolent social change and peaceful resolution of conflicts since he met Martin Luther King in 1956.

For forty years Hartsough has been involved with nonviolent peacemaking in the US, Kosovo, the former Soviet Union, Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Nicaragua and the Philippines. He and Peaceworkers worked with the Kosovar nonviolent movement in Kosovo between 1996 and 1998 and worked to gain international support for the nonviolent movement there before the conflict exploded into violence. He has been active with Witness for Peace, Peace Brigades International, Nuremberg Actions, and the National Pledge of Resistance. He was one of the founders of SIPAZ (International Service for Peace), an international group working to support a peaceful resolution of the conflict in Chiapas, Mexico. He also worked 18 years doing peace education and organizing nonviolent movements with the American Friends Service Committee.

Since May 1999 Hartsough has been working full time for the creation of a Global Nonviolent Peace Force or as Gandhi called it, a Shanti Sena. The vision is for the peace force to include hundreds and eventually thousands of trained international peaceworkers who would be available to do nonviolent peacemaking, peace-building and peacekeeping at the invitation of local peacemakers in areas of conflict. The hope is to develop a model of peacemaking on a larger scale which can be replicated by others around the world. Hartsough has been traveling to many parts of the world to meet with peacemakers, explore interest in and find partners to help build the peace force.

2Jennifer Harbury, Washington D.C.2

Jennifer Harbury

Jennifer has spent the last twenty years working for human rights’ reforms both in Guatemala and in the U.S. Her husband, Mayan resistance leader Efraín Bámaca Velásquez, was captured by the Guatemalan military on March 12, 1992. He was secretly detained, tortured and executed without trial. Jennifer’s efforts to save his life, including three hunger strikes, resulted in startling official disclosures in 1995 about the CIA’s use of known torturers as paid informants. Since that time, Jennifer has pressed her case through a successful international trial at the Inter-American Court on Human Rights of the OAS, and continues to litigate claims against the CIA in the U.S. federal court system. She has written two books about her experiences, Searching for Everardo and Bridge of Courage. Her newest book, Truth, Torture and the American Way (Beacon, 2005) analyzes the historic, legal and policy questions raised by current US torture practices. She currently works with the Torture Abolition and Survivor Support Coalition in Washington DC.

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Biographies of the Attendees