Four and Fifth day: Study Sessions and unforeseen travel

I cannot believe where I am right now.  Crazy time, yes, and to much things to do.

I want to start from yesterday, the fourth day, as I did not have time for writing down what was happening in the WHRI. 

We began the day with yoga, which I don’t want to talk too much about.  Is just beautiful, powerful and peaceful.

Oh! What difficult is to write a journal some days after the things happened.   Yes, I just did not write the last two days, and right now, I am trying to remember things. 

Anyway.  After the yoga classes we started the study sessions with Alda Facio.  I am just counting the pages that contain my summary about the talks. 

First, we began to talk about “The Vienna Tribunal”, the movie we watched the day before.  The film was really touching, I think for all women in the room.  This is about The UN Conference on Human Rights that happened in 1993.  Women’s movement, organized in context of this conference The Tribunal on Violations of Women’s Rights, where during 8 hours, women from all around the world, were sharing the most dramatic and horrendous testimonies of human rights violations against women as, sexual violence, persecution and assassinates of women among other terrible topics.  I don’t want to talk about any specific testimony because all of them were really moving, humiliating, and some times even full of a painful embarrassing.  I was also very moved because some of the women that were giving testimonies are women that I already know and whose histories I did not know.  It makes me admire them more for all things they have been overcome to keep on fighting, and changing not only their, but our histories.

Then, we started talking about CEDAW – Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.  An important thing to have in mind is when CEDAW was adopted, it was not consider within the human rights structure of the United Nations, only until 1993 women’s rights were consider as human rights. 

During all day we discussed about the notion, principles, obligations and contradictions of human rights. 

In USAmerica, for expample, they talk about “civil Rights” and religions talk about “natural rights”, Naming the HHRR depends almost in all cases of the social or economical ways of interpretations, and contexts where HHRR will be implemented. 

Human Rights, can not be separated which means they are interdependent, and al HHRR are the product of human rights struggles in modern times, including much more than other legal concept.  That is why every issue must have a HHRR approach. 

Much more thing to say, but I need to run, I have to go to Boston.  I will continue my diary next Monday, on my return from USAmerica.