Message-ID: <199607212257.SAA15615@outpost.ietc.ca> Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 18:57:45 -0400 From: "Georges Lessard's Mass Media Arts, Training, Creation, Subject: Lawyers Committee for Human Rights "Witness" Project To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Hey folks,For much of the last 20 years I have been helping people in community video learn how to use video equipment... When I heard of this group (early this decade) I offered to help out in any way I could.
Later, when I set up a community video production facility in Nassau the Bahamas (in 1992) I wrote them again and offered to work with them there.
When I knew I was going to be in Beijing for a year last year (during the Women's Conference too), I once again wrote them offering to help out there.
Now I am being sent to India to set up an educational media facility (including a video production facility) for an Indian NGO, to I have once again contacted them to offer my help and got the following automated message.
This is the first time that they have ever responded to any of my offers for help. Not even a "...no thank you..."
I would like to know if anyone on this list has ever had any constructive experience with this group and if they are actually doing anything worthwhile.
Please email me at
thank you
George Lessard
------ fowarded message ---- >X-POP3-Rcpt: mailto:media@outpost
>Return-Path: mailto:nobody@cybershop.com
>Date: Sun, 21 Jul 1996 19:30:53 -0400
>To: mailto:media@ietc.ca
>From: mailto:nyc@lchr.org
>Subject: www.witness.org autoreply
>
>
>
> THANK YOU!
>
>
>We very much appreciate the interest you have expressed in Witness, a
>program of the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights. With your help, we
>can provide human rights groups worldwide with the video equipment,
>training and strategic support they need to use video technology as a
>new tool to fight human rights violations. We welcome your involvement.
>
>Over the next year, our focus will be on training. Every camera we
>distribute will be accompanied by a Witness training manual and
>videotape which are being translated into Arabic, French and Spanish.
>We will also organize regional training sessions. At the same time, we
>will work in partnership with groups to design the most effective video
>advocacy. And the Witness archive on our web site will be expanded to
>open the world's eyes to the human rights stories that have been hidden
>from view.
>
>In addition to supporting these activities, you can help provide Witness
>groups with new equipment. Following is a list of the kinds of equipment
>that Witness groups need.
>
>Please join us and take a stand for human rights. Witness activists are
>working on the front-lines of the human rights movement. The activists
>often operate in situations where there is potential for risk. In the
>event that their offices are ransacked; their equipment is seized; or
>they are detained without charge, a letter from you to a government
>official can make a difference. If you would like to be notified of
>these emergencies, please e-mail us your name and address and ask to be
>placed on the Witness Emergency Network.
>
>And, if you haven't already, please consider writing a letter to the
>government of Guatemala on behalf of the work Witness group Casa Alianza
>is doing with homeless street children (see the Urgent Action appeal in
>our web site for further details http://www.witness.org/topstory.htm).
>
>We hope that you will continue to stay informed about the activities of
>Witness through our web site (http://www.witness.org). Thanks again for
>your interest.
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>CONTRIBUTIONS TO WITNESS
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Your contribution of
>$35 buys
>--a box of 10 video cassettes
>--earphones
>--extra batteries
>--clip-on microphones
>
>$50 buys
>--tripods
>--camera bags
>--long-life batteries
>
>$100 buys
>--camera lenses
>--lights
>--shot-gun microphones
>
>$250 buys
>--editing machines
>--portable color monitors
>--boom microphones
>--sound mixer and editor
>
>$2000 buys a Hi-8 video camera package
>
>Please send the following information to Witness.
>Name_____________________________________
>
>Address____________________________________
>
>City_______________ State_____ Zip __________
>
>___ Enclosed is my check in the amount of $__________.
>
>___ Please add my name to the Witness Emergency Network
>
>All contributions are tax deductible to the extent permitted by law.
>Please make your check payable to Witness and mail to:
>
>Witness
>c/o Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
>Attention: Communications
>330 Seventh Avenue
>New York, NY 10001
>212-629-6170 / Email address mailto:nyc@lchr.org
>
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>FACT SHEET ON LAWYERS COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>PURPOSE
>To protect and promote internationally recognized human rights by
>strengthening legal enforcement mechanisms and supporting
>nongovernmental organizations working in the field.
>
>CURRENT GOALS
>To help establish national laws consistent with international human
>rights standards and treaties.
>
>To promote the development of independent and fully functioning human
>rights organizations, which are crucial to a thriving civil society.
>
>To protect and support human rights lawyers and advocates.
>
>To provide legal assistance to victims of human rights violations when
>they seek asylum in the United States.
>
>To critique, monitor, and influence the international systems and
>procedures designed to protect human rights.
>
>PROGRAMS
>The Lawyers Committee pursues its goals through regional and thematic
>programs including: Africa; the Americas; Europe; the Middle East &
>North Africa; Asylum; International Financial Institutions; the United
>Nations; NGO Partnership; and Witness.
>
>STAFF
>There are 40 members of the staff located in a headquarters office in
>New York and an office in Washington, D.C. The Committee also relies
>on a number of consultants, and more than 1,000 volunteer lawyers,
>principally in New York and Washington.
>
>GOVERNANCE
>The Lawyers Committee has a 30-person Board of Directors made up of
>lawyers, corporate counsel, academics, artists, and human rights
>activists.
>
>FINANCES
>The Lawyers Committee has an annual budget of $3.2 million, which comes
>from a diverse group of leading foundations (48%), corporations (22%),
>law firms (25%) and individuals (15%).
>
>Lawyers Committee for Human Rights
>330 Seventh Avenue, 10th Floor
>New York, NY 10001
>telephone: (212) 629-6170
>facsimile: (212) 967-0916
>email: mailto:nyc@lchr.org
>
>
. . ------ from the digital space of ------ GEORGES LESSARD Award winning video artist, Tokyo & Montreal Freelance Communications Arts, Training, Management & Mentoring 7305 Ch du Huard, Lac Pilon, Mt. Rolland, Quebec, Canada. J0R 1G0 Voice & Fax (514) 229-3666E-MAIL mailto:media@ietc.ca
"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." (Gandhi) "The fool wonders, the wise man asks." (Benjamin Disraeli)
Reading and posting to the following electronic mailing lists: CARR-L, SPJ-L, JOURNET, CORREX-L, FRAMEWORKS, MEDIA, MEDIAWEB, RTVJ-L, DEVEL-L, CASID-L, WUSCNET, ORNET, INTERCAR-L
Original material © copyright 1996 George Lessard & may be quoted, resent, reproduced, stored or forwarded provided this copyright notice is attached. Under Canadian copyright law, copyright may not be transferred without a specific, written agreement. As the above original work originates in Canada, it is therefore subject to Canadian law. Text quoted or forwarded is the property of other copyright holder(s). (V1.03) ---------------------- - 30 - -------------------------