Activities
The Group is working on three campaigns: 1. prisoners of conscience in Zimbabwe (Magodonga Mahlangu and Jennifer Williams), 2. maternal health, 3. the Roma in Europe. (we also recently took a petition of over 1000 signatures to the Laos embassy in Paris on behalf of prisoners of conscience Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang). There is more information on each below.
Prisoners of Conscience
The Group is currently campaigning on behalf of two Zimbabwean prisoners Jennifer Williams and Magodonga Mahlangu. These two leaders of Women of Zimbabwe Arise (WOZA), will be tried again on spurious allegations of kidnapping and theft.
Maternal Health
One woman dies every minute from complications in pregnancy or childbirth. The vast majority of mothers’ deaths are entirely preventable. We need governments to prioritise women’s health as a way of tackling poverty.
Roma in Europe
Roma are among the most deprived communities in Europe. They suffer massive discrimination and are denied their rights to housing, employment, health care and education. Roma communities are often subject to forced evictions, racist attacks and police ill-treatment.
Our former Prisoners of Conscience
The Group recently campaigned on behalf of two Lao prisoners Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang.
Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang were arrested in June 2003 in Xieng Khouang Province in Laos, with two European journalists and their Hmong interpreter. The journalists had been researching a news story on ethnic Hmong in the Lao jungle. Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang, both ethnic Hmong, were local guides for the group.
They were all charged with numerous offences and given long sentences after an apparently politically motivated unfair trial. The journalists and interpreter were sentenced to over 10 years and deported from Laos. Thao Moua and Pa Fue Khang remain in Samkhe prison, Vientiane, serving sentences of 12 and 15 years respectively.
We are urged the Lao authorities to review their cases immediately. If there is sufficient evidence against them of wrong doing they should be given a retrial which meets international standards, including a presumption of innocence and the right to legal counsel.
We called on the authorities to ensure that their conditions of detention meet international standards including access to lawyers, relatives, and appropriate medical care.
