Johannesburg Press Conference Launching "Electing to Rape"
December 10, 2009
AIDS-Free World launched "Electing to Rape: Sexual Terror in Mugabe's Zimbabwe
" at a press conference in Johannesburg on December 10, 2009, at 11:30 a.m.
Read the rest of the opening statement here >
Panelists
The press conference included a panel of experts from AIDS-Free World and southern Africa. Here are brief biographies of the participants.
Elinor Sisulu
Elinor Sisulu is a Zimbabwean writer, human rights activist and political analyst. She is trained in history, English literature, development studies and feminist theory. She has published several books, including The Day Gogo Went to Vote (an award-winning children's book about the first democratic elections in South Africa), Women in Zimbabwe, and Walter and Albertina Sisulu: In Our Lifetime. Since 2003, Ms. Sisulu has been advising on democracy and human rights in Zimbabwe. She is the former Media and Advocacy Manager of the Crisis Coalition of Zimbabwe's Johannesburg office, which she was instrumental in establishing in 2004. She is a member of the OSISA board. She was one of the earliest critics of President Thabo Mbeki’s discredited stance on HIV/AIDS.
Stephen Lewis
Stephen Lewis is Co-Director of AIDS-Free World. Mr. Lewis was the UN Secretary-General's Special Envoy for HIV/AIDS in Africa from 2001 to 2006. From 1995 to 1999, he was Deputy Executive Director of UNICEF. From 1984 through 1988, he was Canada's Ambassador to the United Nations. Mr. Lewis is a Professor in Global Health, Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University. He serves as the chair of the board of the Stephen Lewis Foundation in Canada. He holds 30 honorary degrees from Canadian universities and is a Companion of the Order of Canada, Canada's highest honor for lifetime achievement. In 2007, the Kingdom of Lesotho invested Mr. Lewis as Knight Commander of the Most Dignified Order of Moshoeshoe. The order, named for the founder of Lesotho, is the country's highest honor.
Betsy Apple
Betsy Apple is Legal Director and General Counsel of AIDS-Free World. Before this, Ms. Apple was the director of the Crimes Against Humanity program at Human Rights First (formerly the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights). She also served as deputy director of the Women’s Environment and Development Organization (WEDO), based in New York. Prior to that, she was the managing and legal director of EarthRights International in Thailand and the US, where she focused on government and corporate accountability for human rights violations and environmental abuse. Ms. Apple has served as legal consultant to various institutions including Harvard Law School’s Human Rights Clinic, Refugees International, and the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma. She is currently an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where she teaches International Human Rights Law and Human Rights Advocacy.
Paula Akugizibwe
Paula Akugizibwe has worked at the AIDS and Rights Alliance for Southern Africa (ARASA), where she coordinates ARASA's regional TB/HIV Treatment Literacy and Advocacy programme, since January 2008. ARASA is a regional partnership of non-governmental organizations working together to promote a human rights approach to HIV/AIDS and TB in southern Africa. Among other issues, ARASA has addressed the issue of HIV and human rights in Zimbabwe. Before joining ARASA, Ms. Akugizibwe worked with the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS Initiative in Rwanda as a procurement analyst, where she did supply chain management for CHAI’s donations in Rwanda and Burundi. Ms. Akugizibwe is currently advocating for the adoption of a SADC policy on communicable diseases in migrant populations, to ensure all people have access to necessary services and treatment.
Shonali Shome, Moderator
Shonali Shome is the Legal and Gender Advisor at AIDS-Free World. She is a human rights lawyer. Ms. Shome has worked with the Global Fund for Women, the Tahirih Justice Center, and the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, in addition to holding various advisory positions for women's rights organizations. She now serves on the board of Women Organized to Respond to Life-threatening Disease (WORLD), an HIV/AIDS organization in California. In 2006, she was named the Judith Stronach Women's Rights Fellow at the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, and in 2007 she was awarded the Kroll Foundation's Human Rights Fellowship to work on gender and HIV/AIDS issues.