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AZ Recovered Remains Exceeds 100 |
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Friday, 19 June 2009 |
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For Immediate Release
June 19, 2009
Contact: Kat Rodriguez: 520.770.1373 Count of Arizona Recovered Remains Exceeds 100
Halfway through the Month of June Arizona- The number of human remains recovered on the Arizona-Sonora border since October 1, 2008 has exceeded 100 halfway through the month of June, reports the Coalición de Derechos Humanos. The compilation of data from medical examiner reports from Pima, Yuma, and Cochise counties is an attempt to reflect more accurately the human cost of irresponsible U.S. border and immigration policies. From the beginning of the fiscal year to the end of May, 95 human remains were recovered-this figure does not reflect any June numbers, which will include the recent rollover that resulted in the deaths of at least 8 individuals in Sonoita, and the body of a man recovered in Douglas earlier this month. The count of 95 includes fifty-eight (58) males, eight (8) females, and a staggering twenty-nine (29) individuals of unknown gender (31% of the total). The numbers also reflect fifty-two (52) individuals of unknown identity, approximately 55% of the total remains recovered. The remains of 88 individuals had been recovered by the end of May at the same time last fiscal year. "What is extremely disturbing is the alarming increase in the number of recovered remains of undetermined gender," says Kat Rodriguez of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos. "Last fiscal year, at the same time, there had been a total of five remains of undetermined gender recovered-nineteen the entire fiscal year; this year, there have been at least 29." 'Unknown gender' indicates that not enough of a body was recovered to determine gender, and without DNA, which is costly, it is impossible to know even this basic information about the individual, making identification and return to their families even more difficult. The dramatic increase in unknown gender cases is a clear indicator of what happens as border enforcement strategies push migrants out into more and more isolated areas, making rescue and detection less likely and the likelihood of death more certain. This "Funnel Effect," which has been documented by the University of Arizona's Binational Migration Institute, has shown that the practice of sealing of traditional crossing points ultimately pushes migration into the deadliest areas. The real extent of this crisis is not known as the numbers of human remains recovered in neighboring states are not available. "It is unconscionable that we continue policies we know are directly resulting in horrific deaths," continues Rodriguez. "We must demand an end to the killing fields that the Southwest border region has become. The current administration must show leadership in ending the costly militarization of the border and interior that has lined the pockets of the military-prison industry at the expense of real human security."
The complete list of recovered remains is available on the Coalición de Derechos Humanos website: http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net . This information is available to anyone who requests it from us and is used by our organization to further raise awareness of the human rights crisis we are facing on our borders.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 22 June 2009 )
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Friday, 29 May 2009 |
The Migrant Trail:
We Walk for Life
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May 25-31, 2009
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A 75 mile walk from Sásabe, Sonora, MX to Tucson, AZ
The precarious reality of our borderlands calls us to walk. We are a spiritually diverse, multi-cultural group who walk together on a journey of peace to remember people, friends and family who have died, others who have crossed, and people who continue to come. We bear witness to the tragedy of death and of the inhumanity in our midst. Lastly, we walk as a community, in defiance of the borders that attempt to divide us, committed to working together for the human dignity of all peoples. | | For Immediate Release
May 29, 2009
Contact: Jodi Read: 520.488.5881 | Press Conference:
Migrant Trail Arrives in Tucson to
Testify About Border Experience
Sunday, May 31, 2009
11:30am
Kennedy Park, Ramada #3
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson- An international group participating in the sixth annual Migrant Trail Walk from Sásabe, Sonora to Tucson, Arizona will arrive on Sunday, May 31st. The 75-mile Walk will culminate in a press conference, followed by a community gathering at Kennedy Park in Tucson, Arizona. The Migrant Trail, a walk through the most traveled corridor on the Arizona-Sonora border, sponsored by a coalition of local and national organizations, bears witness to the thousands of women, men and children who have lost their lives in an attempt to provide a better future for themselves and their families.
"The human remains of more than 1,720 women, men and children have been recovered on the Arizona border since 2003. They are the direct result of our failed and unconscionable U.S. border policies," says Kat Rodriguez of Derechos Humanos, a Tucson-based sponsor of the Walk. "We, as people of faith and conscience, are called to make this journey together as witnesses, to be the voices that our migrant brothers and sisters no longer have."
For the last six years, this collaborative effort has joined friends and allies from across the country and from international backgrounds for a one-week experience through the Sásabe corridor, where most crossings occur and the vast majority of remains are recovered along the Arizona-Sonora border. An act of solidarity, the Walk bears witness to the death, violence, division, and xenophobia that has resulted from failed border and trade policies.
Betty Hung, a first time walker from Los Angeles commented, "As we walked the Migrant Trail in honor of those who have lost their lives simply in order to work and feed their children, I was struck by the enormous tragedy caused by the United States' failed immigration policies. While the government protects the Sonora desert as a wildlife refuge, Border Patrol agents roam the refuge hunting for migrants. I saw a sign that said "No Quail Hunting in the Refuge." Yet Border Patrol agents hunt migrants. Instead of preserving life, the refuge has become killing fields where the lives of migrants have been destroyed."
The Migrant Trail Walk will begin the final 6.7 miles of their journey at 9am at the BLM campsite on Ajo Way and San Joaquin Road. Participants will be welcomed home at Kennedy Park with speakers, music, food, and testimonies from participants and supporters. This event is free and open to the public.
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Monday, 08 December 2008 |
For Immediate Release
April 1, 2009
Contact: Kat Rodriguez: 520.770.1373 | | |
Less than Six Months into Fiscal Year,
Count of Arizona Recovered Remains is 50
Arizona- The number of human remains recovered on the Arizona-Sonora border since October 1, 2008 has reached 50, reports Coalición de Derechos Humanos. The compilation of data from medical examiner reports from Pima, Yuma, and Cochise counties is an attempt to reflect more accurately the human cost of failed U.S. border and immigration policies. This count includes twenty-six (26) males, three (3) females, twenty-one (21) individuals of unknown gender, and approximately thirty-three (33) of unknown identity.
This number, which is on par with the count last year, indicates that the deaths caused by individuals being funneled into more isolated and desolate terrain continue to be a human rights crisis on the Arizona-Sonora border. This "Funnel Effect," which has been documented by the Binational Migration Institute, has shown that the practice of sealing of traditional crossing points ultimately pushes migration into the deadliest areas. The extent of this crisis is not known as the numbers of human remains recovered in neighboring states are not available. "We continue to see the dramatic increase of the recovery of remains of unknown gender, which comprise approximately 66% of what has been recovered" says Kat Rodriguez, Coordinator of Derechos Humanos. "In all of last fiscal year, there were nineteen (19) of unknown gender-to see that we have almost doubled that to thirty-three (33) in less than six months is extremely disturbing."
'Unknown gender' indicates that not enough of a body was recovered to determine gender, and without DNA, which is costly, it is impossible to know even this basic information about the individual, making identification and return to their families even more difficult. The dramatic increase in these unknown gender cases are a troubling indicator of what might be to come as people are pushed out into more and more isolated areas, making rescue and detection less likely and the likelihood of death more certain. It is unknown how many remains are currently near the border but have not yet been discovered.
"It is incomprehensible that our government continues with policies that continue to funnel men, women and children to horrific deaths. Adding the tragedy that befalls the families who must agonize over what has become of their loved one makes this a truly shameful situation" continued Rodriguez.
"We must demand that the defense of the dignity and respect for all in the borderlands."
The complete list of recovered bodies is available on the Coalición de Derechos Humanos website: http://www.derechoshumanosaz.net. This information is available to anyone who requests it from us and is used by our organization to further raise awareness of the human rights crisis we are facing on our borders.
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 01 April 2009 )
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Sixth Annual Corazón de Justicia Awards Dinner |
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Sunday, 28 January 2007 |
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 Friday, February 27, 2009
6:30pm
Dunbar Cultural Center (click for map)
325 W. 2nd Street
Tucson, Arizona 85705 Join us to celebrate the Sixth Annual Corazón de Justicia Awards: A celebration & Recognition, an extraordinary evening honoring community organizers for their commitment to justice and social change. |
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 22 February 2009 )
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Lannan Foundation Announces Five Cultural Freedom Awards |
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Thursday, 04 December 2008 |
Lannan Foundation Announces Five Cultural Freedom Awards
Santa Fe, NM-- Lannan Foundation announced that it has recognized five human rights advocates with Cultural Freedom Awards for 2008. Recipients of the awards represent the United States, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.
The purpose of the Lannan Cultural Freedom Award is to recognize individuals working on behalf of communities struggling to uphold and defend their right to cultural freedom and diversity. As defined by the Foundation, Cultural Freedom is a basic human right dependent on political, economic, and environmental justice.
A total of $750,000 has been awarded for these individuals' work towards environmental justice, stopping violence against women and children, border justice, Native American cultural preservation and revitalization, and prisoners' rights.
Those recognized are: Bradley Angel, an environmental justice activist working to stop toxic polluters that target low-income communities; Esther Chávez Cano, founder of a violence prevention and treatment shelter protecting women and children in the Juarez region in Mexico; Isabel Garcia, a public defender who works on behalf of immigrants in the American Southwest; Malcolm Margolin, a book publisher who helps advance the cultural rights of American Indians indigenous to the state of California; and Clive Stafford Smith, a legal defender who represents Guantanamo detainees and prisoners on death row in the United States and around the world.
According to Foundation President Patrick Lannan, "All of the individuals honored this year have tirelessly committed themselves to improving and protecting the lives of the most politically and economically marginalized segments of society, oftentimes making personal sacrifices and sometimes risking their own safety for the well-being of others. We are honored to recognize these five heroes as shining examples in the fight for cultural freedom."
Bradley Angel is an international leader in the environmental health and justice movement, working with communities to stop pollution threats and to promote pollution prevention, clean technologies, and safe jobs. He isco-founder of Greenaction, which works to address health and environmental justice issues within urban, rural, and Indigenous communities.
Since 1987, Mr. Angel has worked with hundreds of diverse low-income and working class communities and Native Nations impacted and threatened by pollution. He has played a leading role helping communities win some of the most important struggles in the history of the environmental justice movement.
In 1990, Mr. Angel exposed the waste industry's targeting of tribal lands for incinerators and dumps with a landmark report entitled "Toxic Threat to Indian Lands." This report helped galvanize grassroots indigenous organizing that succeeded in defeating the great majority of dangerous waste disposal projects proposed in Indian country.
In the late 1980's and early 1990's, Mr. Angel played a key role in helping the small San Joaquin Valley farm worker community of Kettleman City, California, defeat a hazardous waste incinerator proposed to be built near a toxic waste landfill. This was one of the largest battles and most significant victories in the history of the environmental justice movement, and helped spark the growth of the environmental justice movement in the state, country, and internationally. Today Mr. Angel and Greenaction continue to work with Kettleman City residents in opposing the proposed expansion of the hazardous waste landfill.
Mr. Angel was an advisor to the Colorado River Native Nations Alliance (Fort Mojave, Chemehuevi, Quechan, Cocopah, and Colorado River Indian Tribes) that led the successful fight that defeated the radioactive waste dump proposed to be built on sacred lands near the Colorado River at Ward Valley in the Mojave Desert of California. He played a key role in bringing together the Tribes with environmental justice and environmental groups and activists in a powerful coalition and campaign that stopped the dump project, including a 113-day nonviolent occupation of the proposed dumpsite.
In 2008, Mr. Angel and Greenaction helped members of the Tohono O'odham Nation defeat Mexico's plans to build a hazardous waste landfill close to a sacred ceremonial site and an O'odham community living in Quitovac, Sonora, Mexico.
Prior to co-founding Greenaction, Mr. Angel was the Southwest Toxics Campaign Coordinator for Greenpeace USA from 1986 though 1997. He also served as co-director of the San Francisco Nuclear Weapons Freeze Campaign in 1985.
Esther Chávez Cano is a human rights activist who has dedicated the last sixteen years of her life to addressing the horrific effects of widespread violence against women and children in Juarez, Mexico, one of the most crime-ridden cities on the planet.
She has worked relentlessly to bring to the world's attention the hundreds of murders of Mexican women and girls in the Juarez region. She has founded or co-founded several non-governmental organizations defending the rights of women and children, including Casa Amiga, a violence treatment and prevention center that has sheltered thousands of victims of sexual crimes and other types of violence in the border region of Chihuahua, Mexico.
In the early 1990's, Ms. Chávez Cano was one of the most prominent voices to bring the issue of violence against women to the forefront of Mexican society. In collaboration with other women's rights organizations in Mexico, she documented and publicized the murders, tortures, and disappearances of mostly young and poor women and girls, many of whom migrated to Northern Mexico to work in the maquiladoras (multinational factories) along the U.S.-Mexico border. Although these murders continue to this day and remain largely unsolved, Ms. Chávez Cano's work helped force unresponsive Mexican political, judicial, and law enforcement authorities to investigate more vigorously the rising tide of violence and murder against women, and also to take more seriously the concerns of family members of the victims.
Realizing that there was no effective treatment facility for the women and children suffering from the high levels of violence in the city, Ms. Chávez Cano founded Casa Amiga in 1999 to address the psychological and medical needs of these victims. Since then, thousands of people have been treated at Casa Amiga, the only crisis shelter of its kind in the entire border region of Northern Mexico.
Services at Casa Amiga include psychological counseling, medical assistance, and legal aid for the victims of domestic violence and incest. Casa Amiga also educates the public on the rights of women and violence prevention in general. Casa Amiga is a model, both nationally and internationally, for empowering victims of violence.
Ms. Chávez Cano has received many awards for her work in promoting the understanding and prevention of violence against women, including the 2008 National Human Rights Prize in Mexico (El Premio Nacional de los Derechos Humanos).
Isabel Garcia is the co-chair of the Coalición de Derechos Humanos, a grassroots organization based in Tucson, Arizona, that promotes respect for human and civil rights and fights the militarization of the Southwestern border region, as well as discrimination and human rights abuses by federal, state, and local law enforcement officials affecting U.S. and non-U.S. citizens alike. She is also the legal defender of Pima County, Arizona, where she provides legal defense services to individuals entitled to court-appointed counsel for adult felony offenses, juvenile cases transferred to adult court, criminal appeals, and other post-conviction relief where the court has determined that a legal or ethical conflict with the Public Defender's office exists. Ms. Garcia has been at the forefront of immigrant and refugee rights since 1976.
The goals of Derechos Humanos include strengthening the capacity of the border and urban communities to exercise their rights and participate in public policy decisions, increasing public awareness of the magnitude of human rights abuses, deaths and assaults at the border resulting from U.S. policy, and seeking changes in government policies that result in human suffering because of the militarization of the U.S. border region.
As a lead speaker on behalf of Derechos Humanos, Ms. Garcia holds press conferences and interviews, hosts media crews, leads demonstrations, weekly vigils, symposiums and marches, to draw attention to the unjust policies and inhumane treatment of immigrants. She works to counter anti-immigrant hysteria and to change the stereotypes and misinformation about immigrants.
In addition to education and activism, Derechos Humanos keeps track of the body count of migrants who die attempting to cross the desert between Arizona and Sonora, one of the most treacherous border crossings on the U.S.-Mexico border. Crosses representing the names and ages (if known) of every body found are kept at the offices of Derechos Humanos and used in vigils to bring attention to the plight of undocumented immigrants who, for economic reasons, risk their lives to come north to the United States to find work.
Since the implementation of stricter border policies in the mid-1990s, it is estimated that more than 4,000 migrants have died trying to cross over into the U.S. Migrants have been driven into the desert as urban crossing points have been closed down, and border communities have suffered from the division and xenophobia that militarization has brought.
According to Ms. Garcia, "Immigration policy has been a total failure and needs to be changed. It has not prevented people from attempting to cross the border but has put the lives of thousands of men, women, and children in serious danger. Their deaths are the direct result of U.S. policy."
Ms. Garcia has received many awards for her work including the 2006 National Human Rights Award from the Comision Nacional de los Derechos Humanos de Mexico. This was the first time this award had been granted to someone who was not born in Mexico nor living in Mexico.
Malcolm Margolin is the founder of Heyday Books, established in 1974. The mission of Heyday Books is to deepen people's appreciation and understanding of California's cultural, natural, historic, literary, and artistic resources. In the last thirty-five years, the press has evolved from a one-person operation to a nonprofit cultural organization that publishes twenty-five books and sponsors more than 200 events a year. In 2007, seven books published by Heyday were traveling the state in the form of museum shows, and PBS produced three films based on books published by Heyday.
Mr. Margolin's vision has led the press to be especially active in publishing works by and about the California Indian community. Over the years Heyday has published more than thirty books on California Indians and since 1987 has been distributing News from Native California, a quarterly magazine devoted to California Indian culture and history. Many of the existing tribes indigenous to the state of California were nearly wiped out, due to disease, enslavement, and institutionalized genocide. Today, while a number of traditional cultural practices and Native languages are on the brink of extinction, News from Native California has been a strong force in helping to spark a revitalization of California Indian languages and cultures, a renaissance currently taking place in many Native communities throughout the state. In the role of publisher, Mr. Margolin has had the privilege of witnessing and supporting widespread cultural revival efforts in language, dance, basketweaving, storytelling, religious practice, and other areas of life. The press has served as a vehicle of communication among diverse people and various organizations, and networks were created as an indirect result of their efforts.
Mr. Margolin is the author of four books, the best known of them being The Ohlone Way: Indian Life in the San Francisco - Monterey Bay Area, named by the San Francisco Chronicle as one of the 100 most important books written by a westerner in the twentieth century.
Mr. Margolin was born in Boston in 1940, grew up there, and graduated from Harvard College in 1964. He has lived in Berkeley, California, since arriving there in a VW bus in the late 1960's.
Clive Stafford Smith is an attorney and the founder of Reprieve, a human rights organization focusing on the rights of death row prisoners and Guantanamo detainees.
After graduating from Columbia Law School in New York, he spent nine years as a lawyer with the Southern Center for Human Rights working on death penalty cases and other civil rights issues. In 1993, he moved to New Orleans and launched the Louisiana Crisis Assistance Center, a non-profit law office specializing in representation of poor people in death penalty cases.
In his current work as director of Reprieve, he oversees the organization's work in investigating, litigating, and educating. The organization provides legal support to prisoners unable to pay for it themselves. They promote the rule of law around the world, and secure each person's right to a fair trial.
Reprieve prioritizes the cases of prisoners accused of the most extreme crimes, such as acts of murder or terrorism, as it is in such cases that human rights are most likely to be jettisoned or eroded. The prisoners assisted typically cannot find advocates elsewhere. Reprieve focuses on cases involving the world's most powerful governments, especially those that should uphold the highest standards when it comes to fair trials.
Reprieve's lawyers currently represent over 30 prisoners in Guantanamo Bay. The organization also continues to assist British nationals facing the death penalty around the world, and is conducting investigations into "extraordinary renditions" and secret prisons.
In 2000, Mr. Stafford Smith was awarded an OBE for 'humanitarian services.' Since 2004, he has focused on achieving due process for the prisoners being held by the U.S. in Guantanamo Bay, as well as continuing his work on death penalty cases. He was made a Rowntree Visionary and Echoing Green Fellow in 2005 and was previously a Soros Senior Fellow. As director, he is responsible for overseeing Reprieve's Casework Program, as well as the direct representation of prisoners in Guantanamo Bay and on death row as a Louisiana licensed attorney at law.
Mr. Stafford Smith has recently authored Eight O'Clock Ferry to the Windward Side: Seeking Justice in Guantanamo Bay, which recounts his personal experiences representing more than fifty of these prisoners and spending many weeks in their company. Through their stories, he explores the steep human costs of jettisoning the rule of law to combat terrorism, tracing the proffered justifications for torture of suspects, and cataloging the array of deceits that shield the actions of the U.S. prison authorities.
Lannan Foundation is a private family foundation located in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Funding is focused on special cultural projects and ideas that promote and protect cultural freedom, diversity, and creativity. For further information on previous recipients of the Lannan Cultural Freedom awards and fellowships, as well as the Lannan Prize for Cultural Freedom, please visit our website at www.lannan.org .
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Wednesday, December 10: Press Conference |
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Monday, 08 December 2008 |
Press Conference
"Panda Express 11" Workers and Allies Ask Congressional Representatives to Defend Workers' Rights and Carry the Message to Obama's Transition Team
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
11:00am
El Tiradito Shrine
"The increased criminalization of workers and failure to uphold basic human rights has led us to the most hostile, anti-immigrant era that this country has ever seen" says Isabel Garcia of Derechos Humanos. "We need our lawmakers and political representatives to stand up for the basic rights that the United States signed on to 60 years ago. We must change policies that have only resulted in division, abuse and death for millions of men, women and children."
Meetings have been requested with Congressional Representatives Grijalva, Giffords, Senators McCain and Kyl, and Governor Napolitano within the next two weeks. Members from Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Samaritans, and No More Deaths will attend the meeting with the Panda Express 11 workers to express their support. The delegation will deliver a letter that they will ask Representative Grijalva to forward to President-Elect Obama's Transition Team, and will call for community organizations and allies to sign on as well.
"We are a few of the many workers whose lives have been devastated by the unjust laws and persecution of immigrants," says Omar Espino of the Panda Express 11. "We ask for all people to join us in demanding justice for all workers and their families."
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Last Updated ( Wednesday, 10 December 2008 )
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