Global Academy Institute for Globalization, Human Rights and Leadership
 at the State of the World Forum
Sex, Power and Globalization
New York: September 7, 2000

Convened by:
Margot Anand, Founder, Spirit Works Church
Global Academy Institute for Globalization, Human Rights and Leadership

The State of the World Forum requested that Margot Anand and the Global Academy Institute for Globalization, Human Rights and Leadership convene a forum to explore the plight of women and children facing increased sexual abuse due at least in part to economic and cultural globalization.

Panelists:
Riane Eisler, author, Sacred Pleasures, The Chalice and the Blade, and Tomorrow’s Children (participated via video link)
Fran Hosken, founder, Women’s International Network News
Judy Kuriansky, Ph.D., internationally known radio and TV psychologist and newspaper columnist
Lisa Rafel Surrenda, chantress, teacher, and healer
Martina Vandenberg, Europe researcher, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch

In 1995 at the UN World Conference on Women held in Beijing, 189 governments pledged to fight violence against women in all its forms. At the turn of the millennium, however, evidence shows that states are failing to meet their human rights obligations. The purpose of this panel was to expose these human rights abuses, to explore ways of helping women and children subjugated to sexual abuse and exploitation, and to find solutions that strengthen our understanding that sexual rights are human rights.

The panel and audience examined the following issues:
International trafficking of women and young girls for prostitution
Genocidal treatment of women in Tibet by the Chinese
Female genital mutilation
Child pornography on the Internet

To-date, these issues have been sidelined and marginalized, with little coverage by the world media. One of the questions raised during intense discussion between panelists and the audience was “Why does the world press not question and raise the visibility of human rights abuses against women? Is it because these issues are considered shameful, and better left unaddressed?

Everyone present agreed that it is important to expand the dialogue and to inform the public about world events that relate to issues of sexual violence and exploitation against women and children in the hope that collective action will result in remedies for these human rights abuses.

Biographies of participants:
Riane Eisler, Ph.D., is president of the Center for Partnership Studies and the author of Sacred Pleasures, The Chalice and the Blade, and Tomorrow’s Children. Dr. Eisler has worked for the last 20 years as a cultural historian and evolutionary theorist and has done pioneering work in human rights, expanding the vision of international organizations to include the rights of women and children. She has taught at the University of California, and is now a consultant to business and governments.
Fran Hosken is the founder of the Women’s International Network News and she has been conducting a worldwide investigation of female genital mutilation since 1975.
Judy Kuriansky, Ph.D., is an internationally known radio and TV psychologist, author, and newspaper columnist. Dr. Kuriansky graduated from Smith College and received her doctorate in clinical psychology at New York University, where she is also an adjunct professor of psychology. She has been elected a fellow of the American Psychological Association and cited as the "best media psychology can offer" by the division of Media Psychology. She has published extensively in journals such as the American Journal of Psychiatry, the American Journal of Aging and Human Development and the Journal of Sex and Marital Therapy on a variety of topics including schizophrenia, depression, over-the-counter drug use and sexuality.
Lisa Rafel Surrenda is a spiritual counselor, sound and energy healer, chantress, poet, and writer. Her healing work incorporates wisdom from the Kabballah and from ancient Egyptian, Greek, Tibetan and Native American cultures. Ms. Rafel records and performs ancient chants at sacred sites around the world.
Martina Vandenberg is the European research associate for Human Rights Watch’s Women’s Rights Division. She has conducted research in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and Kosovo on rape as a war crime, trafficking of women for forced labor and forced prostitution, and discrimination against women during post-war reconstruction programs. From 1993 through 1996, Ms. Vandenberg lived in Russia where she co-founded one of Russia's first rape crisis centers. A graduate of Pomona College, she was awarded a Truman Scholarship in 1988. Ms. Vandenberg has an M.Phil. in Russian and East European Studies from Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar. (top)