Feminist Peace Network

Excerpted from the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights Newsletter and Update:

“This is the first official newsletter of the National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights (NCIWR), a coalition of local, state and national organizations working to defend and advance the rights of immigrant women. We hope that the newsletter will be a useful tool for members and allies to receive news and policy updates, make organizational announcements and share NCIWR activities.

1. In the News
An Arkansas bailiff who “forgot” an immigrant Mexican woman locked in a courthouse holding cell without access to food, drink, or a toilet for 4 days was given a slap on the wrist for his negligence.

A Colombian immigrant woman living in Queens was coerced into oral sex by an immigration official who threatened to deny her a green card unless she complied.

2. Coalition Updates
The National Coalition for Immigrant Women’s Rights will be holding a national meeting on Thursday June 12, 2008 in Washington D.C. It will be an opportunity for all of the Coalition members to meet one another in-person, receive NCIWR updates from the Steering Committee members, help strengthen our Guiding Principles, and set our policy priorities for the 111th Congress. The NCIWR steering committee will send an invitation to NCIWR members shortly.

3. Legislative Updates

The National Council of La Raza (NCLR) is asking ally organizations to support the Health Equity and Accountability Act of 2007 (H.R. 3014, a bill introduced by Congresswoman Hilda Solis. H.R. 3014 aims to reduce health disparities and provide for more equitable healthcare coverage to underserved communities and persons of color. H.R. 3014 seeks to provide ethnic and racial minorities with culturally and linguistically appropriate health care, diversify the health care workforce, develop a data collection and reporting system on minority health and health disparities and establish a pipeline of minority scientists, healthcare providers and researchers. In addition, H.R. 3014 provides states the option to cover legal permanent resident immigrant children and pregnant women under Medicaid and the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). NCLR is currently asking organizations to sign onto its letter supporting H.R. 3014 and its provisions that aim to provide immigrant children and pregnant women with healthcare coverage. The deadline for endorsements is April 18, 2008. To sign your organization’s name to the letter, please send the following information to Jennifer Edwards of the National Council of La Raza at jedwards @ nclr.org:

• Name:
• Position:
• Organization:
• City, State:
• Type of Organization (state, local, or national):
• E-mail:

4. Partner and Member Organization Updates

Family Planning Advocates of New York State (FPA) is working to enhance culturally and linguistically competent care to family planning providers through its Immigrant Women’s Health Initiative (IWHI), which was established in 2001. Through IWHI, FPA has been working with family planning centers in New York to overcome barriers that impede delivery of reproductive health services to the diverse immigrant groups they serve, by creating an assessment process based on the national standards for Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services in Healthcare (CLAS). FPA on March 20, 2008 conducted a training in Albany, New York called From Assessment to Action: Learning to Measure and Promote Culturally and Linguistically Appropriate Services (CLAS) at your Agency. For more information go to www.edfundfpa.org.

The Haitian Women for Haitian Refugees is organizing its Albany Days of Action to lobby on the Domestic Workers’ Bill of Rights in Albany, New York. The bill provides labor protections for care takers, domestic workers and elderly companions working in the NYC metropolitan area. If you would like to get involved in participating on their Days of Action please send an email to domesticworkersunited @ gmail.com. The bill and its Endorsement form can be found at the Domestic Workers United website.

The National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum has released Rights to Survival & Mobility: An Anti-Trafficking Activist’s Agenda, a report highlighting the disproportionate impact of human trafficking on Asian and Pacific Islander women and girls. To download a copy of the report, visit www.napawf.org, or email lrebugio @ napawf.org to receive a hard copy.

The National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty is working to aid immigrant victims of domestic violence by working to prevent them from becoming homeless and to protect the education rights of migrant and homeless children. NLCHP is currently working on issues at the intersection of domestic violence and housing, including implementation of the VAWA housing provisions by HUD and Public Housing Authorities, state and local legislation to protect housing rights for victims of domestic violence and the status of the Family Violence Option. NLCHP is also working to ensure that the rights of migrant and homeless children under the McKinney-Vento Act, IDEA and new Head Start legislation are being protected. NLCHP attorneys are available for technical assistance, trainings, litigation co-counseling and other projects. For more information, please contact Kathy Zeisel at kzeisel @ nlchp.org (Domestic Violence Program) or Eric Tars at etars @ nlchp.org (Children’s Program).”

Additional Useful websites for immigrant women’s rights information:

National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum
National Latina Institute for Reproductive Health
National Organization for Women

Filed under: Uncategorized, Action Alerts, Atrocities, U.S. Politics, Gender-Based Violence, Children