Independent researcher. Direct work at grassroots level. Awareness. Make justice available to TIP victims. Advocating again
Location
I have worked at grassroots level, performing research, monitoring TIP cases, reaching out to TIP victims, promoting awareness and advocating a really direct and strong way to address TIP with prevention, prosecution and protection.
About You
Location
Project Street Address
Project City
Project Province/State
Project Postal/Zip Code
Project Country
Your idea
Sector Focus
Civil society
Year the initative began (yyyy)
2000
YouTube Upload
Web site (url)
Positioning of your initiative on the mosaic diagram
Which of these barriers is the primary focus of your work?
Inadequate govt response/action
Which of the principles is the primary focus of your work?
Expand legal access and frameworks
If you believe some other barrier or principle should be included in the mosaic, please describe it and how it would affect the positioning of your initiative in the mosaic
After working trafficking issues in Argentina , I am really overwhelmed to see a high level of trafficking of influences and corruption among institutions, governments and NGOs “working” trafficking issues.
I believe it is unsound public policy to create and support a monopoly of NGOs, that respond to unclear agendas of governments and other institutions that are supposedly working to fight TIP. In my opinion, the USDOS condones the practice of letting people be part of this monopoly of NGOs, or “heroes”, in the fight against trafficking as long as they are quiet and follow a path that does not address the issue in a honest and realistic way. The USDOS should not be allowed to influence its partners with an invitation to a Conference. The United States has done much to solve the problem of trafficking worldwide. However, the USDOS cannot continue working in a counterproductive fashion, where organized crime is covered up and serious violations of human rights are ignored.
Name Your Project
Independent researcher. Direct work at grassroots level. Awareness. Make justice available to TIP victims. Advocating again
Describe Your Idea
I have worked at grassroots level, performing research, monitoring TIP cases, reaching out to TIP victims, promoting awareness and advocating a really direct and strong way to address TIP with prevention, prosecution and protection.
Innovation
What is your signature innovation, your new idea, in one sentence?
I have worked at grassroots level, performing research, monitoring TIP cases, reaching out to TIP victims, promoting awareness and advocating a really direct and strong way to address TIP with prevention, prosecution and protection.
Describe your innovation. What makes your idea unique and different than others doing work in the field?
In 2000, I concluded that the IOM office in Argentina, having a mandate to work TIP, was not working on TIP issues and did not want to tackle the general issue of TIP victims from the Dominican Republic . After I tried for over a year and they kept denying their mandate, I contacted their representative in the Dominican Republic directly. I acted aggressively and boldly, sending e-mails and calling to their offices in Geneva and Washington, as well as to the US State Department and other institutions and individuals. I have tried to raise awareness by working directly with journalists since 2000.
My approach to dealing with the inaction on the part of Governments, IOM and other NGO’s is to work with the victims directly, to expose the harsh and inhumane treatment, while at the same time, keeping their identity secret. I report the distortion of “facts” published by governmental agencies, NGO’s and others that purport accomplishments that cannot be supported by on-site assessments. My work continues to focus on TIP victims and migrants that return to the Dominican Republic , monitoring their cases and reporting abuses and inactions to institutions, NGOs, to the IOM authorities and the news media when necessary.
In April 2002, a scandal was reported by the news media, broke up in the Dominican Republic regarding TIP victims from the DR in Argentina, TIP was still hidden, underreported or not at all reported for many years in Argentina even though Argentina shows strong evidence of TIP for sexual and labor exploitation mainly of foreign nationals.
Delivery Model: How do you implement your innovation and apply it to the challenge/problem you are addressing?
I have worked directly with TIP victims and migrants from the Dominican Republic in Argentina. The result of my work has been broadly covered and well documented by the press. I approached different institutions, influential individuals and friends by sending press articles published in Argentina and the Dominican Republic regarding trafficking and smuggling in general. I contribute with press articles and comments to LibertadLatina.org . I was an active collaborator on the “NOSETRATA list”, opened by Bruce Harris in 2003, after the Pathbreaking Conference in Washington, DC. until my participation was abruptly canceled with no explanation in late 2004.
How do you plan to grow your innovation?
I will keep doing my investigative work. If growth is possible, I would want to see a strong independent “watchdog” organization formed to monitor how institutions and NGOs work TIP issues worldwide. I believe accountability for violations of human rights committed by, or attributable to, international organizations and their staff working TIP is urgently needed.
I hope to inspire other independent individuals like myself, to work at a hands-on, grassroots level, and emphasise the importance of direct contact with independent press, institutions, NGOs and individuals in order to keep drawing attention to the cause and denounce corruption in order to help real TIP victims. The use of the Internet has been a great weapon in order to distribute and collect information.
Involving and informing genuinely concerned and honest people and TIP victims is the only practical solution to sustaining progress in this area. Every person working seriously on TIP issues worldwide has to act. In the US specially, people need to push their Congressional Representatives into action to ask for stronger monitoring of NGOs, International Organizations and officials at the State Department into carrying out their specific duties. Misleading information and inaction on the part of those in positions of authority is the biggest stumbling block in my efforts to improve prevention, prosecution and protection of TIP.
Do you have any existing partnerships, and if so, how do you create them?
No, I do not have any existing partnerships. I strongly disagree what the USDOS has done and is proposing to do in Argentina and the Dominican Republic with respect to the TIP issue.
Impact
Provide one sentence describing your impact/intended impact.
My work forced institutions like IOM and the USDOS to work on TIP issues in Argentina and to pay attention to the trafficking of Dominican women to Argentina. Through my efforts, these organizations can no longer deny or ignore the existence of TIP.
What are the main barriers to creating or achieving your impact?
Bureaucracy, complacency and complicity of institutions working on TIP issues are the major barriers to reaching TIP victims with prevention, protection and prosecution of traffickers. It saddens me to witness some individuals and NGOs, working to correct human trafficking, showing complacency and dishonesty in their jobs. I would like to see organizations more closely monitored. I feel that this is the only way we can move forward on this issue.
How many people have you served or plan to serve?
It is difficult for me to estimate how many people I have served. I have tried to reach and help TIP victims, prostitutes and migrants (women, children and men) from my country, that are ignored and in a really difficult situation in Argentina and with serious violations of their human rights.
Directly
I have worked and helped 25 to 30 cases involving women from the Dominican Republic returned to their home country under the “return program” opened by IOM in May 2002. Most of the women were TIP victims; some returned with children. Many other cases were rejected by IOM and I was not allowed to sign the cases that I worked on and submitted to them.
I have worked other cases like this one reported by the press in the Dominican Republic,
Dominicanas atrapadas en red de prostitución en Argentina – 4.18.2006
El sábado 8 de abril pasado, una mujer dominicana ferozmente golpeada, fue dejada por muerta en un hotel alojamiento de la ciudad de Buenos Aires.
http://www.clavedigital.com/FIRMAS/Articulo.asp?Id_Articulo=7022
I was monitoring this case in Argentina.
Allanan un prostíbulo donde esclavizaban a dominicanas – 2.15.2007
http://www.telam.com.ar/notaprn.php?id=131610&tipo=N
This is the last case I worked on in Argentina . I am please, because a big part of the work I did it from Germany . It took a long time, but the children are back home and the Dominican Government had to react in some way.
Una abuela narra el drama de sus nietos varados en Argentina – 4.1.2008
http://www3.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=10746
Regresan mañana niños de Argentina – 4.3.2008
http://www3.diariolibre.com/noticias_det.php?id=11033
Indirectly
The beneficiaries are all victims of human trafficking: migrants, women working as prostitutes and the society in general, as long as we become aware of the real issue and as long as governments, international organizations and civil society work TIP issues seriously.
Please list any other measures of the impact of your innovation?
-The USDOS moved into action, presuring the Dominican Republic and Argentina to work the issue with some good measures in one hand and really unclear measures in the other.
-The local OIM office in Buenos Aires opened a program in May 2002 to return TIP victims to the Dominican Republic. A certain number of victims that I worked with went back home under that progam.
-I made sure that the office IOM in Buenos Aires contacted two groups of nuns who were working directly with women in prostitution and had knowledge of certain cases of TIP victims from the Dominican Republic.
--The US State Department finally has Argentina in its trafficking report since 2004, thanks to the hard work and commitment of a foreign service official who monitored the TIP issue. I am deeply grateful to this official.
Is there a policy intervention element to your innovation?
My innovation is in part responsible of the passage of the TIP legislation in the Dominican Republic in 2003 and in Argentina in April 2008 and other measures that were taken.
Exactly who are the beneficiaries of your innovation?
The beneficiaries are the women and children that were able to go back home and some NGOs that are able to be funded and make some money “working” with victims of human trafficking. I think society is a beneficiary too, they get to see the other side of fighting TIP.
This Entry is about (Issues)
Sustainability
How is your initiative financed (or how do you expect your initiative will be financed)?
I do not receive any external funding for my initiative.
If known, provide information on your finances and organization
I work alone, without funding, with voluntary help from Dominican TIP victims and underprivileged migrants, women mainly working as prostitutes. They are the best sources of information.
What is the potential demand for your innovation?
Human Trafficking is on the rise, in many occasions TIP victims do not find help easily. I believe there is a lot of work to do on prevention and there are many trafficking victims to be reached and help.
What are the main barriers to financial sustainability?
Lack of funding is not a barrier to my continued efforts. I work primarily with a network of volunteers sharing the same goals.
The Story
What is the origin of this innovation? Tell us your story.
By 1994, I was made aware of Dominican women coming into Argentina to work in the sex industry. In 1995-1996 I had an acquaintance at the Dominican Embassy in Buenos Aires. During that period, rumors were going on around about women being brought into Argentina to work as prostitutes and the lack of interest from the Dominican consulate to help women that were approaching them to ask for help. At the end of 1997 Argentineans newspapers, TV and radio were reporting on bad cases of trafficking of Dominican women and organized crime. In 1998 I started contacting, on a part time basis and sporadically, women from the Dominican Republic that were working on the streets of Buenos Aires as prostitutes. By this time, I heard of a woman named Máxima Pérez Mato. They were allegations that she was trafficking Dominican women into Argentina . She was well connected to the Dominican Embassy and some institutions in Argentina. Over time, my research became more intense. I was planning to work the issue as a thesis for a Master’s program at FLACSO.
In September 2001, I formed and worked with a group of 15 Dominicans that had been trafficked by the same person. Eight of them filed a complaint in an Argentine court in January 2002. As a result of this, some attention was brought to the issue.
In mid April 2002 the Dominican goverment, with the complicity of other institutions, tried to cover up the TIP issue of the Dominican mission in Argentina by passing it off as a simple issue of economic migrants wanting to return home after the economic crisis of 2001. The Dominican press was misinformed. They released an article stating that Dominican imigrants suffering due to the crisis would be repatriated. I reacted by sending an open letter to a Dominican Congressman. This letter resulted in a scandal that was broadly covered by both the Dominican and the International press, further forcing institutions to focus on the issue.
Please provide a personal bio. Note this may be used in Changemakers marketing material
I was born in the Dominican Republic. I received my law degree from the University Pedro Henríquez Ureña (UNPHU) in Santo Domingo , an LL.M. degree from the Washington College of Law at American University in Washington, DC and I have completed the two years program of a Master’s Program in International Relations at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales (FLACSO) in Buenos Aires.
I lived in Argentina from 1992 to 2007. During my time in Argentina I started to work TIP issues with Dominican migrants and victims of TIP.
I was a founding member of the Send a Child to School (SACS) program and have served on its Committee until March 2007. The SACS program has provided this school year, school supplies to close to a 1000 children in Argentina. http://www.bainnewcomers.com/sacs.html
Emphasis of Work
I have tried my best to expose the problem of trafficking of Dominican women into Argentina. I have tried to work on prevention measures, informing and talking to many different people and, most importantly, to people that could be victims of TIP. I think prosecution is really important to address the issue in an effective way. Human trafficking victims talk about their experiences and give information about their traffickers, but it is hard when institutions and NGOs cover up organized crime and bad cases of trafficking. It is easier for them to say that human trafficking victims are afraid and to not listen to them or not assisting them to reach justice. I have tried to protect, as best I could, the TIP victims that I was working with. I cannot do much when IOM or COIN, the leading NGO working TIP in the Dominican Republic, publish the pictures and names of victims in major newspapers in the Dominican Republic or overseas without seeking the victim’s permission.
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| Karnofsky E Ticket 282200.JPG | 300.94 KB |
| Máxima Pérez Mi vida 21082001.JPG | 216.32 KB |
| Gil Fior Vinculan 260302.JPG | 70.23 KB |
| Soldevila, MI Fiscal 100502.JPG | 57.97 KB |
| Soldevila M Criolla 50102.JPG | 88.13 KB |
| DR1 Prostitution 26.06.08.JPG | 72.84 KB |
| Artículos de prensa TIP DR.doc | 76 KB |
| Oehrlein, Josef 151002.JPG | 61.2 KB |
| Recortes de diarios Arg.JPG | 75.36 KB |
| Argentina 1997 2007.JPG | 86.4 KB |
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Comments
Dear Carla;
I can certainly understand your frustration when you feel as though organizations that are mandated to work of TIP issues are not doing enough. I often feel as though there is never enough time, money, political commitment and resources to fight human trafficking. I commend your initiative to stand up for what you believe in and fight for the rights of others. I wonder of you could explain a bit more the specific objectives of your work. For example, are you doing direct service provision, or is work more advocacy oriented, and if so are you advocating for increased accountability among NGOs and their work or is it more survivor focused? I am interested to hear more.
Laura Cardinal
Public Health and Human Trafficking Specialist
Dear Laura,
Thanks for your interest.
In a small - scale I do direct service provision. I have helped TIP victims and migrants directly with Legal/immigration assistance, helping them to file a complain or accompany them to some institutions or to do some immigration paperwork. I have provided addresses of institutions where TIP victims and other migrants can go and look for help in order to get legal and immigration assistance, medical care, crisis counselling or job training
I have paid for room and board and transportation in some cases within the City of Buenos Aires and within Argentina when the IOM office was interviewing the victims that I worked with. Sometimes I have paid for the transportation to the airport and from the airport for TIP victims returned under the IOM program. At the beginning of the return program, IOM was just paying for the flight.
I have assisted couple of cases of women in hospitals. I am paying for the education of a TIP victim returned under the IOM program to the Dominican Republic. I was back in the Dominican Republic last March and got a job for a TIP victim that was not properly assisted by an NGO.
Nowadays I am doing more advocacy work. I have been advocating for increased accountability among NGOs and other institutions and their work in order to have TIP victims assisted or properly assisted.
Carla Conde - Freudendorff
Hello Carla,
This is Chuck Goolsby, founder of LibertadLatina.org.
I want to thank you publicly for your persistent efforts, as an individual working at the grass roots level, to communicate to the world community of activists in regard to the trafficking of women from the Dominican Republic into Argentina. At LibertadLatina.org, your contribution of articles and analysis has given visibility into the complex world of this trafficking crisis, and the politics that surrounds action and inaction on the part of the Argentine and Dominican governments.
We know that the Dominican Republic has the highest number of women and girls sex trafficked from Latin American nations into foriegn countries. According to a 2002 report from the EFE news service, 50,000 Dominican women are prostitutes overseas. See:
http://www.libertadlatina.org/LA_Dominican_Republic_11012002_Report.htm
Questions:
* Why is the level of sex trafficking so high in the DR (Dominican Republic)?
* What is the reason why so many Dominican women are trafficked to Argentina?
* What can grass roots activists do to help in your work?
Thank you.
Best regards,
- Chuck Goolsby
LibertadLatina.org
Hi Chuck,
It is very nice to see LibertadLatina.org in this competition.
Thanks to you for having LibertadLatina.org You have done a great job. I will try to answer your questions.
* Why is the level of sex trafficking so high in the DR (Dominican Republic)?
I believe it has to do with poverty to extreme poverty, lack of employment opportunities, lack of education, social discrimination and marginalization, domestic violence,
organized crime at different levels, high level of corruption in government and other institutions, lack of or insufficient penalties against traffickers, many institution not willing to do their job, high demand to supply the sex industry in certain part of the world and profitability.
* What is the reason why so many Dominican women are trafficked to Argentina? Dominican citizens do not need a visa to go to Argentina. The sex industry in Argentina is supplied with Dominican and Paraguayan women and girls. Argentina is used by organized crime and organized criminal gangs as destination and transit of Dominican women to Europe to supply the sex industry too and as drugs mules. This is not new.
* What can grass roots activists do to help in your work?
I believe that grassroots activists working seriously need to stay together, need to share information, need to be honest and direct.
Muchos saludos,
Carla Conde - Freudendorff
Hi Carla,
You mention that you strongly disagree with what the USDOS has done and is proposing to do in Argentina and the DR with respect to the TIP issue. I am not aware of what is going on. What exactly have they done and what are they proposing to do?
Thank you
Dana
Hi Dana,
Thank for your question. I am ready to answer your questions and I will answer the questions in Spanish. I would like to share them with the other participants from Argentina. It would be be interesting to have some feedback.
Pregunta: Qué han hecho exactamente? Han actuado con complacencia, han escondido información al Congreso – no informando sobre casos conocidos, donde es clara la presencia del crimen organizado. Han ayudado a desviar en parte la realidad de la trata de personas en Argentina.
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A pesar de que países como la República Dominicana y la Argentina, están hoy “trabajando” en menor o mayor medida temas de trata de personas por las presiones que ha hecho el Departamento de Estado de los Estados Unidos. En realidad lo que se observa, es como el Departamento de Estado ha ignorado, ha ayudado a esconder y ha desviado casos muy serios de trata de personas, donde es clara la presencia del crimen organizado.
Por ejemplo, Argentina es un país con un problema de trata de personas de larga data. Esto puede observarse en el caso de la Zwi Migdal, se ha publicado bastante sobre el tema. Ver.
°Donna Guy, El sexo peligroso, La prostitución legal en Buenos Aires, 1875-1955 (1994).
°A Comienzo de siglo, las víctimas eran Europeas. El negocio en tiempos del tango
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/1999/99-04/99-04-18/pag03.htm
En Argentina, en los años ’90 la prensa y otros medios de comunicación informaban sobre casos serios de trata de mujeres dominicanas y paraguayas para fines de explotación sexual, casos de bolivianos encerrados en fabricas textiles, de niños rumanos mendigando en las calles y también se podían observar ciudadanos senegaleses vendiendo “joyas de oro” / baratijas en la calle, casos que podrían ser de trata, en éste último caso, pero siempre se informó que eran refugiados y con los rumanos alguna agencia gubernamental determinó que no era una mafia. ¿?
°CIUDADANOS DE RUMANIA Y MONTENEGRO, MUJERES SOLAS, MUCHOS CHICOS
Una radiografía de los que piden
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/2001/01-03/01-03-10/pag19.htm
Cont. ...
Continuación 1 ...
En enero del 1999 Argentina y los Estados Unidos propusieron lo que hoy se conoce como “Protocolo de las Naciones Unidas para Prevenir, Reprimir y Sancionar la trata personas, especialmente mujeres y niños”, que complementa la Convención de las Naciones Unidas contra la Delincuencia Organizada Transnacional. www.uncjin.org/Documents/Conventions/dcatoc/2session/4a3r1s.pdf . Es posible que Argentina haya sido parte de esta iniciativa, por alguna presión que le hayan hecho los Estados Unidos.
A pesar de todas estas informaciones e iniciativa. Solamente se observó el trabajo en soledad de la prensa, de algún que otro juez que trataba de hacer su trabajo como la Dra. Irma Lima, el Juez Pedro Federico Hooft, el fiscal Campagnoli que trató de una u otra manera de impulsar una causa muy conocida sobre redes de prostitución y donde habían víctimas dominicanas.
°El didícil trabajo de investigar el negocio de la prostitución.
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2002/04/14/s-05001.htm
°Procesaron a nueve personas por explotar una red de prostitución
http://www.clarin.com/diario/1999/01/13/e-03401d.htm
°Policias en la mira por un caso de protección a prostíbulos.
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2000/07/13/s-04901.htm
Con respecto al trabajo del Departamento de Estado en Argentina, se observa que en los informes que deben presentarse al Congreso anualmente apenás contenían información sobre el tema de la trata de personas y no se informaba, ni se informa sobre casos muy serios, donde habían policias federales involucrados y procesados. Esto puede observarse en los informes de Derechos Humanos o en el informe sobre Trata de personas, que incluye a la Argentina recién en el 2004.
El Departamento de Estado ha tendido a callar y minimizar la trata de mujeres dominicanas a la Argentina y otros problemas relacionados con ello, como es el uso de migrantes en el transporte de drogas y posiblemente en operaciones de lavado de activos.
En Argentina, casos conocidos como el del ciudadano dominicano Nemen Nader, no se han investigado y han tendido a esconderse.
° UNA LINEA AEREA EN LA QUE LAS ACCIONISTAS ERAN PROSTITUTAS
La compañía de Nader y sus chicas.
http://www.pagina12.com.ar/diario/sociedad/3-5783-2002-06-01.html
En estos informes no se menciona el conocido caso del ex –agente de la SIDE Raúl Martíns.
° INVESTIGAN REDES DE PROSTITUCION DE ALTO NIVEL
Acusan de proteger prostíbulos a dos inspectores municipales
http://www.clarin.com/diario/1998/12/31/e-04401d.htm
°ESCANDALO EN MEXICO: UN CASO CON TRAICIONES COMERCIALES, SEXO Y VIDEOS EXTORSIVOS
¿Un ex espía argentino maneja el negocio del sexo en Cancún?
http://www.clarin.com/diario/2004/05/24/policiales/g-03615.htm
°Las andanzas de un proxeneta
http://www.quintanaroo.contralinea.com.mx/archivo/2007/febrero/htm/andan...
Cont.
Continuación 2 ...
El tema de la trata de personas, comienza a instalarse en la Argentina entre el 2002 y el 2003 con el trabajo de denuncia que se ha venido realizando a raíz de la trata de mujeres dominicanas con fines de explotación sexual y la protección que ha dado el consulado dominicano en Argentina a personas vínculadas a redes de prostitución. A partir de marzo/ abril del 2003 se comienza a observar cierto movimiento con el tema de la trata de personas en el Ministerio de Relaciones Exteriores argentino y se comienzan a organizar algunas ONGs alrededor del tema. También se comienza a desviar el tema de la trata de mujeres dominicanas.
Con la ayuda de una serie de ONGs y los informes publicados por la OIM se ha informado falsamente que la trata de mujeres dominicanas a la Argentina, es un tema del pasado y un tema de migración ecónomica más que nada y han tendido a pasar los casos como simple prostitución. La OIM en los informes publicados sobre la trata de personas en Argentina, no informa sobre mafias y casos muy conocidos. Con los casos de trata laboral, apenás los menciona en su último informe y lo presenta como un fenómeno reciente. No se ha hecho un estudio comparativo para determinar, sí la trata interna es mayorítaria o no.
El Departamento de Estado, junto a una conocida ONG norteamericana apoyó la información no fehaciente facilitada por una ONG en la Argentina. De la misma forma ha tendido a apoyar a una de las ONGs en la República Dominicana, a pesar que se le ha informado que esta ONG, no está haciendo el trabajo que informa realizar.
El Departamento de Estado, ha dado un apoyo incondicional a la OIM, a algún sector del gobierno argentino y a algunas ONGs, que han tratado de concentrar el tema de la trata de personas en Argentina en trata interna, casi en su totalidad. La figura utilizada es la desaparición de mujeres por redes de prostitución, algunos de los casos utilizados, las víctimas han aparecido muertas por causas ajenas a las redes de prostitución, según las informaciones de la prensa. El caso Marita Verón, es el caso que se ha tomado como caso testigo, pero es un caso lleno de contradicciones, no es claro sí hay un secuestro o no, a la prensa se le facilita con cierta regularidad información no veráz y contradictoria.
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Pregunta: What are they proposing to do? Todo parece indicar, que continuarán con una actitud complaciente con la República Dominicana y la Argentina, ignorando casos como el de Raúl Martins Coggiola, Nemen Nader, Máxima Pérez Matos, Chana Santana, Comisario Roberto Rosas, Luz María Rosa, Pilar de las Mercedes Peralta Zamora, Gloria Patria Cruz (asesinada), etc.
Los cambios en la actitud del Departamento de Estado, van a llegar a medida que instituciones y ONGs comprometidas verdadaderamente en la lucha contra la trata de personas en los Estados Unidos presionen por un cambio de actitud.
Debe señalarse que se ha observado cierta sensatez en la sección sobre Argentina en el “Informe sobre Trata de Personas del 2008” y la con la visita reciente del Embajador Lagon a la Argentina.
Saludos,
Carla Conde - Freudendorff
Hello Carla
Thank you for sharing your activities with us on changemakers! Have you looked at the work of your CMcolleagues - Portable Justice. They are looking at different geographical areas but seem to share the same passion for helping people receive proper treatment upon their return to the home country.
On another note, what would you say are the advantages of being an individual working in this field as compared to a larger NGO? What do you see as the disadvantages? What can you do better? I ask this becuase we often rush to create institutions around good ideas but that in the end hinders rather than helps the work.
I look forward to hearing more of your thoughts on this.
All the best from Berlin
Heather Cameron
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Heather Cameron
Professor
Free University Berlin
University Challenge
Hi Heather,
Thanks for your information and your questions. I am not familiar with the work of Portable Justice. Do they have a website? I was not able to find it.
My answers to your questions:
° What would you say are the advantages of being an individual working in this field as compared to a larger NGO?
Sometimes, I do not feel that I am working alone. I have had help from other individuals, but it is not easy to work TIP issues without the support of an organization or institution. The advantage of being an individual is independence. I think I have being able to keep working TIP issues, because the use of INTERNET. I believe there are many advantages working this field as a larger NGO.
° What do you see as the disadvantages? I think institutions and other NGOs sometimes do not take seriously the work of an individual.
° What can you do better? If an NGO is working well, an individual can not do a better job. I believe team work is very important.
Best Regards,
Carla Conde - Freudendorff