[Congressional Record Volume 155, Number 89 (Monday, June 15, 2009)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E1406-E1407]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               IN SOLIDARITY WITH THE FARCHANA MANIFESTO

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. MICHAEL E. CAPUANO

                            of massachusetts

                    in the house of representatives

                         Monday, June 15, 2009

  Mr. CAPUANO. Madam Speaker, I rise to pay tribute to the courageous 
women of Darfur, refugees in the Farchana Camp in Chad, who issued 
their Farchana Manifesto one year ago this month. I honor also the 
efforts of Physicians for Human Rights who have worked to treat and 
comfort survivors of the Darfur genocide and support them in their 
struggles for human rights and personal dignity. No advocate, however, 
could speak more powerfully of their plight than the women themselves. 
The Manifesto has been translated into English and French from the 
hand-written Arabic original, posted in the Farchana Camp on June 10, 
2008.

       We, the women of Farchana Camp, have many concerns and 
     problems with the lack of freedom and having the opportunity 
     to speak about freedom.
       We can assign these problems to a number of items, 
     including the following:
       1. Lack of opportunity for freedom of speech, and no one to 
     listen to what women say.
       2. Lack of freedom to go to work or engage in life's 
     activities. If a woman is working in some occupations, 
     responsibility is left to the woman alone in all cases, such 
     as: illness, home activities, and responsibility for

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     the children. While the man does what he wants with money, 
     the responsibility is left to the woman.
       3. Lack of women's equality. One man, if he has the notion, 
     can have one wife or two or more wives.
       4. Lack of freedom for women even with their own private 
     property; for example: money, gold, household pots and pans, 
     and livestock.
       5. Women are not allowed to make contact with people 
     outside the community. For example: visiting neighbors, 
     family, and friends. And women are not allowed [illegible] to 
     travel far, and if he allows her, he does not give her money, 
     and he tells her, ``This trip is of your own accord.''
       6. Lack of acceptance of higher education and universities 
     to enable women to get ahead.
       7. Failure to encourage girls in the schools and leaving 
     the responsibility to the mothers.
       8. Failure of fathers to take responsibility for girls. If 
     something happens, the mother is blamed, and they make her 
     hear harsh words from the family, and sometimes divorce even 
     takes place.
       9. Outside chores, such as: [illegible], provisions, 
     construction, and feeding livestock--that is, all physical 
     demands--are the responsibility of the woman.
       10. Failure to show confidence in women, such as leaving 
     the house without the man's knowledge and he tells her, ``You 
     went out to commit adultery.''
       11. Failure to value the life of the woman. They only value 
     her in bed. They like a lot of births, but they do not like 
     raising sons and children.
       12. Early marriage for girls and compulsory marriage 
     without consent.
       13. In the case of meetings, women do not have the freedom 
     to speak at organizations; only men's statements are heard.
       14. Women do not know how to submit their complaints--the 
     place and the organization that is concerned about them.
       Thank you. We hope to achieve freedom for women in the 
     whole world.

  More than sixty years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration 
of Human Rights, the women of the Farchana Camp challenge us to realize 
its long-promulgated ideals.

                          ____________________