[JNV Press Release] 12-Year-Old British Muslim Girl Makes Documentary About Iraqi Child Refugees

[Justice Not Vengeance]

PRESS RELEASE
Justice Not Vengeance[1]
12 November 2007

Contact: 0845 458 9571 / 07980 748 555 (JNV)
0845 458 2564 (Voices) or 07910639099 (Sonia)


12-Year-Old Girl Helps Give A Voice to Iraqi Child Refugees

Nobel Peace Prize Nominee Backs Call for Justice for Iraq's Refugees


Thursday 15 November, London: Renowned US peace activist and Nobel
Peace Prize Nominee Kathy Kelly [2], will join representatives from
Amnesty International and the Coalition to Stop Deportations to Iraq
[3], at the premiere of the new film 'Giving a Voice to Iraqi
Children', shot in Jordan this August by 12-year-old British Muslim
peace activist Sonia Azad [4].

The 18-minute film highlights the desperate situation of Iraqi
children driven from their homes by the brutalities of the US-UK
occupation, and the violence it has spawned.

In one section of the film Abeer (15) - a bright, self-possessed
teenager - discovers that she shares with Sonia an admiration for pop
queen Shakira. Then, without turning a hair, Abeer recounts how she
has witnessed and documented bomb blasts on her mobile phone. In a
second section, Noor (16) recounts her story of hardship and
humiliation - forced by circumstances to become the breadwinner of the
family.

Though over 3 million Iraqis have been forced to flee their homes
since the 2003 invasion [5], the two countries most responsible for
this vast humanitarian crisis – the US and Britain – have done almost
nothing to alleviate it [6].

Sonia Azad said: "Iraqi refugee children should be given a voice, they
have the right to speak out!"

To arrange an interview with Sonia please call 07910639099. To arrange
an interview with any of the other speakers please call 0845 458 2564.


ENDNOTES

[1]  Justice Not Vengeance has been campaigning against the "war on
terror" since 2003. See www.j-n-v.org / Voices UK has been campaigning
against UK policy towards Iraq since 1998. First, against the economic
sanctions and US/UK military strikes on Iraq. Now, against war and
occupation. See www.voicesuk.org

[2] Kathy Kelly – nominated for the 2000 Nobel Peace Prize by the
American Friends Service Committee for her work to end the economic
sanctions on Iraq – has recently returned from 4 months living amongst
Iraqi refugees in the Middle East. In 1996 she co-founded Voices in
the Wilderness US, which sent scores of sanctions-breaking delegations
to Iraq during the 90s and early 2000s. She herself has visited Iraq
26 times since 1991, including during the 2003 invasion.

[3] www.csdiraq.com

[4] 7pm, Thursday 15 November, Human Rights Action Centre 17-25 New
Inn Yard London EC2A 3EA (tube: Liverpool Street).

[5] 'Statistics on Displaced Iraqis Around the World', UNHCR, Sept 07,
http://tinyurl.com/24g3ny

[6] Jordan and Syria, host to some 1.7 million Iraqi refugees, have
estimated the financial burden at roughly $1bn / year. In April UNHCR
convened an international conference to try and raise funds, yet in
Sept Jordanian officials told Amnesty International 'that no direct
bilateral assistance had yet been received.' As of 9 October, the UK
had contributed approx £15m to humanitarian agencies operating in Iraq
and the region this year – less than 0.5% of the roughly £5bn it has
spent on military operations in Iraq over the past 5 years.