International Occupation Watch Center
In July 2003, CODEPINK: Women for Peace established the International Occupation Watch Center:
"Given the lack of reliable, up-to-date information about conditions in Iraq under the occupation, and knowing that Iraq will receive increasingly less attention as media sources abandon the country for the newest hot spot, an international coalition of peace and justice groups opposed to the occupation is launching the website www.occupationwatch.org and organizing a Baghdad-based International Occupation Watch Center."
The Center will:
- Monitor the role of foreign companies in Iraq and advocate for the Iraqis' right to control their own resources, especially oil;
- Act as a watchdog regarding the military occupation and U.S.-appointed government, including possible violations of human rights, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly;
- Research the dynamics, programs, and composition of the Iraqi movement to resist occupation in order to provide a more comprehensive picture to the international community;
- Support independent Iraqi organizations, such as media and environmental groups;
- Examine any changes in the rights and freedoms of Iraqi women and support local Iraqi efforts to promote women's rights;
- Monitor the relationship between U.S. corporations/subcontractors and Iraqi workers and support the formation of independent trade unions;
- Track the international community's financial commitments to rebuilding Iraq and hold the responsible parties accountable for those commitments;
- Monitor the physical impact of the U.S. invasion, including civilian casualties, the Iraqis' ability to have access to the basic necessities of food, water and shelter, and the effects of depleted uranium and cluster bombs on the population and the environment;
- Regularly provide reliable information to the outside world.
- Host international delegations coming to Iraq with purposes compatible with the center's mission.
Funding
"This project, with initial funding by the US coalition United for Peace and Justice and set up by CODEPINK is seeking help from the international community to finance, run and disseminate the information from the Center."
Advisory Board (as of June 2003)
- Rev. Patty Ackerman, Fellowship of Reconciliation
- Nadje Al-Ali, Women in Black UK
- Sami AlBanna, writer, systems and knowledge architect
- Fabio Alberti, Bridges to Baghdad
- Rafael Alegria, president, Via Campesina
- Tariq Ali, author
- Sinan Antoon, writer, professor, Dartmouth College
- Raymond Baker, Trinity College
- Joel Beinin, Stanford University
- Walden Bello, Director, Focus on the Global South
- Medea Benjamin, Global Exchange/United for Peace and Justice
- Phyllis Bennis, Institute for Policy Studies
- Gene Bruskin, US Labor Against War
- Leslie Cagan, United for Peace and Justice
- Bernard Cassen, Director, Le Monde Diplomatique
- Nahla Chahal, International Civilian Campaign for the Protection of the Palestinian People
- Munir Chalabi, Iraqi Democrats Against Occupation
- Pratap Chatterjee, CorpWatch
- Andrés Thomas Conteris, Campaign for the Demilitarization of the Americas
- Ozlem Dalkiran, Amnesty International, Turkey
- Jodie Evans, CODEPINK: Women for Peace
- Munir El Kadi
- Haris Gazdar, economist
- Assaf Kfoury, professor, Boston University
- Amal al-Khedairy, Al-Beit Al-Iraqi Cultural Center
- Mark Levine, University of California, Irvine
- Zachary Lockman, New York University
- Rahul Mahajan, author
- Kamil Mahdi, Institute of Arab and Islamic Studies, University of Exeter, England
- Rania Masri, Iraq Action Coalition
- Maria Luisa Mendonça, Organizing Committee, World Social Forum
- Tim Mitchell, New York University
- Martha Mundy, professor, London School of Economics
- Kevin Murray, Grassroots International
- Milan Rai, author, War Plan Iraq
- Adbul Amir Rakaby, Iraqi Democratic Opposition Current
- Jillian Schwedler, University of Maryland
- Omeyya Seddik, Commission for an Arab Gathering of Global Resistance (C-RARG)
- May Seikaly, Wayne State University
- Anas Shallal, Iraqi Americans for Peaceful Alternatives USA
- Samer Shehata, Georgetown University
- Sandy Sufia, University of Illinois Chicago Medical School
- Ninagawa Yoshiaki, ZENKO National Assembly for Peace and Democracy
- Omar Ziada, United Nations Development Program/United Nations (UNDP)
Contact
"To reach the Occupation Watch Center staff in Baghdad, email nermeen@occupationwatch.org or eman@occupationwatch.org. To reach us in the United States or for website ideas and comments, email info@occupationwatch.org or call Andrea Buffa at Global Exchange, (415) 255-7296 x263."
URL: http://www.occupationwatch.org/
