Binalakshmi Nepram To Attend Largest Women’s Rights Forum in Brazil

Imphal & New Delhi, September 04, 2016 :  Manipur born, Ms
Binalakshmi Nepram has been selected amongst few in world to attend the
13th International Forum on Women’s Rights and Development to be held in
Brazil this week.

The forum is being convened by Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) from 8 to 11 September, 2016
in Costa do Sauípe in the State of Bahia, Brazil. AWID is an
international membership organisation with thousands of individuals and
institutional members in over 100 countries working towards gender
equality worldwide. The AWID Forum is the largest on women’s rights in
the world outside the United Nations and hosts 1,800-2,000 participants.

Ms
Nepram will be attending the 13th international forum on women’s rights
and development, “Feminist Futures: Building Collective Power for
Rights and Justice”. Around 2,000 participants from a broad diversity of
movements and sectors are expected to gather and to collectively
strategize for feminist futures: from women’s rights and feminist
movement to peace, economic justice, environmental, and human rights
movements, among others. The goals of the 2016 forum include celebrating
the gains of the past 20 years, analyzing the lessons learned and
exploring strategies for mobilizing greater solidarity and collective
power.

Ms Nepram is scheduled to speak on the theme of the
current issue of women’s movement in Manipur and Northeast region of
India, home to 272 beautiful indigenous communities belonging to 45
million people. She will highlight the extraordinary movement against
weaponisation and militarisation of  which is happening and the movement
to end gun and sexual violence in violence affected region of Northeast
Region.

In a statement issued from Brazil on her selection for
participation at the prestigious AWID Global Forum, Ms Nepram states,
“We are living in times of violence not just in Manipur, Northeast India
but in entire world. This has huge humanitarian consequences especially
on the lives of women and children. Having grown up in Manipur, we have
seen how violence destroys lives, communities, and our future. This
must end. All efforts must be made to ensure feminist movements have in
their core to end weaponisation of our lives and ensure that we have
good governance to ensure our collective peace in our hearts, homes,
communities and world”.

Recently Ms Nepram & her team
successfully convened 2nd Northeast India Women Peace Congregation that
brought together over several women leaders from all across 8 states of
Northeast India.

At the AWID Global Forum, Ms Nepram also will be
making a clarion call to address issues collectively including current
demands of demilitarizing India’s Northeast region, repeal of Armed
Forces Special Powers Act 1958, ending sexual violence in conflict,
protection of women human rights defenders in India’s Northeast, ending
racial and gender discrimination and protection of indigenous people’s
lands and rights.

In the words of Ms Nepram, “Efforts made by
feminist movements will lead to deepening democracy, ensure prevalence
of rule of law and address issues in an inclusive and just manner and
advocate and fight for collective rights and justice which is missing in
today’s world”

Ms Nepram will also be holding many bilateral and
multi-lateral meetings with women leaders while in South America and is
due to speak at a session on efforts made on women in the field of
peace building and disarmament convened by Women’s International League
for Peace and Freedom.

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