Link TV - What You Can Do!

Women and HIV/AIDS

Watch a live webcast hosted by the Kaiser Family Foundation, on Tuesday November 30th, 4pm Eastern/1 pm Pacific, as Peter Piot, Executive Director of UNAIDS, discusses this year's World AIDS Day theme: "Women, Girls and HIV and AIDS" and answers questions from viewers. Call toll-free with your questions during the web cast only: 1-888-KAISER8 (524-7378) or e-mail before and during the show: [email protected]. (For technical support please check the web site prior to the web cast.)

Link here to the Global Coalition on Women and AIDS, for information, resources and links.

Watch: Hidden Crisis: Women and AIDS in America and Sister's Keeper: What Every Black Woman Should Know About AIDS, on Link TV.

Darfur Still Needs Your Help


		Our partner, Human Rights Watch, is all over the world and constantly on the lookout for human rights abuses that might otherwise be covered up or overlooked. If there is one thing you can do right now, they say, it's to take action on the ongoing abuses in the Darfur region of Sudan. You can make a difference. Watch a news report from Deutsche Welle, our German news partner or check out a recent webcast from a refugee camp on the Chad/Sudan border.

Afghanistan is Still the Issue

Our partner, Human Rights Watch, reports on the current situation in Afghanistan.

Their Asia Researcher, Nisha Varia, is just back from a month in Afghanistan, and has these suggested actions for anyone concerned and interested in helping women assert their rights and maintain personal safety for themselves and their families:

- Write a letter to your Senators and Member of Congress, and request that they

co-sponsor and vote for the Afghan Women Security and Freedom Act (S2032 in the Senate, HR 4117 in the House of Representatives), which would authorize $300 million per year to support Afghan women's rights initiatives
support and strengthen peacekeeping and disarmament measures. The U.S. must coordinate more fully with NATO allies; they have remained isolated from other international security and reconstruction efforts. Afghan women cite security and "men with guns" as one of the biggest problems blocking their participation in society

- Donate money to local Afghan women's rights organizations or other humanitarian organizations that are supporting Afghan women's rights.

- Continue to educate yourself and others about the true realities on the ground facing Afghan women. There is a myth that Afghan women have become totally liberated since the fall of the Taliban, and for these women to get the international support they desperately need, there needs to be greater awareness about their continuing struggles. Viewers could try to make it an issue, for example, in the last month leading up to the elections, through letters to the editor, classroom discussions, etc.

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Don't miss Deutsche Welle's recent In Focus report on the realities of life in Afghanistan today. It focuses on some of the regions outside Kabul where local leaders and long-standing traditions come head to head with American troops and international politics. A Minefield They Call Afghanistan airs on Link TV soon. Watch a preview clip now.

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There are a number of groups working with women on the ground in Afghanistan.

HAWCA, a humanitarian aid organization founded by Afghan youth in Pakistan in 1999, is one of these groups.

The U.S.-based Women for Women International has programs in Afghanistan that need support, and you can also sponsor and correspond with a woman there. They have a list of�suggestions for�activities you can do to raise awareness in your comunity.

The Revolutionary Association for Women in Afghanistan (RAWA) is the oldest political organization fighting for women's rights and against fundamentalism in that country. They have been featured on Link TV shows such as Silent Scream and Afghan Women: Eyes on the Future.)