“Many people speak of freedom. But what is freedom for Papuans? Freedom is when people are educated, when people are free from poverty and sufferings. That is freedom in our language.” Yosepha Alomang (born 1950) is a true human rights defender who fights for the right of indigenous peoples to reclaim the titles of their […]
It is uplifting to see that people are starting to become aware of violence against women. The women no longer feel they deserve it, and they now know what to do.” As a student, Lily Djenaan (born 1966) was a volunteer at a legal aid organization, but she began her professional life as a journalist […]
“The poverty and long suffering of farmers and indigenous peoples that I have seen has planted in me the principle that justice must be fought for them.” Dewi Rana Amir (born 1973) is a trained legal advisor from Central Sulawesi, Indonesia. She chairs the legal aid organization, YBH Bantaya, in Palu, the capital of Central […]
“I strongly believe that peace lives in the mind of every human being.” Since the violence in Maluku erupted in 1998, Hilda Rolobessy (born 1972) has been actively involved in providing assistance to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). In 1999, she founded Yayasan Pengembangan dan Pemberdayaan Masyarakat (YPPM), the Development and Improvement for Society Association, which […]
“The most difficult aspect of my work is determining the Commission’s position, so that it does not perform work that is already being successfully carried out by other women’s groups.” Kamala Chandrakirana (born 1960) became involved in the womens movement when she joined a volunteer group established to respond to the May 1998 riots. That […]
“Women tend to resolve problems deriving from conflict differently from men. Men focus on political negotiations while women focus on how to maintain life and how to survive.” Farha Ciciek (born 1963), an advocate of womens rights in Islam, is one of Indonesias leading facilitators and trainers on gender and Islam. She works for Pesantren, […]
“I just want to see a civil society that works in Indonesia, where people are aware of their rights and are capable of defending themselves whenever their rights are violated.” Ade Rostina Sitompul (born 1938) has defended Indonesians who are victims of state-inflicted violence, from political prisoners and their families in 1965 to East Timorese […]
“Our dream is simple: that children can read and write. That is all I can do for them.” Hermawati (born 1956) is a volunteer teacher in the tiny island Pulau Burung off South Kalimantan, Indonesia. This 49-year-old mother of three children has been providing free schooling for the islands poor children for 15 years, despite […]
“I learned that women have their own way of avoiding war and creating peace.” Samsidar (born 1965) was trained as an agricultural engineer specializing in plant diseases. On assignment at a peoples coffee plantation development project in Central Aceh in 1991, she saw that the farmers did not have the means to process their own […]
“Conflicts and wars are awful because they disable more and more people in every sense of the word.” Ratna Indraswari Ibrahim (born 1960) lives in East Java, Indonesia. At the age of 13, she was stricken with polio and other orthopedic diseases that permanently hindered the functions of her arms and legs. Her family encouraged […]
