Dear Friends,

We invite you to the release of the report of the International Initiative for Justice (IIJ), titled "Threatened Existence: A Feminist Analysis of the Genocide in Gujarat."

The International Initiative for Justice in Gujarat was jointly organised by many women's and citizen's groups from Gujarat, Bombay and Delhi and brought together a panel of nine feminist jurists, activists, lawyers, writers and academics from all over the world to Gujarat in December 2002. This panel met with over 300 women, men, survivors and activists working in several districts of Gujarat. The panellists were: Anissa Helie, Algeria/France, Gabriela Mischkowski, Germany, Nira Yuval-Davis, UK, Rhonda Copelon, USA, Sunila Abeysekara, Sri Lanka, and Farah Naqvi, Meera Velayudan, Uma Chakravarti, and Vahida Nainar from India.

The IIJ was conceived in the context of the need to foreground within India the issue of sexual violence in conflict situations and to develop a feminist critique of systems of justice and democratic governance. It was an effort to bring together feminists from India and outside for international solidarity in analysis and action regarding justice for Muslims in Gujarat. We trust that this initiative will lead to a nexus of shared understanding and activism on the immediate issues of justice in Gujarat in the aftermath of the pogrom; serve as a starting point of a transnational dialogue on issues thrown up by the pogrom including that of the inadequacy of existing legal frameworks to address sexual violence in times of social upheaval and conflict and enrich ongoing feminist discourse on citizenship, democracy and justice.

We expect to use this report as one of the tools for continuing to address the situation of Muslims in Gujarat nationally and internationally, in order to address the violence unleashed by Hindutva supporters both within and outside the machinery of the State. We hope that well known and reputed voices, ideas and actions from feminists from different parts of the world will help the struggle for justice and equality worldwide, and will further articulate our concerns in protecting and fighting for our rights to autonomy, democracy and freedom from violence.

Since you have been an integral part of these struggles, we hope you will be able to join us for the release of the report and the discussions thereafter.

Release of the report: By Justice Jahagirdar (Retd)

Speakers:
Anissa Helie and Vahida Nainar (IIJ panellists)
Shobha De and Javed Akhtar.

Time: 3:30 – 6:30 p.m.
Date: December 10, 2003.

Venue: Conference Hall,
4th Floor, Y. B. Chavan Pratishthan,
Near Mantralaya, Bombay.