CIUDAD JUAREZ PROJECT

[Aidan Siobhan Madigan-Curtis]

Hi all! Here is a message from Laura about her project - email her and cc
me if you are interested in getting involved! :)

~Aidan

---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Wed, 23 Mar 2005 16:19:08 -0500
From: Laura Marie Farbeann Pickard <pic...@fas.harvard.edu>
To: Aidan Siobhan Madigan-Curtis <mad...@fas.harvard.edu>
Subject: Re: HIDOHR projects


Aidan,
Here is the blurb regarding my project:

One of HIDOHR's new projects deals with the situation going on in Ciudad Juarez,
Mexico. In Juarez and Chihuahua, murders of almost 370 young women in the past
12 years (since 1993) have been so frequent that locals call the are "the
killing fields". Many of the victims that were found raped and then strangled
or stabbed, and dumped outside of town in the desert, come from poor,
indigenous families, were workers in maquila factories on the border, and were
generally vulnerable individuals due to the transient nature of women's work on
the border. Whereas the police in Mexico theorize either one or more serial
killers, copycat killers, or random slayings by drug traffickers and gang
members, some locals have described what sounds similar to an organized
prostitution ring (although unconfirmed), and it is possible that other forms
of organized crime is involved. One of the major human rights problems with
this case is the fact that the Mexican government and police have failed to act
for many years, denying that the murders are taking place and refusing to
prosecute.

Through HIDOHR, we are going to be working with an organization called Save
Juarez. Ideas for potential projects include:

-Grant writing
-Fundraisers
-International Advertising and Product Placement Solicitation
-General Organizing of professionals, academics, writers, social workers,
technology experts, marketers, etc. from the Harvard Community to be more
involved in the cause, and perhaps work together to facilitate the
administration and international recognition of the organization.

I am currently discussing more specific projects with the director of Save
Juarez, and will get back to everyone concerning those. For now, please email
me if you are interested in working on this project with me and I will keep you
posted!

Thanks.
Laura