For Immediate Release
March 8 , 2006
Contact: Daniel J. Johnson
[email protected]/847.543.0630
www.iffampac.org
IFFAMPAC Recognizes the Courage and Achievements of
Women on International Women’s Day
Rockford, Illinois. “On this year’s International Women’s Day we recognize the accomplishments of women in the workplace and note the gains women have made in gender equality and improving their standard of living,” said Jane E. Durgom-Powers, founder and president of the International Federation of Family Associations of Missing Persons from Armed Conflicts (IFFAMPAC). IFFAMPAC works to unite families and family associations in their effort to learn the fate of loved ones who are missing because of armed conflicts.
“We also recognize that much remains to be done, especially in the area of women’s economic rights—a critical area of concern for those women who instantly become heads of households because of the disappearance of their husbands during an armed conflict,” Durgom-Powers said.
“When the male breadwinner is missing, his disappearance leaves the family in hardship or dire poverty. His wife must now do what she can to provide the family’s livelihood; often she faces great obstacles in laws that favor men and in cultural traditions and social customs that keep women perpetually disadvantaged. We recognize the courage and great dignity of these women as we work with other NGOs and governments in lessening their burden,” Durgom-Powers said.
Jane E. Durgom-Powers founded IFFAMPAC in 2003 as an international, non-governmental organization to help national family associations of missing persons forge linkages with other family associations in other regions and countries as well as with international experts, such as trauma counselors, legal advisors, and investigative teams.
IFFAMPAC focuses on the surviving families of armed conflict who face tremendous social, economic, legal, and cultural challenges when a primary economic provider of the family vanishes and cannot be accounted for as a result of conflict.
IFFAMPAC is working in a joint effort with the International Humanitarian Law Subcommittee of the International Human Rights Committee of the International Section of the American Bar Association to develop a new model international law and to develop best practices guidelines to address the issue of the missing.