Politics
Iraq: US must withdraw and do more for refugees, says leading activist
Rome, 14 Dec. (AKI) - The US must withdraw from Iraq and do more to help refugees displaced by the war, says leading rights activist Kerry Kennedy.
Kennedy, who heads the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in Washington, was visiting the Adnkronos headquarters in Rome to meet the director of Adnkronos and president of the GMC-Adnkronos media group, Giuseppe Marra.
She said the war in Iraq must end and there can be no justice without peace and reconciliation for victims of the war.
"As an American I think our country has an enormous responsibility to protect the people of Iraq we have made vulnerable, " she told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Kennedy, who founded the center after her father, a former US senator was assassinated in 1968, to support leading human rights defenders around the world. She has led over 40 human rights delegations to 30 countries.
While visiting Adnkronos, she was interviewed by four Iraqi journalists who are extending their journalism training in Italy.
She said the refugee situation was daunting and it was outrageous that the Bush administration was reluctant to help.
"There are so many people who have risked their lives to help Americans, yet we are abandoning these people who have chosen to help our cause," she said.
Kennedy was in Rome to attend the 8th annual Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and to unveil a programme to promote human rights education in Italian schools.
The educational package, Speak Truth to Power (STTP), includes profiles about human rights defenders.
"When students are exposed to these stories, it touches something deep in their souls and they want to create change," Kennedy said.
Kennedy is the seventh of eleven children and was married to the son of high-profile New York governor, Mario Cuomo. Now divorced from Andrew Cuomo, she has three daughters.
Her organisation is active in 51 countries, including the wartorn Darfur region in western Sudan, where government-backed militias are responsible for rampant violence and mass genocide.
"The humanitarian organisations have moved out, there is no protection for refugees in the camps," Kennedy said. "They are just going and that's a wholesale slaughter - women, children, old and young alike."
Kennedy, who heads the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights in Washington, was visiting the Adnkronos headquarters in Rome to meet the director of Adnkronos and president of the GMC-Adnkronos media group, Giuseppe Marra.
She said the war in Iraq must end and there can be no justice without peace and reconciliation for victims of the war.
"As an American I think our country has an enormous responsibility to protect the people of Iraq we have made vulnerable, " she told Adnkronos International (AKI).
Kennedy, who founded the center after her father, a former US senator was assassinated in 1968, to support leading human rights defenders around the world. She has led over 40 human rights delegations to 30 countries.
While visiting Adnkronos, she was interviewed by four Iraqi journalists who are extending their journalism training in Italy.
She said the refugee situation was daunting and it was outrageous that the Bush administration was reluctant to help.
"There are so many people who have risked their lives to help Americans, yet we are abandoning these people who have chosen to help our cause," she said.
Kennedy was in Rome to attend the 8th annual Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and to unveil a programme to promote human rights education in Italian schools.
The educational package, Speak Truth to Power (STTP), includes profiles about human rights defenders.
"When students are exposed to these stories, it touches something deep in their souls and they want to create change," Kennedy said.
Kennedy is the seventh of eleven children and was married to the son of high-profile New York governor, Mario Cuomo. Now divorced from Andrew Cuomo, she has three daughters.
Her organisation is active in 51 countries, including the wartorn Darfur region in western Sudan, where government-backed militias are responsible for rampant violence and mass genocide.
"The humanitarian organisations have moved out, there is no protection for refugees in the camps," Kennedy said. "They are just going and that's a wholesale slaughter - women, children, old and young alike."
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