Very strong women

The Nobel Women's Initiative (an NGO) was founded by six winners of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1966. Yesterday morning, at the German Ambassador's residence, our German-speaking conversation group met one of its managers, Diana Sarosi, who addressed us fluently in German, although she confessed that it was years since she had made a presentation in her mother tongue, and that she'd had to look up some words beforehand. In recent years Diana has been working in Burma and Thailand, documenting the treatment of minorities in those countries who oppose their governments, as well as championing the rights of persecuted individuals and offering them personal support.

Diana has an MA in Conflict Resolution from the University of Bradford "with a research focus on women, peace and security." Judging by the way in which she speaks and writes, I guess she has been influenced by Quakers. She used to work for the South East Asian branch of Nonviolence International and published a paper entitled Rule by the Gun: Armed Civilians and Firearms Proliferation in Southern Thailand. While working there she created a Working Group on Justice for Peace, its objectives being to raise public awareness of the people (women in particular) who are suffering and to strengthen their will in a non-violent fight for justice, hoping that international advocacy would help to counteract the harsh police interventions and  "disappearances." As The Guardian says of southern Thailand ...

The region was once a Malay Muslim sultanate until annexed by Buddhist Thailand a century ago, and separatist tensions have simmered ever since.

The tensions are complex and very difficult to resolve. Diana described and showed us pictures of one of the people she had been supporting, Angkhana Neelaphaijit, a dignified Muslim woman whose husband, human rights lawyer, Somchai Neelaphaijit, had "disappeared" (murdered, it seems, by those in power, after daring to criticise their policies concerning followers of the unofficial religions) and whose own safety was at risk. Diana sat beside her during her hearings in court. She felt that her westerner's face would offer her friend some protection. The Thai leadership associates dissidents with terrorists and drug dealers, and does its best to rid the country of their influence. On the other hand, this nation is also sensitive to international opinion, its prosperity and image being dependent on its tourist trade which, because of the continuing unrest, is under threat.

The last photo in Diana's presentation yesterday was of Hilary Clinton shaking hands with Angkhana Neelaphaijit, now president of that Working Group on Justice for Peace which Diana had set in motion. We asked her, is this lady's life still in danger? Not any more, apparently. She has too high a profile now.