PORTUGUESE NOMINEE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE

UNCLAS LISBON 000406

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

Department for G/IWI

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: KWMN PHUM PREL PO
SUBJECT: PORTUGUESE NOMINEE FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE
AWARD

REF: SECSTATE 12871


1. (U) Per reftel request, Embassy Lisbon nominates Ms. Ana Vicente
for consideration in the Secretary's first International Women of
Courage award.


A. (U) Name and contact information:

Ana Maria Vicente
Former Commissioner for Women's rights, Co-Founder of "New Future"
Organization, Author
Tel. ++351-21-840-9104
Cell: 351-91-935-9796
e-mail: anvicente@netcabo.pt
Date of Birth: February 8, 1943


B. (U) Justification: Ana Vicente has steadily been working to
advance Portuguese women's rights since early in her career. She
first gained visibility as a champion for women's rights in the
early 1990s in the Public Administration office. During her tenure,
she represented Portugal in meetings with the United Nations, the
World Health Organization, and the EU's Council of Europe on women's
political and health issues. She served as a consultant for the
UN's Population Fund and worked on reproductive health programs in
conjunction with several Portuguese-speaking African nations.

From 1992-1994, Vicente was the Director of Portugal's Equality and
Women's Rights Commission, a position that advises the Council of
Ministers about women's concerns. She continued in an advisory role
until 1998.
Vicente also works to protect children and disabled citizens'
rights. In 1996, Vicente joined with roughly twenty other
Portuguese women leaders to establish the "New Future" program in
Portugal. New Future replicates a program developed in Spain to
provide stable home environments and form "brotherhoods" for
children who would otherwise lack family support. The foundation
assists children and youths ages 7-21.
As she continued to shape Portugal's New Future program, she also
founded an activist group called "We are the Church" which pressed
for a Catholic Church response to the atrocities of sexual violence
against nuns. Vicente also served as an advisor on the Children,
Elderly, and Disabled Citizens Rights Group (CID) from 2003-2005.
She has over a dozen articles and books on Women and Human Rights
and on Portuguese women.

Vicente has shown both courage and compassion to ensure social
justice and political representation for women, children, and
disabled citizens more than two decades.

2. (U) Post contact for women's issues is Pol-Econ Officer Dana
Brown (browndml@state.gov, phone: ++351-21-770-2328).
Hoffman