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