Bishnu Maya Pariyar
In 1996, at the age of 20, Bishnu Maya Pariyar founded Empower Dalit Women of Nepal (EDWON). Her organization works to improve the lives of the Dalit (the "untouchable" caste) women in rural Nepal by enabling them to fight for their human rights and raise their standard of living. As a Dalit herself, Bishnu had many obstacles of poverty and discrimination to overcome in order to fight for social justice. She decided education is the best way to become an effective advocate for people of low caste among Nepal's power elite. Bishnu became the first girl—of any caste—from her village to graduate from secondary school. She is currently studying for a master's degree in the United States. Upon completion of her degree in 2007, she plans to return permanently to Nepal to resume the active leadership of her organization.

EDWON is based on the belief that women's empowerment is the key to empowerment for the whole community. EDWON has programs to support women's savings groups and literacy training, as well as scholarships to enable low-caste children to access formal education. Participants learn to read and write, to save money that can be invested in entrepreneurial initiatives, and to support one another. After six months of training, the women have also gained insight into their own situation, and begin to see ways to enact social change. As the women's economic power in the family grows, their influence and status increase and the incidence of domestic violence, so widespread in Nepal, decreases. Bishnu's idea is simple and effective: Literacy and economic empowerment, fueled by a sense of solidarity, inspires social change.

Samar Minallah
For the past 20 years, Samar Minallah has been advocating for the rights of rural women in Pakistan, first as a freelance journalist and then as an activist documentary filmmaker. Through her organization, Ethnomedia, Samar is effectively advocating against Swara or Vani, a custom throughout Pakistan where young girls and women are given as compensation to end disputes. In this custom, the criminal goes free and an innocent girl pays the price. She designed an outreach media campaign on "Violence Against Women in the Northwest Frontier Province of Pakistan" highlighting the plight of female Afghan refugees and set up a doctor and training services for women and their children living in a jail for women.

She has fought for social change in Pakistan through research, music videos, documentaries, and a weekly television show. She has even persuaded truck and rickshaw owners to paint slogans against Swara, such as "Giving away little girls as compensation is not only inhuman but also un-Islamic" on their vehicles! With Samar's continued efforts, the Pakistan Supreme Court passed in 2006 a benchmark decision seeking to penalize the act of offering and accepting by way of compensation any child, or woman against her free will. She is currently working on a documentary about the stigmatized and socially shunned AID's victims and their families.

Naw Zipporah Sein
Naw Zipporah Sein was born into a conflict that has shaped her life and inspired her activism. Growing up in Burma (Myanmar? Use which name), she witnessed human rights violations by the military government against her ethnic Karen people. The Karen are the second largest ethnic nationality in Burma with a population of eight to ten million. They have been fighting for their rights, self-determination, and democracy, for over 50 years Zipporah was born into the are of the widest and most serious armed conflicts, an area where thousands of women, in particular, suffer everyday. Though Zipporah has lived her whole life as a displaced person, since 1995, she has lived in a Thai refugee camp. She is now the General Secretary [Executive Secretary? Check title] for the Karen Women's Organization (KWO), a community-based organization that promotes women's participation in the struggle for freedom, democracy, and basic equality in Burma. A member of the constitutional drafting committee for Karen state, Zipporah was the first woman elected to the Karen National Union Central Executive Committee. Zipporah's tireless efforts were acknowledged in 2005 when she was one of the 1000 Women For Peace nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Burma's ruling military government is considered one of the world's worst dictatorships and carries on a campaign of destruction, suppression and neglect of its citizens. Widespread rape, summary executions, and forced displacement target ethnic minority groups such as the Karen. The Burmese army is present throughout the land and control the people through forced labor, systematic persecution, torture, exploitation, and destruction of property including the fields, crops, and rice barns.

In this atmosphere, Zipporah has struggled for the participation of women in political movements and freedom from domestic violence and vulnerability. Under Zipporah's leadership, KWO is a key organization providing health, education, and humanitarian aid to women and their families in refugee and internally displaced persons communities. KWO has over 30,000 members living both inside Burma and in exile in Thailand and abroad. Zipporah has spearheaded the creation of safe houses in several refugee camps which provide shelter and counseling for women and children facing violence. American Jewish World Services (AJWS) has supported the work of Zipporah and the KWO since 2004 by funding resource centers for women and providing emergency food and medicine.

Zipporah and KWO's courageous research team have documented the effects of war on minority women. In 2004, KWO released "Shattering Silences," a report which documented the Burmese army's use of rape as a strategy of war in the Karen state. (confirm release?) KWO has recently released "State of Terror," a follow-up report documenting over 4,000 cases of women's rights abuse committed by Burmese military troops, including murder, torture, forced labor, and continued systematic sexual violence,.

Zipporah Sein is a rare and special combination: equal parts trusted grassroots organizer and respected international advocate. For giving voice to the disempowered in the struggle for peace and justice, Zipporah is an inspiration to the international community.

Possible quote from Zipporah to be used: Women's definition of peace goes beyond the mere end of war and fighting. We want a genuine peace, a peace with justice, a peace where there is no violence or domestic violence. Even if there is no war, if there is still domestic violence, women cannot be happy with this kind of peace.