[women-rights] Women changing lives: Oksana Drebezova

Women changing lives:
Oksana Drebezova
by Jacqueline Kozin, Digital Freedom Network

(March 25, 2002) Oksana Drebezova's work in human rights is known
throughout Belarus, her home country. As director of the Legal Education in
Human Rights for Youth program of the Association of Women Lawyers of
Belarus (AWLB), Drebezova is responsible for coordinating seminars,
workshops and conferences about human rights and the rule of law in the
Minsk region. "I have a lot of invitations from different parts of Belarus
to arrange the trainings in human rights education that I do," commented
Drebezova when asked about her voluntary work in an interview with the
Digital Freedom Network.

AWLB's main mission is to educate Belarusians about their rights and
address their legal concerns. Through various projects, the organization
provides information on the country's political processes and local human
rights issues as well as raising legal and civic awareness.

Since its registration as a public organization in 1998, AWLB has conducted
four international conferences, over 150 one-day workshops and over 100
weekend workshops that have educated over 13,000 adults and teenagers. Its
members are Belarusian university students as well as women judges and
lawyers that serve as legal advisers and officials in the prosecutor's office.

How You Can Help

Find out more information on human rights issues in Belarus as well as how
to get involved:

Belarus League for Human Rights
Post Office Box 23
220050 Minsk
Belarus
Tel/fax +375 17 231 75 50
E-mail: evgeny@novikove.minsk.by

The Network of East-West Women
1601 Connecticut Ave., NW #603
Washington, D.C. 20009 U.S.A.
tel: +1 (202) 265-3585
fax: +1 (202) 265-3508

One audience that has become the target of the organization's educational
efforts is the country's youth population. Organizations involved with the
country's growing opposition movement are attracting a large number of
Belarusian youths that are interested in working for democratic reform in
the country. The current political regime has a lengthy history of
totalitarian style of governing and intolerance for demonstrations against
the government and its policies. "Young people do not understand the law
and many of them take part in various actions sponsored by the opposition,"
said Drebezova. "And as is known, the authorities respond to such actions
negatively. Young people are frequently arrested and sent to prison where
they are often beaten. They do not know how to behave in such a situation
and it is our duty to educate them on their rights when arrested and how
they are able to protect themselves."

Drebezova, who trained for six years as a biathlete, received her law
degree from President of Belarus's Academy of Management. She is a
full-time legal adviser for the Juridical Bureau, a private legal services
firm in Minsk, and is pursuing another degree in economic management at the
Belarusian State Economic University. She hopes this second field of study
will help her in both full-time and voluntary work.

In addition to the lack of real information on state affairs and financial
resources for AWLB, Drebezova sees her lack of knowledge as one of her
personal obstacles to further aiding people.

When asked how others can assist her work in human rights, Drebezova simply
said, "Please get involved in human rights or just keep doing the work you
are already are doing in the field."

And she plans on continuing her work of educating her fellow Belarusians
about their rights, particularly the youth whom she sees as the world's
harbingers of change. "I can help them in fighting for their rights as
human beings. I'm trying to help them understand that they have their
rights and how they can exercise and protect their rights. Most of all, I
enjoy my work with the youth because they are the basis of any society and
they should be well educated about their rights because in a few years,
they will have a chance to change the world."


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