United Nations International Widows Day, June 23rd

Sunday June 23rd will be the yearly  'United Nations International Widows Day' www.un.org/en/events/widowsday. To pay attention to the plight if widows I will post my latest work on widows at this blog. It is about savings by the Dutch government on widowspensions. For these series I portrayed six widows with their children in photographs and in texts. They have told me their stories related to work, raising their children, and the pension they receive from the state (all in Dutch). I thank Stichting De Jonge Weduwe for their support in making these series possible: www.dejongeweduwe.nl

The next six days I will post one of the stories of widows every day.

Further activities on June 23rd:

- Stichting De Jonge Weduwe will gather with young widows to launch some special films with (stupid and nice) quotes of people surrounding widows.

- The Loomba Foundation in London, will organize a run to collect money and support for widows around the world www.theloombafoundation.org

My thoughts are with widows suffering around the world, because they are being discriminated against, only because they have lost their husbands.

Here a preview of my series about young widows and their children in The Netherlands.  

Apologies for People of Rawagede

I am still very excited about the fact that the Dutch government will apologise for the warcrimes the Dutch armee has committed in Rawagede in 1947.This is historical and never heard of before: clear apologies of the Dutch Government to the People of Indonesia! They have been waiting for this moment for 64 years. It will happen this Friday the 9th of December. So one more time I present you the brave women and man who dared to sue the Dutch Government and won their lawsuit.

uit: The widows of Rawagede and Mr. Saih!

Dutch government will apologise to widows of Rawagede

Friday December 9th 2012, the Dutch ambassador in Indonesia will apologise to the widows of Rawagede on behalf of the Dutch government for committing war crimes against the people of Rawagede in 1947. December 9th is the day of the yearly commemoration of the massacre of Rawagede.

De weduwen van Rawagede en de heer Saih bin Sakam by Suzanne Liem | Make Your Own Book

Widows of Rawagede win trial against Dutch Government

The widows of Rawagede will be compensated by the Dutch Government, as is stated by the Dutch court of Law in The Hague today. It is an unexpected verdict, and I think a very emotional one for the plaintiffs.

The book below (trial version and not yet for sale) is my documentary report on the widows of Rawagede. I vistited them in July of 2010. The book not only contains their portraits, but also their stories in their own words.

De weduwen van Rawagede en de heer Saih bin Sakam by Suzanne Liem | Make Your Own Book

Publication in Trouw

Today the daily Dutch newspaper Trouw again published an article on the widows of Rawagede with one of my portraits.

Judgement in the case of the widows of Rawagede tomorrow

Tomorrow, September the 14th, the judge in The Hague will give a judgement in the case of the widows of Rawagede v.s. the Dutch Government.

In 1947 the husbands of the widows were killed by Dutch soldiers in their village of Rawagede in Indonesia. Eight widows and the only male survivor of the massacre sued the Dutch government in December 2008. In May 2010 the Dutch government pleaded guilty. Nevertheless the Dutch government states the case statute barred, so plaintiffs have no right to compensation. Tomorrow the judges give their judgement.

Book on Widows of Rawagede

This is my Blurb book on the 'Widows of Rawagede'. For the moment it's a trial version and only available in Dutch.
The book is a photographic document telling the story of seven widows - who's husbands were killed by the Dutch army - and the only male survivor. I visited Indonesia last year as I wanted to portray the women who are sueing the Dutch government for war crimes committed.

To see the photo's in detail (and for information on the widows in English), visit my website www.suzanneliem.com

De weduwen van Rawagede en de heer Saih bin Sakam by Suzanne Liem | Make Your Own Book