Italian Association Amici di Raoul Follereau (AIFO)

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Press Room: Persons for Interviews in Rome

A Patron Saint for Human Rights
CANONIZATION OF FATHER DAMIEN
Rome, 10-12 October 2009

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Fr Damien

Leprosy

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JOSE & MAGDALENA RAMIREZ

Jose is COORDINATOR OF IDEA & MANAGER EDITOR OF “THE STAR”, USA, www.idealeprosydignity.org

ADDRESS IN ROME: Villa Tassoni, Viale Medaglie d'Oro 138 Tel 06/355899

INTERVIEW LANGUAGES: ENGLISH & SPANISH

“It has been the attitude of many to look the other way when rejection and labeling have been practiced and stigma has flourished, thus giving legitimacy to the laws of silence. By taking no action against the practice of labeling and stigma, the act of labeling and rejection becomes an ‘acceptable’ action. What is needed is the on-going education of everyone, especially young children, on the pain created by labeling of other human beings.”

José Ramirez is currently a social worker overseeing a mental health department in the State of Texas that provides support to over 30,000 children, adolescents and adults.

He is the IDEA Representative for the United States and a member of IDEA’s Board of Directors. He has traveled on behalf of IDEA to conduct oral history in Ukraine and Spain, and has given presentations on stigma and leprosy in conferences in India, South Africa, China, Turkey, and the United States. He also met in Geneva with representatives from the Sub-Commission on the Protection and Promotion of Human Rights of the United Nations High Commission on Human Rights, to discuss UN recognition of leprosy as a human rights issue. Mr. Ramirez most recently addressed the WHO technical advisory committee in Cairo. He has also written his autobiography Squint.

Magdalena, wife of Mr. Ramirez wish to be interviewed as a family member impacted by leprosy, she waited for him while he was hospitalized in a leprosarium for seven years.