La Sierra University
invites
World Affairs Council Inland Southern California
to a program on a little discussed but extremely important topic

"Who Defends the Persecuted in Iraq, Nigeria, and Sudan?"
...a discussion with Tina Ramirez, 
Founder and President of Hardwired

Tina Ramirez, Hardwired President

February 12, 2019
Reception 5:30 pm
Talk 6:00 - 7:15 pm
La Sierra University
4500 Riverwalk Parkway | Riverside, CA 92505
Cossentine Hall 100 (CH on campus map at link below)
https://lasierra.edu/fileadmin/documents/maps/campusmap.pdf
Park in Lot F across from Cossentine Hall
(parking passes not needed after 5 pm)

Preregistration required for all WAC participants.

Ms Ramirez addresses the question many of us have in the back of our minds:
If Western anti-terrorism policies are working, why hasn't terrorism declined more dramatically by now? What more should we do?

In her talk, Ramirez will share how her organization is fighting religious
oppression around the world through indigenous networks of leaders. These Defenders of Freedom have been established in ten countries and are
changing laws, bringing justice in the courts, mobilizing the media to
speak for the voiceless, and infusing religious freedom into schools.
Ms. Ramirez will share how these Defenders of Freedom leaders
facilitated by her organization, Hardwired, are shifting the culture
in Iraq, Sudan and Nigeria to alleviate the suffering of
persecuted communities. You will hear stories from each country
and learn how Muslims are trained to defend Christians and how
they are all working together at risk of their own lives.
These are things you will not hear in the news. 

As the Founder and President of Hardwired,Tina Ramirez brings 20 years of experience as a teacher, foreign policy expert, and authority on international
human rights law and religious freedom. Working for the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom, she developed policy recommendations
to protect persecuted communities in Sudan, Iraq, Turkey, and Cuba. While
working for the U.S. Congress, she founded the bi-partisan International
Religious Freedom Caucus, re-directing U.S. policy so that
religious freedom was prioritized when dealing with foreign governments.
She developed and launched a simple, inexpensive training program
that has been put in place quickly in countries where she has worked
and maintained key relationships.

Ramirez is author of Iraq: Hope in the Midst of Darkness (2017) and
was a contributing author and editor of Human Rights in the United
States: A Dictionary and Documents (2010 and 2017). She received
a certificate at the International Institute for Human Rights in Strasbourg,
France and a Master’s Degree in International Human Rights focusing on the protection of the human right to freedom of religion or belief from the
University of Essex in England.

Ramirez has spoken before the United Nations and the African Union
and testified before the U.S. Congress. In 2012, she was awarded the
Second Annual Ahmadiyya Muslim Humanitarian Award for her
congressional work defending Islamic communities worldwide.
She serves as Secretary of the UN NGO Committee on Freedom of
Religion or Belief, and is a former board member for the
First Freedom Center.

Please download and share the flier with others
2019 Backus-brochure.pdf