Dear participants of the World Conference of Women, 
The human rights organization SOLWODI sends you warm greetings from Germany, in celebration the World Conference of Women in Kathmandu/Nepal.
SOLWODI is the abbreviation of „Solidarity with Women in Distress“.
The human rights organization was founded by Sister Dr. Lea Ackermann in October 1985 in Mombasa, Kenya. There she saw the distress and misery of women and children, who battled for their existence and were forced to prostitute.
Today, SOLWODI has 34 counseling and training centres in Kenya and supports a widows and orphans project in Rwanda.
Since 1987 SOLWODI has also been active in Germany. Today, there exist 18 counseling centres, 1 reception centre and 8 shelters for foreign women and girls in distress or who are victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution, domestic violence or forced marriages.
SOLWODI is sad at heart to hear that violence face women around the world – for example, the women in Syria, who won´t be victims of a bloody war. Or Eastern Europe, where poverty and unemployment have risen rapidly. The women there are victims of the circumstance.
We will also report on the latest developments in Germany: The German Bundestag has sharpened asylum laws. It is now nearly impossible to obtain asylum, for refugees from Eastern Europe or North Africa.
On the subject of prostitution, the legislator has decided to the disfavor of women. The act will only start new bureaucracy. These women are forced to prostitute, many receive physical and psychological injuries, they suffer a lifetime.
Not only in Germany, but also across the globe, laws must be improved in behalf of women. In future, women must have a full and equal share in all spheres of society.
Warm greetings from Germany
Sister Dr. Lea Ackermann, Chairwoman of SOLWODI Germany