INTERNATIONAL PEN

International PEN is the only international association of writers, with 120 Centres in 87 countries. Its membership is open to all qualified writers regardless of nationality, race, colour or religion, provided that they subscribe to the PEN Charter. As laid down in that Charter, PEN works to promote friendship and goodwill among writers, to foster understanding through literature, to dispel class, race and national hatreds and to uphold freedom of expression. It provides a forum where writers meet freely to discuss their work and acts as a voice speaking for writers imprisoned, silenced or otherwise harassed for criticising their governments or for publishing other unpopular views. It is strictly non-political, holding Category A status at UNESCO and consultative status within the UN (roster category). Each Centre acts as an autonomous cultural and intellectual centre within its own country.

International PEN was founded in London in 1921 in the aftermath of World War I, in a period of hatred between nations. The founder, Catharine Amy Dawson Scott, was convinced that if the writers of the world could reach out to each other, then the nations of the world could eventually learn to do the same. She was joined by eminent writers of her day, including Joseph Conrad, George Bernard Shaw and John Galsworthy, PEN's first President. Over the years PEN's Presidents and Vice Presidents have included Nobel Prize winning writers and other eminent writers from around the world, including Heinrich Böll, H.G. Wells, Arthur Miller, Pierre Emmanuel, Nadine Gordimer, Mario Vargas Llosa, Leopold Sédar Senghor and most recently György Konrád. Its current President is Ronald Harwood.

PEN's executive body, the Assembly of Delegates, consisting of representatives from each Centre, meets once a year in Congress, along with many PEN members. Here policy decisions about PEN are taken, meetings of PEN's various committees are held and literary sessions are conducted, with a consequent re-creation of interest and understanding between cultures and languages. In addition, individual Centres organize regional conferences and symposia. In its 73-year history, International PEN has seen reflected in its Assemblies and its work most of the world's major crises.

International PEN operates four standing committees whose membership consists of the various Centres of PEN.

The Writers in Prison Committee, based in London, monitors human rights abuses committed against writers and journalists worldwide and campaigns on their behalf. A record of all cases of concern to PEN is maintained on computer and updated daily, and a booklet listing these cases is issued every six months; in January 1994 more than 800 cases in over 100 countries were documented in this way. The Writers in Prison Committee is the only freedom of expression group that carries out long-term case-work for writers, including moral and financial support for the writers and their families through its Writers in Prison Aid fund and through the efforts of the individual PEN Centres. The committee and its members persistently lobby governments on behalf of writers and call for fair trials, fair treatment and often for release. The Committee sends out protests, urgent when appropriate, on its Rapid Action Network.

The Committee for Translation and Linguistic Rights, based in Barcelona, promotes translation of works written in minority languages into world languages and speaks out in defense of stateless languages, writers and linguistic rights.

The Writers for Peace Committee, which is based in Slovenia, considers through seminars and programmes how writers can contribute to peace. It draws attention to the misuse of language to disguise the brutality of nuclear war or national violence or ethnic cleansing, for example in discussion on such subjects as "Hate Speech" and "From Newspeak to Nukespeak". The committee is also closely involved with PEN's efforts on behalf of writers in Bosnia and former Yugoslavia.

The Women Writers' Committee, currently based in New York, focuses on the particular concerns of women writers that have resulted from the traditional position of women in society and the subsequent restrictions on their activities. The committee is involved in the difficulties of women under attack from religious fundamentalists, women in developing countries with limited resources and limited access to resources, women in civil war situations such as the former Yugoslavia, Sri Lanka and Peru. It encourages the development of networks of women writers internationally to share analyses, literature and resources.

In addition to its committees PEN operates a number of funds:

The Foundation PEN Emergency Fund offeres direct monetary aid to writers in distress.

The Sarajevo Fund has assisted writers trapped in Sarajevo and elsewhere in Bosnia with funds which PEN members have managed to raise. For many writers these funds have been the only money they have had to live on.

In all parts of the world in recent years - in Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, Latin America, Africa and Asia - new Centres have been formed or are becoming more active, and those working to built and strenghthen their Centres find themselves desperately short of funds to carry out that work. The Solidarity Fund assists writers from developing countries and countries with soft currencies, who lack the funds to travel, to attend International PEN Congresses and regional meetings. The Centre Development Fund, a new fund, was set up to help the development of new and struggling Centres, for example by helping them obtain basic communications equipment - typewriters, fax machines, computers, Xerox machines.

More details on International PEN, its committees and the programmes they seek funding for, and on its finances are readily available.

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