''People have been evicted and they do not receive the benefits of the natural resources," she said,, adding that income from tourism was not used for the benefit of the Masai, who are instead ''left to sink into abject poverty''.

''The women walk about 20 kilometres to fetch water in a twenty-litre drum, while the tourists swim in their water,'' she told the audience of 2,000 people who have come to the World Court of Women Against Racism, held here just before the WCAR opened.

According to Kipuri, the Masai are also under pressure not to use their own language or practise their cultural and customs.

''In Africa I think that we need to acknowledge our differences and be proud of those differences. We must work on initiating programmes that promote a culture of tolerance in our countries,'' she told the court.

For her part, 74-year old Fidencia David of the Philippines recalls how she was forced into sexual slavery at the age of 14 years by occupying Japanese soldiers, under Tokyo's system of ''comfort women'' that affected some 200,000 women across Asia.

She wants compensation for the thousands of women survivors of sexual slavery and Japanese wartime atrocities in the 1930s and 40s.

Apart from the effects of Japanese militarism in Asia felt today, however, is the issue of discrimination Koreans in Japan, which is rooted in old suspicions between the two neighbours.

Kim Jon-in from the Japan-based Association of Korean Human Rights said more than 600, 000 Koreans are suffering in the country because their children are assaulted, cursed and threatened -- especially Korean girls who wear their traditional dress.

Korean adults, such as her grandfather who came to Japan in 1928, are not eligible for social securities and no subsidies are given to Korean schools, according to Kim.

Native American Pamela Kingfisher of the Cherokee tribe described how many of her people had been pushed off their land in the United States.

The government, she adds, passed laws against their matriarchal system, which enabled land to be passed from mother to daughter. ''They outlawed our prayers and religions and sent children to boarding school where they weren't allowed to speak their own language. They cut off the girl's braids and put them in a box of braids.''

''I've lost my language because my mother was put in a boarding school,'' she said, adding that even the fishing rights of their community have been taken away.

Now, Kingfisher says, Native Americans are starting to relearn their relationship with plants and nature, and children are again being taught indigenous languages.

However, she said that reparations remained a big issue for Native Americans: "Our land claims have been on the books for a couple hundred years.''

The world court of women gave ordinary women an opportunity to talk at the the Aug. 31-Sep. 7 global meeting, giving testimony in a proceeding organised with the support of hundreds of NGOs that work in countries including South Africa, Senegal, Croatia, Cuba, United States, India, Algeria, Thailand, Ukraine, Palestine, Kenya and New Zealand.

Last year, a similar hearing was held in the Cape Town, South Africa, to discuss women and war. Fifteen other hearings have been held in venues including Japan, Nepal, New Zealand and Kenya. (END)