Jessie Lucas
October 9th 2009
1:47 PM
The Human Rights Watch has announced that four human rights activist have been awarded the Alison Des Forges Defender Award for Extraordinary Activism. This award is named after the senior advisor to the Human Rights Watch’s Africa Division who passed away in a plane crash earlier this year. The first winner of the award is Daniel Bekele of Ethiopia. He is an anti poverty activist and human rights lawyer. He has been jailed by the Ethiopian government for challenging them to protect civil and political rights as well as human rights of all people. The second winner is Bo Kyi of Burma. He too has been arrested for his efforts against unfair government policies. He is the co-founder of the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners and works to release Burmese activists and those who sought out political independence that have been wrongfully put in jail. The third winner is Elena Milashina of Russia. She is honored for her investigative journalism regarding the truth about human rights abuses and government corruption in Russia. Even though Russia has tried to cover up, hide, and silence those who know about their abuses, she remains outspoken and works to get conditions changed. The fourth person who has received this award this year is Mathide Muhindo of the Democratic Republic of Congo. She is the director of a women’s rights organization who works to fight the discrimination and sexual violence against women in the Congo. She has also successfully advocated for a comprehensive law regarding sexual violence.
I think it is very important that these four people be recognized for their efforts to stop human rights violations throughout the world. There are many injustices and wrongdoings and it is good to see that there are people who are fighting against them and it is right that they should be honored. I think that others should look to them as role models and also find it in them to do something about the human rights violations in their home countries and abroad. I like that each of these people is being honored for something different that they have done (challenging the government, protecting those who have been wrongfully imprisoned, exposing abuses and corruption, and fighting for women’s rights) because it shows that there are many ways in which people are and can be fighting for human rights. I hope that their efforts and those of others like them will be recognized more often and that they will in fact help and protect the people of the world.
http://www.hrw.org/en/news/2009/10/06/human-rights-watch-honors-four-activists
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