Five Activists Win
Human Rights Watch Awards
Five brave and selfless advocates of human rights from Burma, Congo,
Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka and Uzbekistan have been awarded the
prestigious 2008 Human Rights Defender Awards, Human Rights Watch
said today. All five have been persecuted and threatened for their
work. One winner, Saudi lawyer Abd al-Rahman al-Lahim, is under a
travel ban, which Human Rights Watch urges the Saudi government lift
so that he may receive his award in person in London
The five winners of Human Rights Watch’s 2008 Human Rights Defender
Awards are:
Bo Kyi, a co-founder of Burma’s
Assistance Association of Political Prisoners;
Mathilde Muhindo, who works to stop the
use of rape as a weapon of war in Democratic Republic of Congo;
Abd al-Rahman al-Lahim, a human rights
lawyer in Saudi Arabia;
Sunila Abeysekera, founder of the Sri
Lankan human rights group INFORM; and,
Umida Niazova, an Uzbek journalist who
covered the turmoil in Andijan.
“Despite the dangers and difficulties they face every day, these
five activists continue to expose abuses and seek justice for
victims of human rights violations in their own countries,” said
Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “It’s an
honor to stand with such brave and determined people, and we hope
that this award will help them to keep working as effectively and
safely as possible.”
Human Rights Watch staff work closely with the human rights
defenders as part of our human rights investigations in more than 80
countries around the world. These defenders will be honored at the
2008 Human Rights Watch Annual Dinners in Chicago, Geneva, Hamburg,
London, Los Angeles, Munich, New York, Paris, San Francisco, Santa
Barbara, Toronto, and Zurich.
Bo Kyi, Burma
As a college student, Bo Kyi participated in Burma’s “8.8.88
Uprising,” a popular revolt against military rule that reached a
turning point on August 8, 1988. On that day, after months of
unrest, millions of people took to the streets calling for an end to
military rule. The military government’s violent response to the
uprising resulted in the deaths of an estimated 3,000 people during
the seven months of protests.
“The outside world largely ignored events inside Burma, but for me
there was no escape,” said Bo Kyi. “As a student in Rangoon, I
participated in many demonstrations and witnessed the brutal
suppression by the riot police that killed and wounded so many.”
Bo Kyi ultimately spent seven years and three months in prison for
his political activism. He suffered repeated interrogations,
beatings, shackling, and torture in prison, amid squalid living
conditions. In prison, Bo Kyi learned to speak and write in English,
hiding his educational materials each time a warden passed his cell.
Upon his release from prison, Bo Kyi fled to the Burma-Thailand
border, where he helped to found the Assistance Association of
Political Prisoners in Mae Sot, Thailand. Some 1,920 political
activists remain imprisoned in Burma, where they endure abysmal
treatment. The number detained increased dramatically after the
August and September 2007 crackdown when security forces brutally
suppressed peaceful demonstrations of activists, monks and ordinary
people.
Assistance Association of Political Prisoners works on behalf of
current and former political prisoners and their families. It
provides them with financial support and medical care, monitors
prison conditions, and advocates internationally for the prisoners’
release.
Over the last 20 years, Bo Kyi has demonstrated unfaltering courage,
sharing his story and those of other political prisoners and
exposing the Burmese military government’s abuses. Human Rights
Watch honors Bo Kyi for his heroic efforts to speak out against
Burmese repression and to advocate on behalf of those who have dared
to criticize the military government.
Mathilde Muhindo, Democratic Republic of Congo
“Women and children are paying dearly for the war in the Democratic
Republic of Congo,” said Mathilde Muhindo. “Sexual violence in
eastern provinces should be seen in its proper contexts – a war
within a war. A war against women.”
Muhindo, once a member of Congo’s parliament, works to support rape
victims in South Kivu, in eastern Congo, which has been ravaged by
armed conflict for over 10 years, up to today. She draws attention
to the widespread and systematic use of sexual violence by
government troops and armed groups – including sexual slavery, gang
rape and mutilation – and to the disastrous consequences for the
victims.
As director of the Olame Centre, a nongovernmental women’s rights
organization, Muhindo provides urgently needed psychological and
practical assistance to victims of abuse and empowers women to fight
against pervasive discrimination and sexual violence. To address the
crisis – tens of thousands of women and girls have been raped – she
also founded a parliamentary committee to investigate rape as a
weapon of war.
In partnership with Human Rights Watch and other groups, Muhindo has
pressed the European Union, the United States, and others to address
ongoing atrocities in eastern Congo. She led a coalition of local
women’s organizations that advocated successfully for a
comprehensive law on sexual violence. Muhindo has faced death
threats for her work, but refuses to be silenced. Human Rights Watch
honors Muhindo for her unfaltering dedication to the safety, health,
and rights of eastern Congo’s most vulnerable, and often forgotten,
women.
Abd al-Rahman al-Lahim, Saudi Arabia
Abd al-Rahman al-Lahim’s commitment to justice is manifest as he
fights on behalf of those in Saudi Arabia who have been persecuted
arbitrarily under dubious interpretations of Sharia (Islamic law).
His constant quest for justice and thorough knowledge of Islamic
teachings are valuable catalysts for change within oppressive Saudi
Arabian laws.
As the leading human rights lawyer in Saudi Arabia, al-Lahim defends
the rights of women, educators, and human rights activists who have
been unjustly convicted under the Saudi religious establishment’s
narrow interpretations of Islamic law. He has been arrested several
times, imprisoned and banned from traveling outside the kingdom for
his unfaltering defense of the rights of Saudi activists, but he
continues to engage fearlessly in the fight for justice.
Al-Lahim is a classically trained Sharia scholar. It is his
understanding of Islamic religious teachings that makes him such a
formidable force for human rights reform. Al-Lahim provides free
legal services to those in desperate need and is writing a
comprehensive guide to human rights in Saudi Arabia. Where the Saudi
justice system failed him and his clients, Human Rights Watch has
helped raise al-Lahim’s cases with Saudi decision-makers, and with
success: King Abdullah has pardoned six human rights victims
defended by al-Lahim. Human Rights Watch honors al-Lahim for
protecting the human rights of people in Saudi Arabia and for his
dedication to progressive judicial reform.
Sunila Abeysekera, Sri Lanka
Sunila Abeysekera, one of the best-known activists in Sri Lanka, has
advised Human Rights Watch on human rights work in the country for
more than a decade and a half. She has tirelessly fought against
abuses by both sides in Sri Lanka’s long civil war.
“When I started working on human rights two decades ago, it was not
easy,” Abeysekera said. “One is regarded as a troublemaker,
sometimes as a traitor. Questioning the role of the government and
of the different political actors in destroying democratic
structures and creating a militaristic environment led to attacks
from all sides.”
As executive director of INFORM, a nongovernmental human rights
monitoring organization, Abeysekera fights to expose serious abuses
and bring institutional change. For over two decades, Abeysekera has
struggled against the entrenched culture of impunity to hold
perpetrators accountable for enforced disappearances, killings of
civilians of all ethnicities, violence against women, and the
protection of those displaced by the armed conflict.
With a rare ability to act as researcher, advocate, and spokesperson
both within Sri Lanka and abroad, Abeysekera is internationally
recognized as one of Sri Lanka’s preeminent human rights activists.
In a war driven by ethnic tensions, she refuses to take sides,
denouncing abuses by both the government and armed separatist Tamil
Tigers. Her neutrality and fierce commitment have won Abeysekera the
respect of Sinhalese and Tamils alike. She has faced death threats
for her work in an environment that has become increasingly
difficult for human rights defenders, but remains steadfast in her
work. Human Rights Watch honors Abeysekera for bridging the gaps
between ethnic groups and upholding the human rights of all Sri
Lankan citizens.
Umida Niazova, Uzbekistan
A long-time activist and contributor to Radio Free Europe/Radio
Liberty and other news agencies, Umida Niazova stood trial before a
court in Uzbekistan in April 2007 for “distributing material causing
public disorder,” among other criminal charges. Despite the threat
of a lengthy prison term, Niazova continued her criticism of the
government and its repressive laws. “This is the idea of a
democracy,” Niazova told the court. “If we want to build civil
society, criticism of the authorities must be allowed.”
Niazova embodies the struggle of Uzbek human rights defenders who,
in spite of government repression, continue to speak out against the
government’s abuses. In the three years since government forces
killed hundreds of unarmed protesters in the eastern city of Andijan,
Uzbekistan’s rulers have continued to engage in widespread
harassment, interrogations, house arrests, and arbitrary detention
of civil society actors. Niazova, an independent journalist from
Tashkent and a former translator for Human Rights Watch, was
arrested in January 2007 and convicted in May 2007 on politically
motivated charges. At her appeal, she was forced to denounce the
work of Human Rights Watch and publicly admit guilt. She was
eventually granted amnesty, but it was understood that she would not
take up her human rights or journalistic activities within
Uzbekistan again.
As a token gesture, in response to criticism from the European Union
and the United States, the Uzbek government has recently released a
few human rights defenders from prison. These releases are welcome.
But, as Niazova’s experiences demonstrate, Uzbek society is far from
free. The government continues to deny accountability for its role
in the May 2005 Andijan killings, and it silences those who question
the official version of the massacre. Human Rights Watch honors
Niazova, who, at great personal sacrifice and risk, has advocated on
behalf of her fellow citizens and compelled the international
community to scrutinize the Uzbek government’s deplorable human
rights record.
Source:Human Rights Watch
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