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Anonymous – Sudan A leading advocate for human rights in Sudan, where human rights work is so dangerous that revealing one’s name would jeopardize one’s life. Hafez Al Sayed Seada – Egypt. The foremost human rights defender in Egypt. *Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) www.eohr.org.eg Oscar Arias Sánchez – Costa Rica Nobel Peace Prize laureate who brokered the peace plan to end wars throughout Central America and is a leading advocate for demilitarization globally. *Fundacion Arias www.arias.or.cr |
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Zbigniew Bujak – Poland
The leader of Solidarity underground in Warsaw throughout communist rule and at the round table discussions that set the ground work for transferring communist power in a peaceful manner, he has served the post-communist government in several capacities. |
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His Holiness the Dalai Lama – Tibet
Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy, in exile, on behalf of the people of Tibet. *Interational Campaign for Tibet www.savetibet.org Juliana Dogbadzi – Ghana Former sexual slave from Ghana, she now advocates for the abolition of slavery. Doan Viet Hoat – Vietnam Known as the "Sakharov of Viet Nam", he spent 21 years in Vietnamese prisons because he advocated for democracy. His thoughtful and eloquent writings stirred debate among Vietnamese intellectuals and the world community alike. * Viet Forum www.vietforum.org |
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Kek Galabru – Cambodia One of the foremost human rights defenders in Cambodia. She works on due process, democratization and children’s rights. Baltasar Garzón – Spain Spanish judge who prosecuted Augusto Pinochet for crimes committed during his military rule of Chile. Gabor Gombos – Hungary A former nuclear physicist, he is the leading advocate for people with mental disabilities in Hungary. |
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Bruce Harris – Guatemala/United Kingdom
Executive Director of Covenant House Central America, he is the leading advocate for street children in the region. *Casa Alianza Covenant House for Latin America www.casa-alianza.org Vaclav Havel – Czech Republic Absurdist playwright and founder of Charter 77, Havel orchestrated the Velvet Revolution in Czechoslovakia and serves as the Czech Republic’s first non-communist president in 40 years. Rana Husseini – Jordan A muckraking journalist in Jordan, she was the first reporter to bring the secretive practice of honor killings to the front pages of the daily papers. Ka Hsaw Wa – Burma After a decade of documenting horrific abuses, grass roots advocate Ka Hsaw Wa recently sued Unocal for hundreds of violations committed on behalf of a U.S. oil company by Burmese armed forces. *Earth Rights International www.earthrights.org |
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Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani – Pakistan
With her sister Hina Jilani, Jahangir started the first women’s law firm, the first women’s organization and the foremost human rights organization in Pakistan. She now serves as the UN Special Rappateuor on extra judicial killings and disappearances. Jilani is also a leading advocate for the abolition of honor killings. *Human Rights Commission of Pakistan www.hrcp.cbj.net Wei Jingsheng – China Endured nearly 20 years in Chinese prisons for his outspoken criticism of Deng Xiaoping and for his advocacy of democracy. *Center for the Study of Human Rights www.columbia.edu/cu/humanrights Patria Jiménez – Mexico First openly lesbian legislator in Mexico, she works on issues of homophobic violence, gay, lesbian rights, and awareness of AIDS. Van Jones – United States Started Police Watch in San Francisco and New York to give citizens a voice in stopping brutality. *Bay Area Police Watch www.ellabakercenter.org |
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Natasa Kandic – Serbia Human rights advocate in the Balkans who has been vilified by all sides because of her even-handed criticism of abuses and her advocacy for tolerance. *Humanitarian Law Center www.hlc.org.yu Fauziya Kassindja – Togo / United States The first person to gain political asylum based on the fear of female genital mutilation. Her nightmare experience in the U.S. Immigration system is a searing condemnation of cruelty and injustice. |
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Wangari Maathai – Kenya Feminist, environmentalist and political activist, she is one of the leading agents of change in Kenya. Rigoberta Menchú Tum – Guatemala Won the Nobel Peace Prize for her exposé on the plight of native Guatemalans and her advocacy on their behalf. Juan Méndez – Argentina A towering figure in the modern human rights movement, he has been a grass roots lawyer in Argentina, a political prisoner, the founder of Human Rights Watch- Americas, and a leading academician in the field. Bobby Muller – United States Won the Noble Peace Prize for the Campaign to Ban Landmines and has been a long time advocate for veterans’ rights and for civilian victims of war. *Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation www.vvaf.org |
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Freedom Neruda – Ivory Coast A leading journalist from the Ivory Coast, when imprisoned for criticizing the government, he took the opportunity to write an exposé on prison conditions. Guillaume Ngefa Atondoko – Democratic Republic of the Congo His work to expose and hold to international standards Hutus, Tutsis and other factions in Congo, (formerly Zaire), made him an enemy to almost everyone with political power and a hero to human rights advocates. *African Association for the Defense of Human Rights in Congo / Kinshasa (ASADHO) www.congonline.com/Asadho |
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Digna Ochoa – Mexico One of the foremost human rights lawyers in Mexico. *Accion Social de los Jesuitas en Mexico (en espanol) www.sjsocial.org Martin O’Brien – Northern Ireland Head of the Committee on the Administration of Justice, he is one of the most respected advocates for human rights for all in Northern Ireland. *Committee of the Administration of Justice / UK for a Peaceful and Just Northern Ireland www.caj.org.uk Sister Dianna Ortiz – Guatemala / United States An American nun who was raped and tortured by Guatemalan security forces who were overseen by an American national, she has worked ceaselessly to force the U.S. government to open its case files on all those brutalized in Guatemala. *Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA www.ghrc-usa.org/ |
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Marina Pisklakova – Russia The foremost advocate for battered women in Russia, she started the country’s first hotline for abused women and its first battered women’s shelter. Jaime Prieto Méndez – Colombia A founder of Colombia’s human rights movement. Sister Helen Prejean – United States Acclaimed for her autobiography and the film based on it, Dead Man Walking, she is the most well known advocate for abolition of the death penalty in the U.S. |
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José
Ramos-Horta
– East
Timor The Nobel Peace Prize recipient for initiating a peace plan between East Timor and Indonesia, for nearly a quarter century he was virtually alone, a voice in exile, working on behalf of the people of East Timor. *Timor Today - East Timor International Support Center www.easttimor.com |
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Kailash Satyarthi – India The foremost advocate for the abolition of child servitude in Asia, he has emancipated over 40,000 people from slave-like conditions. Senal Sarihan – Turkey One of the foremost human rights lawyers in Turkey. Francisco Soberón – Peru The leading human rights defender in Peru. *Asocaicion por Derechos Humanos (APRODEH) www.aprodeh.org.pe Raji Sourani – Gaza (a region under the control of the Palestinian Authority) Undeterred despite being harassed and detained by Israeli and Palestinian authorities alike, Sourani remains the leading advocate for human rights in Gaza. Vera Stremkovskaya – Belarus One of the leading human rights lawyers in Belarus. Abubacar Sultan – Mozambique Spent years flying to remote hamlets in war-torn Mozambique to rescue child soldiers and children of war, and rehabilitate and reunite them with relatives. |
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Sezgin Tanrikulu – Turkey The foremost Kurdish human rights lawyer in Turkey. Maria Teresa Tula – El Salvador One of the Co-Madres, the mothers of the Disappeared of El Salvador, her advocacy on behalf of relatives of the disappeared and her chilling personal testimony helped change U.S. policy toward El Salvador. Archbishop Desmond Tutu – South Africa Won the Nobel Peace Prize for his advocacy of democracy and justice in apartheid South Africa. |
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Koigi wa Wamwere – Kenya One Kenya’s longest serving political prisoners, he was nearly executed on trumped up charges and survived three assassination attempts while in exile. Elie Wiesel – Romania / United States One of the most eloquent writers on the Holocaust, he is renowned for his searing accounts of Nazi death camps, his advocacy of tolerance, and his unfailing humanism. Bishop Wissa – Egypt An advocate for religious tolerance, over 800 members of Bishop Wissa’s congregation were reportedly tortured and abused by police. In retaliation for reporting the crimes, Egyptian authorities have brought criminal charges against Wissa. *Center for Religious Freedom www.freedomhouse.org/religion Samuel Kofi Woods – Liberia Founded the Justice and Peace Commission of the Catholic Church, the foremost human rights organization in Liberia. *Forefront Leaders www.forefrontleaders.org Marian Wright Edelman – United States The most effective advocate for children’s rights in the United States. *Children's Defense Fund www.childrensdefense.org Harry Wu – China Survived two decades in Chinese prison camps and is the foremost critic of the Chinese Laogai labor camp system. *Laogai Research Foundation www.laogai.org |
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Muhammad Yunus – Bangladesh Founder of the Grameen Bank, the first large-scale micro-lending program in the world, he has transformed hundreds of thousands of lives of the poorest people in Bangladesh, and his initiatives have been instituted in countries around the world. *Grameen Bank www.grameen-info.org |
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José Zalaquett – Chile One of the founders of the modern human rights movement, he led the Catholic Church’s human rights efforts in Chile during the early days of Pinochet’s brutal rule. |
