To Whom It May Concern:
Human rights defender Mam Sonando of Cambodia has been selected as one of six finalists for the Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at
Risk 2013.
Every year Front Line Defenders presents the Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk to a human rights defender who has made an
outstanding contribution to the cause of human rights.
Please find a press release attached in English and in Khmer for your information.
Kind regards,
Michelle
-- Michelle Foley Events & Promotions Coordinator Front Line Defenders International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders Second Floor, Grattan House, Temple Road, Blackrock, Co. Dublin, Ireland Tel: +353 1 212 3750 Fax: +353 1 212 1001 www.frontlinedefenders.org You can now follow Front Line Defenders on: Facebook: www.facebook.com/FrontLineDefenders Twitter: @FrontLineHRD LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/ company/front-line-defenders/
Press Release28 January 2013For Immediate releaseHuman rights defenders from Iran, Cambodia, Kenya, Uzbekistan,Colombia and Mauritania selected as finalists for 2013 Front LineAward for Human Rights Defenders at RiskEvery year Front Line Defenders presents the Front Line Award for Human RightsDefenders at Risk to a human rights defender who has made an outstandingcontribution to the cause of human rights. Previous winners of the Award haveincluded human rights defenders from Syria, the Russian Federation, Afghanistan,Guatemala, DRC, Uzbekistan and Sudan.On Monday 28 January the jury made up of members of the Oireachtas, DáilEireann and the European Parliament: Ms Emer Costello MEP, Minister SimonCoveney TD, Senator Averil Power, Minister Ruairi Quinn TD, and Front LineDefenders board member, Ms Noeline Blackwell announced the names of the 6human rights defenders selected as finalists for this year's Award.The finalists for the 2013 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk are:Mam Sonando – CambodiaMansoureh Behkish – IranRuth Mumbi – KenyaDavid Rabelo Crespo – ColombiaBahtiyor Hamraev – UzbekistanBiram Dah Ould Abeid – Mauritania
Speaking at the announcement of the finalists in Dublin, Front Line Defenders
Executive Director Mary Lawlor said “To decide on this year's finalists we were
faced with the unenviable task of choosing 6 human rights defenders from a total
list of 90 nominations, from every region of the world. Every one of the 90 human
rights defenders nominated for this year's Award is an example of courage and
absolute commitment to the cause of human rights. Each of the 6 finalists has
faced threats and intimidation while 2 of this year's finalists, Mam Sonando from
Cambodia and David Rabelo Crespo from Colombia, are currently in prison”.
“There will always be people who choose to work for the promotion and protection
of human rights. No matter how governments try, they will never get rid of them all,
and as each one falls, another is there to continue the fight against injustice. It
doesn’t matter whether their work is for a few years or for life, what governments
don’t understand is that you will never quench the spirit of human rights defenders.
It is in their blood and in their breathing” added Ms Lawlor.
“The Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk is a celebration of
that unquenchable spirit which unites human rights defenders around the world in a
movement to create more just and equal societies”.
The winner of the 2013 Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk
will be announced at a ceremony in Dublin later in the year.
Photographs available from Front Line Defenders for no cost reproduction.
For further information please contact:
Jim Loughran, Head of Communications, Front Line Defenders
Tel+353 (0)1 212 37 50
Mobile +353 (0)87 9377586
BIOGRAPHICAL DETAILS
Finalists for Front Line Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk 2013
Mam Sonando (Cambodia) has devoted his life to helping the poor and
disenfranchised of Cambodia, fighting for their rights while also following the non-
violent precepts of his Buddhist faith. He is a journalist and the Director of one of
only three independent radio stations in Cambodia where the state has almost
complete monopoly over the media, and crackdowns on free speech have led to
widespread self-censorship. He is also founder and president of a national
organisation called the Association of Democrats, which actively promotes
democracy and human rights. He was arrested In early July 2012 and despite
there being absolutely no evidence to link him with the so-called secessionist
movement, he was found guilty on 1 October 2012 of instigating insurrection and
incitement to take up arms against the state and sentenced to 20 years
imprisonment.
Mansoureh Behkish (Iran) is a women’s rights activist and co-founder of Mothers
of Khavaran and Mothers of Laleh Park. As a supporter of non-violent resistance
and a human rights defender she has spent the past three decades empowering
survivors and victims of human rights abuses. In particular she seeks to help the
mothers, sisters and wives of the thousands imprisoned or executed by the Islamic
Republic authorities, to seek justice through legal and humanitarian channels. As a
result of her work as a HRD, she herself has faced continuous harassment,
confiscation of her passport and violation of her right to travel and three terms of
imprisonment.
Ruth Mumbi (Kenya) is a passionate community mobiliser, and is the founder and
current National Coordinator of Bunge la Wamama, a women's chapter of Bunge la
Mwananchi, a movement that conducts strong advocacy and campaigning on
issues of social justice and accountability in different parts of Kenya. She was born
and still lives in Kiamaiko, a Nairobi slum and she began her involvement in
community mobilisation initiatives in the late 1990s, when she was barely 16 years
of age.
David Rabelo Crespo (Colombia) has worked for 35 years in the defence of
human rights. In the early years, he worked mainly in defence of social, economic
and cultural rights, and later worked for worker's rights, promoting social and union
mobilisation. In more recent years, he has worked to defend the lives of others
although in doing so he has put his own life at risk. Between 1998 and 2004 he was
director of the Municipal Peace Council, a body devised to protect the lives of the
local people who, with the arrival of the paramilitaries were at risk from the upsurge
in assassinations of social and community leaders, and a series of massacres
carried out with impunity. Rabelo Crespo has devoted his life to promoting respect
for human rights and international humanitarian standards in the Magdalena Medio
region of Colombia, and even though he is now imprisoned he continues to work to
protect the rights of political prisoners in Colombian prisons.
Bahtiyor Hamraev (Uzbekistan) has been a dedicated campaigner for human
rights in Uzbekistan for the last 15 years. He has been head of the Djizak regional
branch of the Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan (HRSU) and has documented
human rights violations in this region. In recent years he has become the main
contact with families of imprisoned human rights defenders, helping to spread the
information about their conditions in detention, the torture and ill-treatment and
helping to provide the families with legal aid and financial assistance. The price he
has had to pay has sometimes been far too high, but despite all of these difficulties,
he has continued to work, refused to leave the country and tried to make a
difference in one of the worst human rights situations in the region. Sadly, Hamraev
is suffering from terminal cancer, yet he continues to send information about human
rights violations and to assist families of imprisoned human rights defenders.
Biram Dah Ould Abeid (Mauritania) has been threatened, defamed and harassed
because of his work for human rights and against slavery in Mauritania. He has
been arrested and ill-treated on several occasions and in April 2012 he was
“disappeared” for several weeks into a secret, high-security government facility,
without being able to contact to his family and without any legal assistance. It is
believed he would have been killed but for the international outcry. He was
released in September 2012 but has chosen to continue his work inside Mauritania.
ENDS
ដោយ ជុន ច័ន្ទបុត្រ 2013-02-05
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