Law graduate's fight for $50,000 donation for family of protester shot dead in Cambodia [Chut Wutty was a forest activist and an environmentalist, not a protester]

By Sara Nichol
Original article here.
Sep 14, 2014 

Tyneside law graduate Gavin Cowings was working in Cambodia when well-known protester Chut Wutty was killed

Chut Wutty

A Tyneside law graduate has told how he helped the family of a protester shot dead by police in the Far East win a $50,000 donation.

Gavin Cowings was working as a legal Intern on the Human Rights Defender’s (HRD) project at the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), in Cambodia, when Chut Wutty, who was well-known in the country, was killed while protesting about illegal deforestation.

The shooting made international news at the time.

After just two weeks in the country, Gavin, from Winlaton, Gateshead, was put in charge of the HRD project and was tasked with helping the Wutty family.

And, after a lot of work, the 27-year-old managed to secure an enormous $50,000 donation for Mr Wutty’s grieving relatives.

Gavin Cowings with his partner Olga in Cambodia

Gavin said: “On my second week of work in the country, Mr Chut Wutty was shot dead by policemen while protesting the illegal deforestation of a remote area of Cambodia.

“Mr Wutty was effectively Cambodia’s version of David Attenborough and this was huge news.

“My team leader, as well as most of the international staff, left to investigate the death and I was put in charge of the HRD project and tasked with trying to help the Wutty family.

“I wrote directly to the Office of the UN High Commissioner of Human Rights and secured a donation of $50,000 to the Wutty family.

“That’s a huge amount of money in Cambodia and enough to sustain them for the rest of their lives.”

Gaving, who was the only native English speaker on the team, added: “Working on the Wutty case was as hard as it was rewarding.

“It was a job well done but I still think about it. He was a brave, well known and inspirational man and the world needs more, rather than less, people like him.”

A riot take places outisde Gavin Cowings's workplace in Cambodia

Gavin first went out to work in Cambodia two years ago after graduating from York University.

Gavin said: “I did my Graduate Diploma in Law and, to be honest, I wasn’t exactly overawed in how exciting it was.

“I went into law thinking law and justice came hand-in-hand but found out quickly there’s a bit of a gap between the two.

“I’d already been to Cambodia twice before and thought there were more important things in life than filling in forms for a fee and there were more deserving people to be helped.

“My time in Cambodia has had it’s up and downs, but almost always ups.

“The up sides are the friendliness of the people and the culture.”

And working in Cambodia is also where Gavin met his partner Olga. Having come back to the UK, the pair have now returned to Cambodia.