7 October 2009
For Immediate Release

Amnesty International To Celebrate a NZ or Pacific Human Rights Defender

As New Zealand prepares to welcome human rights defender Rebiya Kadeer, Amnesty International Aotearoa New Zealand (AIANZ) has announced it will recognise a human rights defender of its own by presenting its inaugurual Human Rights Defender Award.

In the lead-up to the celebrations for International Human Rights Day on December 10th, the organization is honouring Rebiya Kadeer and others like her who bravely speak out and take action for what they believe in the defence of human rights.

Persecuted in her own country, Kadeer was jailed for 8 years in 2000 for ‘providing secret information to foreigners’ and considered by Amnesty International to be a Prisoner of Conscience. Accused of terrorism and blamed for orchestrating the riots in July this year which left 197 dead in the Xinjiang Uighur Autonomous Region, her family and the Uighur people have faced increasing persecution and violations of their human rights by the Chinese authorities. She has been living in exile in the US since her release from jail in 2005.

Kadeer has refused to be silenced and despite the accusations and persecution, she has continued to travel the world raising awareness about China’s repression of the Uighur people.

Kadeer is a true Defender of Human Rights and an inspiration to human rights defenders around the world. In 2004 she was honoured with Norway's human rights award the Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize and in 2006, she was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

The AIANZ Human Rights Defender Award will be presented to someone from New Zealand or the Pacific Region who has made an outstanding contribution to the defence, promotion and/or advancement of human rights. This could be through work they have carried out in the community or region; working in law; work in the media; or work ‘in the field’. This person might be a lawyer, doctor, journalist, humanitarian aid worker, activist, educator, documentary maker, or anyone else who is committed to human rights.

Nominations are open now and will close at 5pm on Wednesday 18th November.

Application forms are available to download from our website www.amnesty.org.nz.

ENDS

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