ANKARA
Pakistani school girl Malala and a Kosovan disabled rights campaigner are two of six people or organisations to be honoured by the UN on Tuesday for their human rights work.
Awarded only every five years, some well known previous recipients of the UN Human Rights Prize are Nelson Mandela and former US president Jimmy Carter.
Malala Yousafzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban in October 2012 for campaigning for better rights for girls, has since become a symbol for young women’s rights worldwide.
Hiljmnijeta Apuk from Kosovo has been fighting for the rights of disabled people for over 30 years. She is the founding director of the Little People of Kosovo NGO and acts as national coordinator of an awareness campaign for employment possibilities for people with disabilities.
Other people recognised by the UN for their contributions to human rights come from all parts of the globe. Biram Dah Abeid is an anti-slavery campaigner from Mauritania. Abeid campaigns to eradicate slavery and human trafficking.
Liisa Kauppinen from Finland has been a ‘voice’ for the human rights of deaf people since 1970. She has set up a number of projects with deaf communities in Africa, Central Asia, South East Asia, Latin America, the Balkans and North West Russia.
Khadija Ryadi has been fighting for human rights in Morocco for thirty years and is a coordinator of a network of 22 human rights NGOs across Morocco. She has been at the forefront of several human rights causes, including the fight against impunity, full equality between men and women, self-determination and freedom of expression regardless of sexual orientation.
Mexico’s Constitutional Court is also among the winners of the presigıous award. The court was awarded the prize for considerable progress in promoting human rights through its enforcement of Mexico’s constitution and its obligations under international law.
The awards will be given out on December 10, which is also International Human Rights Day, at the UN Headquarters in New York.
by Betül Yürük - Anadolu Agency
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