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Rafto Laureates
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Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2010: José Raúl Vera López (1945)
Mexico
José Raúl Vera López, catholic bishop of Saltillo, Mexico, was awarded the 2010 Rafto Prize for his struggle for human rights and social justice. He is an uncompromising
critic of power abuse and a fearless defender of migrants, indigenous peoples,
and other groups at risk in Mexican society.
Bishop José Raúl Vera López is characterized as one of the most courageous critics
of human rights violations in today’s Mexico. Endangering his own security, he
speaks out loudly and without fear against human rights violations, corruption,
power abuses and the absence of the rule of law.
Raúl Vera’s focus is on the vulnerable and excluded. He is engaged in struggles
for the rights of indigenous peoples, poor peasants and workers, and the impunity
for abuses committed by army and police personnel. Bishop Vera has given voice
to prisoners, and criticised how poor people are criminalized. Contrary to the
majority of the clergy, he speaks out in support of gays and lesbians as well
as prostitutes. He insists that those in positions of power must be held accountable,
and emphasizes that vulnerable groups in society must be made aware of their rights.
As a vital tool in building awareness and empowerment, he founded Brother Juan
de Larios Centre for Human Rights (Centro Diocesano para los Derechos Humanos
Fray Juan de Larios).
By awarding the Rafto Prize 2010 to José Raúl Vera López, the Rafto Foundation
wanted to draw attention to the dramatic and worsening human rights’ conditions
in Mexico, where the government’s attempt to contain the spiralling of violent
crime has lead to a militarization of society that has further deteriorated the
human rights conditions. At the same time, we wanted to raise awareness of José
Raúl Vera López's efforts to improve this situation.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2009: Malahat Nasibova (1969)
Nakhchivan Autonomous Republic, Azerbaijan
The 2009 Rafto Prize was awarded to journalist and human rights activist Malahat
Nasibova. Nasibova has been awarded the prize for her courageous and unwavering
struggle for a free and independent press. Risking her own safety, she reports
on abuse of power, human rights violations and corruption in the isolated autonomous
republic Nakhchivan, which is part of Azerbaijan.
Malahat Nasibova (40) is a correspondent for the independent information bureau,
'Turan' in Azerbaijan and for 'Radio Free Europe'/'Radio Liberty'. She is the
leader of the human rights organisation 'Democracy and NGO's Development Resource
Center' in Nakhchivan.
Nasibova has been a critical voice against the authorities for ten years and
she steadfastly refuses to give up the fight for freedom of speech. She reports
on violations by the police against ordinary citizens, kidnapping of members of
the opposition, and attacks on journalists. In the absence of other independent
institutions, Nasibova has become a kind of ombudsperson whom the local population
turn to, to be heard.
By giving the 2009 Rafto prize to Malahat Nasibova the Rafto Foundation wishes
to give prominence to an inflexible champion of free speech and a free press and
at the same time to draw attention to a member of the Council of Europe which
increasingly fails to meet its democratic and human rights obligations towards
its own citizens and the international society.
Malahat Nasibova - Files for download
:: Rafto Prize 2009 press release (English)
:: Raftoprisen 2009 pressepakke (Norwegian)
:: Rafto Prize 2009 Malahat Nasibova CV (English)
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2008: Bulambo Lembelembe Josué (1960)
The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC)
The 2008 Rafto Prize was awarded to Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué for his dedicated
struggle to end the plight of the people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo
(DRC). His work brings hope for peace, reconciliation and human dignity to people
who have suffered from the deadliest conflict since World War II.
The most frequent targets of this hidden war are women. In the last ten years
in DRC, hundreds of thousands of women have been raped, many in excessively brutal
gang rapes. Pastor Bulambo’s message is clear and simple: “We can no longer accept
that our daughters, our sisters and our wives are raped. It should be possible
for women to be safe. It is our responsibility to make life safe.”
The DRC faces a grave humanitarian crisis resulting from what has become known
as the First African World War. The war in the Congo is significantly linked to
the Rwandan genocide. Many African countries and countless militia groups are
involved. Since 1998 more than 5 million people, mainly civilians have lost their
lives in the conflict.
Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe serves as Vice President of the Protestant Council
of Churches, the Eglise du Christ au Congo (ECC), in the DRC’s South Kivu province.
His prominence as a church leader has allowed him to preach democratic ideals
in an effort to quell rising tensions between ethnic groups in the region. Bulambo
Lembelembe Josué is also the Vice President of Héritiers de la Justice, a human
rights organisation he helped to establish in 1991. The organisation works to
raise awareness of human rights, assist victims of human rights abuses. Bulambo
stresses that no amnesty should be given to perpetrators of sexual violence.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2007: The National Campaign on Dalit Human Rights
India
The 2007 Rafto Prize was awarded to the Indian organisation The National Campaign
on Dalit Human Rights ( NCDHR). Vincent Manoharan (centre), Secretary General of the NCDHR, Dr. Vimal Thorat
(left), Co-Covenor and Paul Divakar (right), Covenor received the award on behalf
of the organisation.
Of India’s 1 billion citizens, 167 million are labelled as ‘impure’,‘outcast'
or ‘untouchable’. These people call themselves Dalits, meaning ‘the oppressed’.
For thousans of years they have suffered humiliation, discrimination, and exclusion
by being born into a social and cultural system which fundamentally conflicts
with the notion that all human beings are born free with equal rights.
The NCDHR received the 2007 Rafto Prize for its brave struggle to promote Dalit
rights, and for its efforts to emphasise that the discrimination and oppression
resulting from caste prejudice is a serious violation of international
human rights.
The NCDHR was established in 1998 by a group of human rights organisations and
activists concerned with the status of Dalits’ rights in India. NCDHR’s efforts
include documenting human rights violations, providing legal assistance to victims
of discrimination and atrocities, and lobbying nationally and internationally.
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 Photo: International Buddhist Information Bureau |
2006: Thich Quang Do (1928)
Vietnam
Patriarch Thich Quang Do received the 2006 Rafto Prize for his personal courage
and perseverance through three decades of peaceful opposition against the communist
regime in Vietnam, and for being a symbol for the growing democracy movement in
the country.
Thich Quang Do is one of Vietnam’s most prominent defenders of democracy, religious freedom
and human rights, an intellectual leader and a unifying force in Vietnam. In August
2008 he took up the post of Patriarch of the Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam,
a currently banned organisation in Vietnam.
He has devoted his life to the advancement of justice and the Buddhist tradition
of non-violence, tolerance and compassion. Through political petitions, Thich
Quang Do has challenged the authorities to engage in discussions about democratic
reforms, pluralism, and freedom of religion, human rights and national reconciliation.
This has provided strength and direction to the democracy movement.
Thich Quang Do has paid a high price for his activism. He has spent a total of
28 years in prison and today he is still under house arrest in Saigon in Vietnam.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2005: Lidia Yusupova (1961)
Chechnya
The 2005 Rafto Prize was awarded to the Chechnyan lawyer and human rights advocate
Lidia Yusupova, in recognition of her brave and unrelenting efforts to document
human rights violations and act as a spokeswoman for the forgotten victims of
the war in Chechnya.
Representing the Russian human rights organisation Memorial in Grozny between
2000-2005, Yusupova has been active in bringing lawsuits regarding human rights
violations to Chechnyan courts. Memorial is one of very few such organisations
that continue to operate in Chechnya.
The incidents that Yusupova and her fellow workers in Memorial have documented
are serious violations of international human rights and humanitarian law: extrajudicial
killings, enforced "disappearances" of civilians, illegal arrests and torture.
Lidia Yusupova gathers testimonies from victims of human rights abuses, and prossesses
their cases with law enforcement and military agencies. To the extent it is possible,
she provides the victims with legal assistance. Yusupova also keeps the rest of
the world informed about violations of human rights committed by Russian armed
forces and Chechen rebels alike. She continues her struggle to defend human dignity
in a chaotic war situation and in an environment where the working conditions
and security of human rights advocates and journalists are increasingly compromised.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2004: Rebiya Kadeer (1947)
Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR), China
Rebiya Kadeer was awarded the 2004 Rafto Prize for her struggle for basic human
rights for the Uyghurs. Uyghurs are a Turkic speaking, primarily Muslim people.
Although the region Xinjiang was given autonomy in 1955, millions of Chinese immigrants
have been sent to the region and the Chinese have taken, progressively, more control
politically and economically.
In 1997 Rebiya Kadeer founded the “Thousand Mothers Movement” to promote job
training and employment for Uyghur women. Kadeer also established evening schools
for Uyghurs who did not have the opportunity to go to ordinary school. Kadeer’s
humanistic message is “it is our moral obligation to help the ones in need, and
we must leave no one behind”.
Kadeer has paid a high price for criticizing China’s long-standing repression
of the Uyghurs. She was arrested in August 1999 and sentenced in March 2000 to
eight year’s imprisonment. This sentence was later reduced by one year following
a secret trial, where neither she nor her lawyer had the opportunity to argue
her case.
Following her release in March 2005, Kadeer was elected as the president of the
World Uyghur Congress. Kadeer continues to champion the rights of the Uyghur people
from exile in the US. “I want to be the mother of the Uyghurs, the medicine for
their sufferings, the cloth to wipe their tears, and the shelter to protect them
from the rain,” says Rebiya Kadeer.
A biography of Rebiya Kadeer, "Die Himmelsstürmerin" (The Stormer of the Sky),
written by German writer Alexandra Cavelius, was published in 2007 in German.
A worldwide English edition entitled "Dragon Fighter: One Woman's Epic Struggle for Peace with China" was published in 2009.
:: Curriculum Vitae (CV)
: : Picture of Rebiya Kadeer - high resolution
Picture text: Rebiya Kadeer during the seminar "Olympics in Beijing and Human
Rights in China" in April 2007 in Bergen, Norway. Photo: Sean Murray/the Rafto
Foundation.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2003: Paulos Tesfagiorgis
Eritrea
The 2003 Rafto Prize was awarded to Paulos Tesfagiorgis for his efforts to improve
the rights and democratic influence of the people of Eritrea.
By awarding Tesfagiorgis the Rafto Prize, the Rafto Foundation showed their support
to Eritreans who fight,through non-violent means, against oppression and the militarization
of the Eritrean society
Tesfagiorgis fought for his people by establishing the only PFDJ (the People's
Front for Democracy and Justice) licensed Regional Centre for Human Rights and
Development in Eritrea. Tesfagiorgis also co-founder and head of the Eritrean
Relief Association during the Eritrean war of independence . Following Eritrean
independence he was appointed to the commission which drafted Eritrea's constitution,
which was ratified in 1997. In 2002 Tesfagiorgis and 17 other Eritreans set up
the "Citizens Initiative for the Salvation of Eritrea" (CISE)
Today, living in exile, he continues his lifelong work, through peaceful means
and dialogue, to empower the people of Eritrea.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2002: Sidi Mohammed Daddach (1957)
Western Sahara
Sidi Mohamed Daddach was awarded the 2002 Rafto Prize for representing the Sahrawi
people in their struggle for human rights.
Sidi Mohammed Daddach is a Sahrawi human rights defender and former political
prisoner. Imprisoned for more than two decades by the Moroccan authorities, Daddach
has become an important symbol of Western Sahara’s struggle for self-detrmination.
He has spoken forcefully about Morocco’s human rights violations, and drawn the
world's attention to the hundreds of Sahrawis who have "disappeared" after the
Moroccan invasion in 1975.
Daddach was again arrested in 1979, and sentenced to death for having attempted
to join the Polisario Front, Western Sahara's liberation movement. His sentence
was commuted to life imprisonment in 1994. In 2001, he was released by royal amnesty,
after years of campaigning for his liberation by Amnesty International and other
human rights organisations.
Peaceful demonstrations since the summer of 2005 have led to harsh repression
and an uprising in the Occupied Territories of Western Sahara. Daddach is one
of very few leading human rights activists who have not been jailed during these
political protests. Demonstrators have been arrested in large numbers, some receiving
long prison sentences, while Daddach remains pressured and harassed by Moroccan
security services. |
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2001: Shirin Ebadi (1947)
Iran
The 2001 Rafto Prize was awarded to Shirin Ebadi for her struggle for human rights
and democracy in Iran, and in particular, her fight for the rights of women and
children.
Shirin Ebadi is an Iranian lawyer, human rights activist and founder of Children's
Right Support Association in Iran. She struggles for the strengthening of the
legal status of children and women. At great personal risk she used her position
as a lawyer and a university professor to promote human rights in the Islamic
society of Iran.
Ebadi was the first female judge in Iran, but was forced to resign after the
revolution in 1979. Conservative clerics insisted that Islam prohibit women from
becoming judges. Ebadi was not able to practice as a lawyer until 1993. During
this time she wrote books and articles in Iranian periodicals, which made her
widely known .
Shirin Ebadi is an outstanding representative of the Iranian reform movement,
and her work is universally recognized. She is a practicing Muslim, but she is
a firm believer that Islam can be interpreted in accordance with democratic ideals
and human rights. Shirin Ebadi was awarded the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
2000: Kim Dae-jung (1925-2009)
the Republic of Korea (South Korea)
Kim Dae-jung, a former South Korean president, was awarded the 2000 Rafto Prize
for his tireless work for democracy and human rights in Korea. He also received
the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000.
After a turbulent rise to power, two imprisonments and numerous attempts on his
life for his long-standing opposition to authoritarian rule, Kim Dae-jung was
elected in 1998 as President of South Korea. He completed his five year term in
2003. The reforms and restructuring that he began early in his presidency still
continue.
Kim Dae-jung’s policies of economic reform and restructuring in South Korea,
together with his policy of engagement and re-conciliation towards North Korea,
better known as the “Sunshine Policy”, rendered hope for peaceful and democratic
development, with respect for fundamental human rights.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
1999: Gennady Grushevoy (1950)
Belarus
Gennady Grushevoy was awarded the 1999 Rafto Prize for his numerous years of
brave work for democracy and human rights in Belarus.
Gennady Grushevoy was a professor of philosophy at the Belarusian State University
from 1973. In 1988 Grushevoy began to participate actively in the democratic opposition
movement, the Belarusian Popular Front (BFP). For organising various political
actions and protest demonstrations after the Chernobyl catastrophe in Belarus
he was arrested in 1989.
In 1989, he created a non-governmental charitable fund dedicated to helping Belarussian
children affected by Chernobyl catastrophe. The Fund was officially registered
in 1990 as a non-profit, non-governmental Belarussian Charitable Fund «For the
Children of Chernobyl». After the Chernobyl catastrophe, Belarus faced many problems
which mainly affected the younger generation. Grushevoy has especially focused
on environmental issues. The organisation promotes civil movement initiatives
within Belarus and works on a variety of humanitarian programmes.
During the 1990s Grushevoy initiated the creation of numerous public, political,
social-political organisations in Belarus. In 1996 he was elected to the Parliament,
but as one of the leaders of the democratic opposition, he was not registered
as a deputy and was not included by President Lukashenka in the House of Representatives.
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1998: ECPAT (End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography and the Trafficking of
Children for Sexual Purposes)
Thailand
The 1998 Rafto Prize was awarded to the ECPAT campaign which represents the struggle
to protect the human rights of children.
ECPAT was established in 1990. It is a network of organisations and individuals
working together to eliminate the commercial sexual exploitation of children.
The International Secretariat is based in Bangkok, Thailand. 73 ECPAT groups are
located in 67 countries. With this award the Rafto Foundation wanted to give focus
to the fact that also children have human rights.
ECPAT has played a prominent part in the process of achieving global legal protection
for children against commercial sexual exploitation. According to ECPAT, the number
of children being held as prostitutes, often under slave-like conditions, is about
one million globally.
The areas in which ECPAT works include: prevention of and fight against child
sex tourism and child trafficking, prevention of child pornography on the internet,
support of direct services to children who are at risk or are victims, assistance
to law enforcement in investigating and prosecuting offenders, and the development
and implementation of campaigns aimed at raising public awareness.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
1997: The Romani people - Ian Hancock
USA
The Rafto Foundation for Human Rights awarded its 1997 prize to Professor Ian
Hancock, Romani scholar, linguist and human rights advocate.
He is director of the Program of Romani Studies and the Romani Archives and Documentation
Center at the University of Texas at Austin, where he has been a professor of
English, linguistics and Asian studies since 1972.
Professor Hancock has for decades used his unique position as a Romani-born,
university-educated scholar, to speak and fight for Romani political and civil
rights. He has represented the Romani people at the United Nations.
The Romani population, which has been persecuted throughout the centuries, has
traditionally had no voice or representation. The Romani people have never obtained
basic human rights. In recent years their situation has deteriorated in many countries.
So the plight of the Romani people continues to demand serious attention and bold
action from authorities around the world.
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1996: Palermo Anno Uno
Italy
The Italian anti-mafia organisation Palermo Anno Uno (Palermo Year One) was awarded
the Rafto Prize in 1996. With this award the Rafto Foundation wanted to draw the
world's attention to human rights violations committed by private, international,
organised crime organisations.
Palermo Anno Uno, an umbrella organisation for a number of NGOs opposing organised
crime, was founded after the massive demonstrations all over Sicily, following
the murder of Giovanni Falcone in May 1992.
Palermo Anno Uno has since shown how individuals together can stand up to the
Mafia and other organised crime syndicates, and it has proven it is possible to
fight against the atrocities of organised crime.
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1995: The Committee of Soldiers` Mothers in Russia
Russia
The Committee of Soldiers' Mothers was awarded the 1995 Rafto Prize for its efforts
to promote peace in areas threatened by ethnic conflicts after the collapse of
the Soviet Union.
The Committee of Soldiers' Mothers was founded in 1989 and distinguished itself
during the Afghanistan war and the ongoing Chechen conflict. The Committee worked
for peaceful development and improved conditions for those involved in the conflict.
Among the activities the organisation is involved in is educating Russian civil
society on the law,relating to military service, as well as informing society
about what democratic armed forces look like. The organisation also provides free
legal advice to soldiers and their families about their rights, as well as intervening
on behalf of soldiers who experience abuse from their officers and other more
senior soldiers.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
1994: Leyla Zana (1961)
Kurdistan/Turkey
The 1994 Rafto Prize was awarded to Leyla Zana, a Kurdish parliamentarian incarcerated
for her peaceful struggle for the human rights of the Kurdish people in Turkey
and the neighbouring countries.
Leyla Zana symbolizes the struggle for a peaceful solution to the Kurdish conflict
in Turkey. Leyla Zana was on trial in Turkey and risking capital punishment when
the 2004 Rafto Prize was awarded to her. Zana was sentenced to 15 years in a Turkish
prison, and a military court later sentenced her to another two years in prison.
Throughout her imprisonment, she has maintained a strong stand against all violence.
Leyla Zana was released from prison in 2004. She is active in human rights issues
in Turkey and working for the new party she co-founded in 2005.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
1993: The People of East-Timor -
José Ramos-Horta (1949)
East-Timor
The Rafto Prize 1993 was awarded to the Foreign Minister, in exile at that time,
José Ramos-Horta, for the people of East Timor.
During Indonesian Occupation from 1975-1999, Ramos-Horta and the Timorese people
experienced brutal oppression including major violations against human rights.
Ramos-Horta fought against this oppression through his establishment of the Revolutionary
Front for an Independent East Timor (FRETILIN), through which he served as an
exiled spokesman for the East Timorese resistance.
José Ramos-Horta is co-recipient of the 1996 Nobel Peace Prize and a former Prime
Minister, having served from 2006 until his inauguration as President after winning
the 2007 East Timorese presidential election.
East Timor achieved independence in 2002 and Ramos-Horta was appointed the country’s
first Foreign Minister. After resigning amidst political turmoil in 2006, and
being elected to a two-week position as Acting Prime Minister by the then President,
he was officially sworn in as the second Prime Minister of East Timor.
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 Photo: Rafto Foundation archive |
1992: Preah Maha Ghosananda (1929-2007) Cambodia
The 1992 Rafto Prize was awarded to the Venerable Preah Maha Ghosananda for his
tireless work to help restore the nation state and bring peace to Cambodia.
Preah Maha Ghosananda was a Cambodian Buddhist monk who served as the Patriarch
of Cambodian Buddhism during the Khmer Rouge period and post-communist transition
period of his country’s history. Ghosananda served as a representative of the
Cambodian nation-in-exile to the United Nations and was influential in peace talks
throughout the 1980s. In the early 1990s he led a series of Dhammayietra, or “Pilgrimages
of Truth” which included dangerous journeys through many areas of Cambodia still
under Khmer Rouge control.
In his unique position as spiritual leader, Ghosananda powerfully demonstrated
the eminent humanitarian values of Buddhist ethics. He convincingly invoked the
force of religious tradition, thus counteracting the intimidating and brutalising
effects of political tyranny.
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 Photo: Rafto Foundation archive |
1991: Elena Bonner (1923-2011)
Russia
Elena Bonner was awarded the 1991 Rafto Prize for her promotion of human rights
in the former Soviet Union and contemporary Russia.
During the 1940s - 1950s Elena Bonner helped political prisoners and their families.
She became a founding member of the Moscow Helsinki Group in 1976. In 1984 she
was sentenced to five years of exile in Gorky after helping her husband, Andrei
Sakharov, who was there in exile, to bring his writings back to Moscow.
After death of her husband in 1989, she established the Andrei Sakharov Foundation,
and the Sakharov Archives in Moscow to continue to fight for human rights. Bonner
remained outspoken on democracy and human rights in Russia, in particular the
authoritarian politics of Kremlin.
Elena Bonner died of heart failure in Boston, USA, aged 88, according to her
daughter, Tatiana Yankelevich.
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 Photo: Rafto Foundation archive |
1990: Daw Aung San Suu Kyi (1945)
Burma
The 1990 Rafto Prize for Human Rights was awarded to Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the
leader of the National League for Democracy in Burma, for her peaceful struggle
under the military dictatorship.
During the student uprising of 1988 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi became involved in political
protests and assisted in founding the National League for Democracy (NLD), which
won the 1990 general elections.
However, the elections were not recognised by the military government of Burma.
Since 1989 Daw Aung San Suu Kyi has been under house arrest. She has become an
icon for political liberation and democracy in Burma.
Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's non-violent struggle for democracy was internationally
recognised when she received the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize. Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
is the official patron of The Rafto Human Rights House in Bergen, Norway.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
1989: Doina Cornea (1929)
Romania
In 1989, the Thorolf Rafto Foundation decided to award two prizes: one personal
award for Doina Cornea and one group award for FIDESZ, the Hungarian youth opposition
movement.
The first of the 1989 Rafto Prizes was awarded to Doina Cornea for her work as
a dissident during the communist regime of Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania.
Doina Cornea started her activist work in 1982 while working as a professor for
a Romanian university. She was fired a year later after releasing texts and protests
against the Ceauşescu regime, to Radio Free Europe. Despite being arrested in
1983 by the Securitate - the Romanian communist secret police-, and being interrogated,
beaten, and threatened with death, she continued for the next six years to release
a total of 31 texts and protests to Radio Free Europe.
Together with her son, she released 160 manifestos against the communist regime.
Doina Cornea and her son were both arrested and held in custody for five weeks
in 1997. She was then put under house arrest for two years.
Following her release Doina Cornea continued her outspokenness against new communist
regimes. She co-founded the Democratic Anti-totalitarian Forum of Romania (Forumul
Democrat Antitotalitar din România), the first attempt to unify democratic opposition
to the post-communist government. This organisation later became the Romanian
Democratic Convention. Doina Cornea later also co-founded The Group for Social
Dialogue (Grupul pentru Dialog Social) in Romania, The Civic Alliance Foundation
and The Cultural Memory Foundation.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
1989: FIDESZ - Péter Molnár
Hungary
The second of the 1989 Rafto Prizes was awarded to FIDESZ, (Fiatal Demokraták
Szövetsége), the alliance of young democrats founded in 1988 as a liberal youth
organization that played a very important role in the transition to democracy
and became a liberal party in 1990. Some years later, it has been transformed
fundamentally and does not exist any longer as a liberal party.
Péter Molnár received the Rafto Prize on behalf of Fidesz as one of its founders
and one of its members of leadership at that time. He is a writer, activist, former
Member of the Parliament of the Republic of Hungary (1990-1998) and Senior Research
Fellow at the Center for Media and Communication Studies at Central European University
in Budapest.
He has been specializing on enabling policies for freedom of speech that he has
been teaching since 1994. Searchers, the play based on his novel, received the
awards for best alternative and best independent play in Hungary in 2007.
For the Rafto Foundation, Péter Molnár represents the liberal spirit of the organization
that was awarded in 1989.
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 Photo: Hans Jørgen Brun |
1988: Trivimi Velliste (1947)
Estonia
The 1988 Rafto Prize for Human Rights was awarded to Trivimi Velliste of Estonia,
one of the leading forces behind the liberation of the Baltic States.
Trivimi Velliste faced great personal risk by encouraging the drive for national
and political freedom. Initially he struggled against the Russians for Estonia’s
identity and later he fought for his country’s independence. Trivimi believed
that knowledge of history was necessary in the fight for elementary human rights
and tin order to achieve self-government and self-confidence.
Following a career in publishing and journalism, and being a central player in
opposition to Soviet rule, Velliste founded the Estonian Heritage Society in 1987.
The Estonian Heritage Society was instrumental in politically mobilizing national
sentiments, encouraging the public celebration of national anniversaries, and
the strengthening of religious movements. Its work was important in the pro-independence
movement, leading to the disintegration of the Estonian communist party in 1990.
Trivimi Velliste was later a member of the Congress of Estonia and Committee
of Estonia from 1990-1992 and a member of the Constitutional Embassy from 1991-1992.
He was then appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1992 until 1994, and later
served as a United Nations ambassador from 1994 until 1998. Since then Trivimi
Velliste has continued his career as a member of parliament.
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 Photo: Rafto Foundation archive |
1987: Jiří Hájek (1913-1993)
The Czech Republic
The Rafto Foundation chose Jiri Hajek, the former Minister of Foreign Affairs
in Czechoslovakia, to be its first recipient of the Rafto Prize for Human Rights.
Jiří Hájek was one of the four founders and architects of Charta 77, the civil
rights movement. Jiří Hájek emerged as a prominent spokesperson for Charta 77.
Despite facing police interrogations and threats on his life, he determinedly
raised awareness for and defended the uncompromising Charta 77 document, which
voiced the principals of universal human rights.
As president of Charta 77, Jiří Hájek briefly enjoyed the cooperation and friendship
of the Norwegian human rights activist Thorolf Rafto from Bergen, whom he respected
for his convictions and ideals.
The ideas of the Charta 77 are congenial with the principles of the Rafto Foundation.
It was fitting that the front figure of Charta 77 was awarded the first Rafto
Prize (1987). Jiří Hájek acts as torch bearer for the fight for human rights tradition.
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José Raúl Vera López
Malahat Nasibova
Bulambo Lembelembe Josué
NCDHR
Thich Quang Do
Lidia Yusupova 
Kim Dae-jung 
Gennady Grushevoy 
ECPAT 
Ian Hancock 
Palermo Anno Uno 
The Committee
Leyla Zana 
José Ramos- Horta 
Preah Maha Ghosananda 
Elena Bonner 
Aung San Suu Kyi 
Doina Cornea 
Peter Molnar 
Trivimi Velliste 
Jiri Hajek