Lanka professors, Burundi cop win Swiss human rights prize
GENEVA: Two university professors from Sri Lanka and a policeman from
Central Africa have been named as the top human rights defenders for
2007 by a Swiss-based rights group.
Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, a former policeman turned human rights
activist in Burundi, will share the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights
Defenders with Rajan Hoole and Kopalasingham Sritharan, who have set up
a project to monitor rights abuses by all parties in Sri Lanka’s
conflict.
The trio are “key actors for human rights and democracy in their
countries, where dramatic struggles for peace have made their work
extremely risky,” said Hans Thoolen, chairman of the 10-member jury
which awards the prize each year.
The award was set up in 1993, with the jury comprised of
representatives of human rights groups including Amnesty International,
Human Rights Watch, the World Organisation Against Torture and the
International Commission of Jurists.
Switzerland, Tuesday, AFP
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