WOMEN FOR PEACE: COFADEH COORDINATOR NOMINATED FOR

UNCLAS TEGUCIGALPA 001459 SIPDIS STATE FOR WHA, WHA/CCA, WHA/PPC, AND WHA/CEN STATE FOR DRL/MLA E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PHUM PREL HO SUBJECT: WOMEN FOR PEACE: COFADEH COORDINATOR NOMINATED FOR 2005 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE ¶1. Bertha Oliva, Coordinator General of the Committee of Relatives of Detained and Disappeared Persons in Honduras (COFADEH),has been nominated by the Project for 1000 Women for Peace in 2005 to receive the Nobel Peace Prize as part of a collective of 1000 women human rights activists. 1000 Women for Peace was founded in 2003, with support from the Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the UN Development Program, with the goal of identifying 1000 women in the human rights field to be nominated to collectively receive the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize. ¶2. The nomination recognizes Oliva's more than 24 years of work with COFADEH to sustain peace and overcome hate and vengeance in the face of grave human rights violations. COFADEH began its work in 1982 when the families of twelve disappeared persons banded together to lobby for the safe return of their loved ones. In its first years, COFADEH primarily advocated government investigations into the cases of disappeared persons. In the 1990s, the group expanded its portfolio to include more general human rights work. COFADEH joined the Latin American Federation of Associations of Relatives of the Detained and Disappeared (FEDEFAM) in 1983 and the Commission for the Defense of Human Rights in Central America (CODEHUCA) in 1993. Palmer