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