ANNOUNCEMENT OF RECIPIENTS OF THE 2010

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 010500 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM SUBJECT: ANNOUNCEMENT OF RECIPIENTS OF THE 2010 SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE REF: A. 09 STATE 111471 ¶B. 09 Colombo 1086 ¶C. 09 Damascus 840 ¶D. 09 Harare 923 ¶E. 09 Kabul 3824 ¶F. 09 Nairobi 2460 ¶G. 09 Nicosia 752 ¶H. 09 Santo Domingo 1394 ¶I. 09 Seoul 1922 STATE 00010500 001.2 OF 004 FOR THE AMBASSADOR/COM FROM MELANNE VERVEER, AMBASSADOR- AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN'S ISSUES ¶1. This is an action request. See paras 5 and 7. ¶2. Summary: I am pleased to announce that Secretary Clinton has approved ten outstanding women to receive the Secretary of State's Award for International Women of Courage (IWOC) for 2010. These women will be recognized at a high profile ceremony with the Secretary on March 10. I want to express my sincere gratitude to all posts that submitted nominations for the 2010 IWOC awards cycle and commend you for supporting this initiative on behalf of women globally. Regional bureaus also deserve special praise for participating in the selection process and for continued coordination with the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues (S/GWI) to ensure the success of this program, now in its fourth year. All posts that submitted nominations should use the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8 to recognize their "women of courage" locally and pay tribute to their achievements. ¶3. Congratulations to posts for nominating the following ten women selected to receive the 2010 Secretary of State's International Women of Courage Award from a competitive field of 75 nominations from 72 posts: AF Zimbabwe: Jestina Mukiko. Executive Director of the Zimbabwe Peace Project, Ms. Mukiko has been an activist, journalist, and human rights leader dedicated to fighting and exposing the numerous abuses occurring under the current government. Despite being abducted, brutally tortured, and imprisoned by government forces for her relentless activism, Ms. Mukiko courageously pursued justice through the country's legal system, eventually winning a landmark legal victory in the Supreme Court. She has become a beacon of hope to other victims of abuse. Kenya: Ann Njou. Exemplifying leadership on a number of progressive causes, Ms. Njou has been on the frontlines in the fight against corruption, the push for gender equality, and the battle for constitutional reform-possibly the largest single issue that will determine her country's future. She was instrumental to the passage of the Sexual Offences Act in 2008, mobilizing a civil society task force for the lobbying and advocacy necessary to secure the passage of this landmark legislation. She has been physically assaulted and arrested for her activism and criticism of the government. EAP Republic of Korea (ROK): Dr. Lee Ae-ran. Born in North Korea, Dr. Lee endured eight years as a prisoner in one of the harshest labor camps in the North Korean gulag after she and her family were designated "bad elements" as a result of her grandparents' defection. She eventually fled to the South where she went on to become the first female DPRK defector to receive a Ph.D. from a South Korean University and the first defector to run for the ROK National Assembly. She has dedicated years to improving the status of the North Korean refugee community and exposing human rights abuses in the DPRK. She has spearheaded a number of initiatives to STATE 00010500 002.2 OF 004 bring hope and opportunity to this refugee group, including founding a female defector-focused NGO that provides practical job skills, human rights training, and education to empower North Korean women living in South Korea. EUR Cyprus: Androulla Christofidou. At the age of 73, Ms. Christofidou merits recognition for her decades of activism and dedication to global human rights and, in particular, for her advocacy on behalf of victims of human trafficking. Ms. Christofidou is leading the charge against the scourge of human trafficking that permeates Cyprus's commercial sex industry and "cabarets." She has also challenged the powerful interests that benefit from maintaining a climate of tolerance for this form of exploitation of women. She has created a network to raise money for trafficking victims, rescued victims from the hands of traffickers, and lobbied government officials at the highest levels to take action against this crime. NEA Iran: Shadi Sadr. Ms. Sadr has emerged as a prominent and respected women's rights activist who has refused to be silenced even under pressure by the Iranian government. She has been arrested twice for her work and was forced to flee Iran during the 2009 election unrest. A practicing lawyer and expert on women's legal rights, she ran a legal advice center for women until the government shut it down. Ms. Sadr was instrumental in numerous campaigns to defend women's rights, including the "Stop Stoning Forever" initiative, and in 2003 succeeded in having the government suspend the laws for death by stoning. She founded the first website in Iran dedicated to the work of Iranian women's rights activism. She currently resides outside Iran. Syria: Clauda Isaiah Naddaf (a.k.a. Sister Marie- Claude) As Mother Superior of the Good Shepherd Convent in Damascus, Sister Naddaf has demonstrated great perseverance in significantly raising awareness for and improving the safety of women and young girls in Syria (including refugees),whether they be victims of domestic violence, human trafficking, or sexual exploitation. She established the country's first women's shelter, initiated the first 24-hour hotline for women, and set up an emergency shelter which provides services to victims 24-hours a day. SCA Sri Lanka: Jensila Kubais. Ms. Kubais is one of Sri Lanka's few women activists from the country's large Muslim minority population. She lived as an internally displaced person (IDP)for almost 20 years and is dedicated to the defense of human rights, peace building, relief work, and women's empowerment. She has tirelessly worked with Muslim and Tamil IDPs, recording human rights violations in the camps and developing grassroots programs focusing on life skills, health, and empowerment. She is a vocal supporter of reform and women's rights in the Muslim community and in an often oppressive Sri Lankan political environment. Ms. Kubais has been threatened with "dire consequences" by the Criminal Investigative Division of the police and received numerous warnings from government officials for her work. She has taken unusual risks, surmounted obstacles, and challenged local Islamic cultural practices in her efforts to defend and promote progress for the Muslim community, in particular women and girls. Afghanistan: Both honorees from Afghanistan have risked their lives, working in a climate where women are subjected to kidnappings and death threats, to advance the cause of Afghan women and the future of their country. Shafiqa Quraishi. A Colonel in the Afghan National Police Force (ANP),Col. Shafiqa has chartered new territory for women in the work place and demonstrated visionary leadership within the police force. She spearheaded the Afghan National Gender STATE 00010500 003.2 OF 004 Recruitment Strategy Plan with the view toward increasing the number of women working in the Ministry of the Interior. She has led the coordination of humanitarian missions for Afghan teachers and children, as well as raised awareness of gender rights and the role of women in the ANP. Shokuria Assil. As one of four female members of the Baghlan Provincial Council, Ms. Assil is committed to the empowerment of Afghan women and a role model for emerging women leaders. She has fought on behalf of female teachers who were fired unjustly, promoted the role of women in the media, advanced the cause of girl's education, and created crucial linkages between remote communities and their provincial governments. In a climate where the onus of sexual abuse is often put on the victim, Ms. Assil defied the cultural norms by going to the aid of a young girl who was gang-raped and rejected by her family, convincing authorities to take on the controversial case. WHA Dominican Republic: Sonia Pierre. Born on Dominican soil to parents of Haitian descent, Ms. Pierre has dedicated her life to the cause of Haitians and Haitian-descended women and men who have suffered marginalization, major discrimination, labor exploitation, and other injustices. Founder and leader of the Movement of Dominican-Haitian Women (MUDHA),Ms. Pierre has not wavered from her commitment to the pursuit of social justice and helping the poorest of the poor despite facing hostility, death threats and opprobrium. She has been instrumental in raising awareness of the problems facing the ethnic Haitian community, successfully petitioned on their behalf in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and is a leading voice calling for the reform of discriminatory procedures with respect to birth registrations of individuals of Haitian descent born on Dominican soil. Her persistence in raising these issues has led to increased dialogue and communication with the Dominican Government. ¶4. Please note that Washington's official press announcement with the names and bios of the IWOC honorees will not be released until closer to the date of the awards ceremony. If posts wish to make a local press announcement prior to the Washington release, please limit it to the nominee from your host country. ¶5. Action request for, Berlin, Colombo, Damascus, Harare, Kabul, Nairobi, Nicosia, Santo Domingo, and Seoul: Posts representing the 2010 IWOC honorees should notify their nominees that they have been selected and confirm their ability to travel to Washington to accept the award and participate in a program from March 7-12. S/GWI will be in contact separately via email with appropriate emboffs regarding travel details, interpretation requirements, public diplomacy guidance, and next steps in the IWOC process. Posts should plan to have honorees arrive in Washington, DC by March 6 or 7, departing March 12 or 13. S/GWI and ECA will conduct an orientation on Sunday, March 7, with the official program starting March 8. Posts will be asked to forward complete biographic data to ECA's Voluntary Visitor Division (ECA/PE/V/F/E or ECA/PE/V/F/A) through the regular Post EVDB Web Application. S/GWI will work with ECA and posts to finalize program details and logistics for travel to the U.S. ¶6. As previously noted (ref. A),nominating posts are responsible for covering the costs of their candidate's international travel to Washington, DC; ECA will cover the per diem, lodging, and local transportation during their stay in Washington. ¶7. Action for all other nominating posts; local recognition of nominees: Regardless of whether a post's candidate was selected as one of the ten official women of courage honored with the Secretary's award, to be nominated is a distinction in and of itself. Therefore, I encourage COMs to host an event locally to pay tribute to the IWOC nominee from your host country as a means of STATE 00010500 004.2 OF 004 recognizing the achievements of these remarkable women. You might consider using the occasion of International Women's Day on March 8, or Women's History Month in March, to hold such an event. Posts that have held a local ceremony on behalf of their candidate in previous years have reported that such Embassy recognition has helped raise the profile and furthered the cause of these women. (S/GWI will provide sample award language to posts for usage locally upon request.) ¶8. For questions about the IWOC awards and related International Women's Day or Women's History Month programming, please contact the following S/GWI officers: General information and response to action request in para 5, contact Irene Marr (marrif@state.gov). Sample language for local awards ceremony, contact Justin Sosne (SosneJD@state.gov). Guidance regarding media and local public diplomacy programming, contact Ruth Bennett (BennettRE@state.gov). ¶9. We look forward to working with all posts involved in the 2010 IWOC awards process and thank you for your interest and efforts in support of this program. ¶10. Minimize considered. CLINTON