UN human rights award for Benazir

[fatman17]

UN human rights award for Benazir

By Masood Haider

UNITED NATIONS, Nov 25: Former prime minister Benazir Bhutto would be given the prestigious United Nations Human Rights Award posthumously on December 10, the UN Human Rights Day, well-informed sources at the UN have told Dawn.

According to the sources, the President of United Nations General Assembly, Mr Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann, is in the process of informing President Asif Ali Zardari who took over the reins of Pakistan People’s Party as its co-chairman after Ms Bhutto’s murder.

The award, which is given to individuals or organisations once every five years for “outstanding achievements in the field of human rights”, was first given out 40 years ago on the 20th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon will present the award at a ceremony at the world body headquarters.

Ironically, Begum Rana Liaquat Ali Khan, the wife of Pakistan’s first prime minister who was assassinated in 1951 in Liaquat Bagh (Rawalpindi), was one of the recipients.

The award has usually been given to a group of six winners, although in 1993 it was shared by nine individuals and organisations, and the 1978 one by eight. There have been 47 winners in all.

Some other winners, such as Nelson Mandela and Jimmy Carter are household names all over the world. Others, such as Egyptian writer Taha Hussein, Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, former UN secretary general U. Thant of Myanmar and Anna Sabatova of the Czech Republic (a founding member of ‘Charter 77’) are well known in their home regions or in human rights or humanitarian circles.

Eleanor Roosevelt, who played a key role in creating the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and legendary US civil rights leader Martin Luther King were both honoured posthumously, as was UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Sergio Vieira de Mello of Brazil, who received the award four months after he was killed along with 21 other people in the 2003 Canal Hotel bombing in Baghdad.

Organisations that have won the prize include Amnesty International, the International Committee of the Red Cross, and the Mano River Women’s Peace Network in West Africa. Established by the General Assembly in 1966, it was first awarded on December 10, 1968.


for the life of me what “outstanding achievements in the field of human rights” has BB achieved in her life-time. the grape-vine is that this is a "deal"
offered to AZ by the UN in return for not conducting a investigation on her assasination.

 

[RabzonKhan]

This is good news for Pakistan’s image, we would get some positive press for a change.

Past winners have included Dr. Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela.


Bhutto wins human rights prize

Thu 11 Dec 2008.

By Claudia Parsons

UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - The son of slain Pakistani politician Benazir Bhutto accepted a U.N. human rights prize on her behalf on Wednesday, saying she did everything possible to defend human rights.

Bhutto, who was killed almost a year ago, was among six individuals and one organisation honoured by the U.N. General Assembly on the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

Bhutto died in a suicide gun and bomb attack after addressing an election rally on December 27 last year.

Her widower, Asif Ali Zardari, is now president after Bhutto's Pakistan People's Party won an election in February.

Bhutto's son, Bilawal Bhutto Zardari, said he was "overwhelmed with both sadness and joy."

"I was extremely happy that the U.N. honoured her with this award but obviously I would have been much happier had she been here herself to receive it," said the 20-year-old student who became joint party chairman after his mother's death.

At a news conference, he declined to speak about tensions between Pakistan and India over the Mumbai attacks, for which India blames Pakistan-based militants.

Asked about allegations of extrajudicial killings and jailings of human rights activists when Bhutto was prime minister in the 1980s and 1990s, he blamed "rogue elements."

"My mother did everything humanly possible to ensure both democracy and human rights in Pakistan. Her governments were undermined by rogue elements within the establishment at the time," he said. "It was not her who committed any of these crimes, and she did everything she could to stop anything of this sort happening."

He said Pakistan still faced many human rights challenges but conditions would improve as democracy grew stronger.

Also receiving the award posthumously was Dorothy Stang, a nun who defended the rights of poor and indigenous people in Brazil who was murdered in 2005.

The other winners were former U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour, former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark, Jamaican rights activist Carolyn Gomes, Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and New York-based group Human Rights Watch.

(Editing by Alan Elsner)

 

[araz]

She is dead and I dont want to say anything against her. let her defend herself in the final court of appeal!!!!!
WaSalam
Araz