New York, US - US Secretary of State John Kerry will on Friday in Washington, DC, US, honour 10 extraordinary women, three of them from Africa, with the US Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award, a US State Department statement said on Tuesday.
The statement, made available to PANA in New York, said US First Lady Michelle Obama would join Secretary Kerry and the awardees as a special guest at the ceremony in the auditorium of US Department of State.
The three Africans on the list of the 2013 awardees are Dr. Josephine Obiajulu Odumakin, President, Campaign for Democracy (Nigeria), Ms. Samira Ibrahim, Coordinator, Know Your Rights (Egypt), and Ms. Fartuun Adan, Executive Director, Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre (Somalia).
Others awardees are Ms. Malalai Bahaduri, First Sergeant, Afghan National Interdiction Unit (Afghanistan), Ms. Julieta Castellanos, Rector, National Autonomous University of Honduras (Honduras), Ms. Elena Milashina, journalist, human rights activist (Russia), Ms. Tsering Woeser (Wei Se), Tibetan author, poet and blogger (China), Ms. Razan Zeitunah, human rights lawyer and Founder, Local Coordination Committees (Syria), Ms. Ta Phong Tan, blogger (Vietnam) and late Ms. Nirbhaya “Fearless,” champion for justice (India).
The US Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award annually recognises women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk.
“Since the inception of this award in 2007, the US Department of State has honoured 67 women from 45 different countries,’’ the statement said.
Pana 05/03/2013