EUROPEAN HUMAN RIGHTS HERO AWARDS PRESENTED TO YOUNG AND ADULT ACTIVISTS

The event was co-organized by Youth for Human Rights International and the European Foundation for Human Rights and Tolerance, with supporting organization such as United Sikhs International, the Church of Scientology and Help the Needy Foundation, Bulgaria. It also served the purpose of forwarding the ongoing European petition to introduce human rights education in school curricula, which amounts to more than 82,000 signatures to date.

“Trafficking in children, otherwise known as ‘Modern Day Slavery’, is a global problem affecting large numbers of children,” said Mary Shuttleworth, Founder and President of Youth for Human Rights International, in her opening speech. “Some estimates have as many as 1.2 million children being trafficked every year. There is a demand for trafficked children as cheap labour or for sexual exploitation. Trafficked children are even arrested and detained as illegal aliens.”

Ms. Shuttelworth quoted a recent report of UNICEF that estimates that 1,000 to 1,500 Guatemalan babies and children are trafficked each year for adoption by couples in North America and Europe. According to the United Nations Study on Violence against Children: Every day, four children under the age of fourteen die from physical violence in the European region. Thousands more are injured, physically or emotionally.

MEPs Maria Badia, Spain, and Claude Moraes, UK, were keynote speakers and supported the work of Youth for Human Rights International, making the point that proper human rights education and setting a good example were key in this field.

The four awardees all have incredible personal stories that show what one single determined individual can do.

Film director and organizer of film festivals, Concha Pinos, was the first winner of the Hero Award. She devoted her life to promoting human rights and has touched thousands of lives through her dedication and compassion and through her broader activities in different NGOs, mainly as a peacemaker and as a human rights educator.

Samson Mande received the Award as a former Colonel of the Army in Uganda, Africa, who after his refusal to carry out repressive instructions he was sentenced to prison in Uganda where he was physically and mentally tortured. Escaped from prison he fled to Sweden where he started his activity as human rights advocate making significant inroads to the resolution of the child soldier issue.

YHRI Special Recognition Award was presented to Dr. Maria Karg on behalf of the National Institute for the Study of Dutch Slavery and its Legacy for outstanding contribution to raising awareness on slavery while educating youth about basic human rights. At the end of the tour of the exhibition, which is done by a large number of young students of different schools, Dr. Karg plays the UNITED video, a human rights educational tool considered by Craig Mokhiber, Deputy Director Office of the UN High Commission of Human Rights, as “brilliant. An important contribution to human rights education.”

The two youth awardees, Angelo Kreuzburger, 17, from Austria, and Don Shaul, 12, from Israel, stunned the audience with their accomplishments and their commitment to the cause of enhancing human rights throughout the world.

“To see all those people who are really helping making human rights a reality, is wonderful,” said Angelo Kreuzburger. “We live in a society where decisions are taken for the whole Europe. It is in our hands what we make out of it in the future.”

12 year old Don Shaul received a standing ovation for the work he has done in a worn torn area, north Israel, where he has educated his whole school of 600 pupils using the Youth for Human Rights educational tools, showing that even one responsible young person can really make the difference.