Citizens Against Corruption receives French human rights award
On December 10th 2009, Hivos partner Citizens Against Corruption from Kyrgyzstan
will receive the French ‘Liberty-Equality-Brotherhood’ Human Rights Award 2009. Tolekan Ismailova will participate in the ceremony in Paris in which the French minister of foreign affairs Bernard Kouchner will hand over the award.
Citizens Against Corruption receives this award for its effective protection and promotion of human rights, in the spirit of the universal declaration of human rights. In particular, for its ‘civic journalism in favour of vulnerable people’ project, in which CAC aims to create a new generation of journalists in Kyrgyzstan, who are sensitive to human rights problems and are free from self-censorship.
Citizens Against Corruption was co-founded by Tolekan Ismailova. Since the early 1990s, Tolekan Ismailova has a solid reputation as civil society activist, human rights defender and critical watchdog of the authorities of Kyrgyzstan, an ex-Soviet republic in Central Asia which became independent in 1991. Tolekan Ismailova has been active in this field when she was chairperson of the nation-wide Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society, and continued this later as director of Citizens Against Corruption. Tolekan Ismailova has been arrested several times during peaceful protest rallies. Hivos supports CAC since 2004.
The French human rights award 2009 is granted to five NGOs. Alongside Citizens Against Corruption from Kyrgyzstan, these are the Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO), the Centre for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) from Argentina, Save the Generation from Russia, and Children’s Voice from Nepal.
Hivos is proud of Citizens Against Corruption and congratulates Tolekan Ismailova and her fellow activists of CAC with this remarkable achievement. It is the first award for CAC. Hivos also congratulates the other four laureates.
For more info on the ‘Prix des droits de l’homme de la République francaise 2009 Liberté – Egalité – Fraternité’, see the website of the French National Consultative Commission on Human Rights (CNCDH): www.cncdh.fr
Photo: CAC
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