International recognition for Goma rights activist

The international Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders for this year has been awarded to Immaculee Birhaheka, director of the Goma-based women's organisation, Promotion et appui aux initiatives feminines (PAIF), a press release from the Martin Ennals Foundation stated. The award - backed by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other leading rights organisations - was presented to Birhaheka by UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson in Geneva last Thursday, a foundation official told IRIN on Tuesday. "Immaculee Birhaheka has continually advocated peaceful coexistence and recognition of the rights of all
people. In return for her tireless work she has been increasingly harassed and threatened," the Martin Ennals Foundation stated. Down through the years, Birhaheka had been one of the few people courageous enough to denounce mass killings and ethnic intolerance, and to confront both civil
and military authorities about rights abuses and such sensitive issues as rape, it added. As a result, she had been threatened by both rebel movements and the Rwandan military in Goma, and in January of this year she was arrested, humiliated and beaten for her activism, the foundation said. "Her courage and determination are an inspiration to rights defenders throughout the world," Birhaheka's citation said. The award is named after the first Secretary-General of Amnesty International, who died
in 1991.