For Immediate Release: Thursday 15 September 2005
Press release from:
Kurdish Human Rights Project
'Outstanding leadership in international human rights' - Sigrid Rausing Trust acknowledges the Kurdish Human Rights Project
Trust marks ten years of operation by making awards totaling £1 million
The Sigrid Rausing Trust completes its tenth year of operation this summer. To mark the anniversary the trustees decided to give ten awards of £100,000 each to those organisations they feel have shown outstanding leadership in the Trust's areas of interest. Kerim Yildiz of the Kurdish Human Rights Project was honoured to collect an award this afternoon, at an awards ceremony in London.
The Trust is a charitable, philanthropic foundation, based in the UK, which gives grants for work in the fields of human rights, women's rights, minority rights and social and environmental advocacy. Over the past ten years it has given away over £60 million. This year it expects to make grants totalling around £12.5 million.
The trustees' aim in making the awards is to reward exceptional leadership - proven effectiveness with an imaginative, creative and innovative methodology. The awards have been made to ten international NGOs. The winners have been given a free hand in deciding how to spend the grant, within a charitable framework. The trustees have said only that they hope the grants will be used to fund a specific project, that the winners would not otherwise have the chance to carry out, aimed at bringing about a useful lasting change in their field of expertise.
Those who have won the awards are: Carolyn Hamilton of the Children's Legal Centre, UK; Gareth Evans of International Crisis Group, Belgium; Han Dongfang and China Labour Bulletin, Hong Kong; Bisi Adeleye-Fayemi who leads the African Women's Development Fund, Ghana; Wanda Nowicka and ASTRA - the eastern European network of sexual and reproductive rights groups based in Poland; Joanna Kerr and the Association of Women's Rights in Development, Canada; Paula Ettelbrick and the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission, USA; Kerim Yildiz and the Kurdish Human Rights Project, UK; Nicholas Hildyard, Sarah Sexton, Larry Lohmann and Susan Hawley of The Corner House, UK; and Richard Fuller and the Blacksmith Institute, USA.
Sigird Rausing, Chair of Trustees for the Sigrid Rausing Trust, said: "We are celebrating ten of our best-led projects, but we could equally well have celebrated every project we support - they are all led by talented, dynamic and dedicated people, making a real difference in the world. I watch them with gratitude and admiration."
Kerim Yildiz, Executive Director of KHRP, said, "It is a special honour to receive the recognition for Leadership in Minority and Indigenous Rights from the Sigrid Rausing trust. When we began the Kurdish Human Rights Project back in 1992, we had no idea how far-reaching the scope and impact of our work would be. This achievement would not have been possible without the support of our funders and the work of our Board of Directors and staff."
Further details of those receiving the awards, and their work is attached to this release and can be found on the Trust's website at www.sigrid-rausing-trust.org
For further information please contact:
Jo Andrews at the Sigrid Rausing Trust, 0207 908 9870 or by email info@srtrust.org
Kerim Yildiz Executive Director/Rochelle Harris, PR Officer, at +44 (0) 207 405-3835
Mark Muller (Chairman) 020 7405 2576
 Top |
||
|
||
|
Kurdish Human Rights Project 11 Guilford Street London WC1N 1DH United Kingdom |
Photos: Diyarbakir Trial Ed Kashi Hasankeyf - Dean Bialek Web Design: © Manuella Martin 2002 |
Tel: 00 44 20 7405-3835
Fax: 00 44 20 7404-9088 khrp@khrp.org Registered Company No: 2922108 Registered Charity No: 1037236 |
