VOL. 23, NO. 18	MARCH 27, 1998

Actress Glenn Close presents an award to Jordanian journalist Rana Husseini. Record Photo by Joe Pineiro.

our young human rights activists from the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Eritrea, Jordan and the United States were celebrated for their remarkable courage and commitment at events on campus Mar. 10-12 that drew notable entertainers, journalists, professional athletes, politicians and authors.

  The occasion was the Reebok Human Rights Awards, hosted by the School of International and Public Affairs. The events included a dinner Mar. 10 in Low Rotunda, an awards program the following morning in Miller Theatre and seminars with the winners on Mar. 12 at SIPA.

  The Reebok awards, now in their tenth year, recognize human rights activists age 30 or younger from around the world who have made significant contributions to the cause of human rights, often against great odds. The winners receive $25,000 each to help further their work.

  The awards connected human faces to headlines around the globe about ethnic, religious and political repression and conflict, political torture, the campaign to ban landmines, police brutality and so-called “honor killings” of women in Jordan—murders of women by family members for suspected “immoral” behavior.

  SIPA Dean Lisa Anderson told 250 guests at the Rotunda dinner: “In providing us with a way to give credit—to publicly, loudly, joyfully celebrate these human rights advocates—Reebok Corporation amplifies and expands the impact of the good each of them does day in and day out. Many more people know about the cause of human rights because Reebok has shown them ... individuals whose exceptional commitment is the ordinary currency of human rights.”

  Reebok Chairman and CEO Paul Fireman noted Columbia’s longstanding commitment to human rights advocacy and leadership in human rights education through the Center for the Study of Human Rights, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year. “We feel particularly at home here because of the commitment to human rights which is a hallmark of this institution. It is so special to be at a great university that has chosen to be both the sheltered grove that a university should be and, at the same time, an active, passionate advocate for human rights.”

  Guests at the dinner included Rafer Johnson, Rebecca Lobo and Alan Iverson from the world of professional sports; authors William Styron and Kurt Vonnegut; composer Philip Glass; poet and human rights advocate Rose Styron; Boston Mayor Tom Menino; actor Armand Assante; ABC newsman Jeff Greenfield; New York City Public Advocate Mark Green; Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, founder of the RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights; Sheila Susulu, South African Ambassador to the U.N., and Li Lu, a leader of the Tiananmen Square democracy movement in China and a Columbia graduate who was a Reebok award winner in 1989.

  The following morning at Miller Theatre, the awards were presented by George Stephanopoulos, a former aide to President Clinton and now a visiting Columbia professor; actress Glenn Close; actor Malik Yoba of “New York Undercover,” and rock singer Peter Gabriel. As video presentations described the winners’ day-to-day advocacy on behalf of human rights—some involving horrific abuse, torture and suffering—many in the mostly youthful audience were moved to tears. Yoba, a victim of police brutality, walked onstage, was overcome by emotion and began to weep. “These people just put things in perspective for me,” he said, sobbing. “We have a long way to go as humans.”

The award winners are:

  Anthony Jones, 29, of the United States. Founder and director of the Bay Area Police Watch/Ella Baker Center for Human Rights, Jones is a leading advocate in the movement to curb unlawful police intimidation, harassment and brutality.

  Abraham Gebreyesus, 27, of Eritrea. At age 11, while playing with friends, he lost his sight and right forearm when a land mine exploded outside his village. Since then, he has become an advocate for the rights of land mine survivors, of which there are about 250,000 worldwide.

  Dydier Kamundu, 27, of Democratic Republic of the Congo. Working from a small shed with a manual typewriter, he works on behalf of victims of political and ethnic violence in the former nation of Zaire.

  Rana Husseini, 30, of Jordan. A full-time journalist at the Jordan Times, she was the first to investigate, document, and expose “honor killings,” in which women are murdered by members of their own family for suspected behavior considered to be immoral.