Asian
Human Rights Commission
Basil Fernando of AHRC awarded 2001 Gwangju Prize
for Human Rights - Congratulations List
AHRC - Basil Fernando of AHRC awarded 2001 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights - Congratulations List
28 May 2001
Dear Basil,
Maylene and I send our congratulations and warm personal regards to you for a well-deserved honour. Your humanity and commitment have always been plain to see but such a recognition is nevertheless wonderful both for you and for the work.
Chris Tremewan
Maylene Lai
The University of Auckland
New Zealand
15 May 2001
Dear Basil,
From all of us at FORUM-ASIA, we extend our warmest congratulations for this much deserved award. We share your joys for this recognition of your long time and meaningful service to the people of Asia especially those whose rights had been violated.
All the best for more fruitful years in human rights work!
Sincerely,
Evelyn Balais-Serrano and all FORUM-ASIA officers and staff
14 May 2001
Dear Basil,
Congratulations for the achivement. We are proud of you.
With Love
Francis
Dr.Francis Xavier
Jananeethi,Trichur
India
14 May 2001
Mr. Basil Fernando,
On behalf of the Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT), I have the pleasure of conveying to Basil Fernando our congratulations for having received the 2001 Gwangju Human Rights Award.
The award is an appropriate acknowledgement of the contribution that Mr. Fernando has made, and is still making, to the cause of Human Rights in the Asian region.
Best wishes and warmest regards!
Sincerely yours,
Cecilia Jimenez
Programme Officer for the UN and Asia
Association for the Prevention of Torture (APT)
Geneva, Switzerland
Website: www.apt.ch
8 May 2001
As a Srilankan I am very much proud of you.
Congratulation and best wishes. Thank you and May God Bless you.
Fr Sudath
SriLanka
7 May 2001
Dear Basil Sahib,
Heartiest congratulation on being nominated for Gwangju Award.
It is a great honour for all Human rights activists. We wish you
good health and long life.
Please share our feeling with your family and colleagues.
Best regards,
Zaman khan
7 May 2001
Dear Mr. Basil Fernando
Congratulations to you and to your colleagues. I think you
deserved this award.
God bless you
Namal Fernando
7 May 2001
Dear Mr Fernando
Congratulations for the award. You deserved this recognition since long. I was so happy to share this information with my other colleagues at Cambodia Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. They all have their good wishes for you.
With warm regards,
Bipin Adhikari
Kathmandu, Nepal
[Presently UN Cambodia Office of the Hight Commission for Human Rights, Phnom Penh, Cambodia]
Bonn, 4th May, 2001
Dear Basil,
Greetings from Bonn!
With great satisfaction I learnt that you have been awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. My most sincere congratulations for this acknowledgement of your work and commitment! I can hardly imagine anybody to be more eligible for such honour!
For today with best and warm regards,
Heiner Knauss
Head, South-East and East-Asia Desk, EED [Protestant Association
for Cooperation in Development, Germany]
4 May 2001
Dear Basil,
I want to offer you my warmest congratulations and respect for winning the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. The award is both recognition of AHRC's accomplishments and an occasion to promote popular human rights movements throughout the region. In fact, I came across the announcement as I was downloading "Torture: The Mother of all ..." to share with colleagues here researching trends in anti-torture organizations around the world--and indication of how AHRC's work is relevant far beyond Asia.
Best reagrds,
Chris Cusano
3 May 2001
Dear Basil,
It is with great pleasure we have received the good news of you being awarded the 2001 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. It is well deserved and a very appropriate choice. At DCHR [The Danish Centre for Human Rights] we know the privilege of working closely with you and AHRC: a partnership which has only raise our admiration of the expertise and deep knowledge which you poses. This reward could not have been better placed than in your hands. We hope you will receive it as an encouragement, since your continuous engagement will also be needed in the days to come.
The best wishes from all us at DCHR
Lis
Lis Dhundale
The Danish Centre for Human Rights
Copenhagen, Denmark
2 May 2001
Dear Basil,
We have just heard that you had been selected as the second
winner of the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.
Our heartfelt congratulations for a well deserved prestigious
award !
Since Julie and I have spent many years in Korea and shared the
aspirations for more justice, democracy and respect for human
rights of so many Koreans, we are very happy that the Gwangju
Prize for Human Rights was given to you, in recognition for your
untiring work in so many different countries of Asia.
Needless to say we also rejoice that the said award was granted
to a Sri Lankan citizen.
Warmly yours and best wishes to your family and staff of the
Asian Human Rights Commission,
Bernard and Julie
Former Trade Attache to the Consulate General of Belgium
in Hong Kong and Republic of Korea
Brussels, Belgium
2 May 2001
Dear Mr Fernando,
I am so pleased to email you. Recently I have checked the news
that you are a Gwangju Prize for Human Rights laureate. I have
been noticed that the AHRC contributes much to the promotion and
protection of regional human rights. I know very well that behind
the remarkable feats are always you.
As the Asian Peoples' Charter paradoxically says, there is a long
way to go farther in the region in terms of human rights. On the
occasion of this awarding, I firmly believe that the you and the
AHRC, together with other friends advocating human rights, will
assume all the more valuable but burdensome mission for human
rights.
I sincerely congratulate you on your great efforts.
Chansik Yoon
International Human Rights Law Course
University of Essex
England
2 May 2001
Dear Basil,
Congratulations!
The DAWN children and women, Advisory Council, Board of
Directors, volunteers and staff would like to congratulate you
for being awarded the 2001 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, a very
well deserved award. This is a recognition of your long,
intensive work and deep commitment for human rights.
We are sure that this award will continue to inspire you and many
others to work harder for a future where everyone can live with
justice and dignity.
We are very happy and proud of you. We would also like to extend
our congratulations to your family and your colleagues and
associates at the AHRC and ALRC for their continuing support.
Sincerely,
Mel Nuqui
Executive Director
Develop Action for Women Network
Manila, The Philippines
2 May 2001
May I place on record our hearty congratulations to Basil for
the honour confered on him by the
Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. We all rejoice with you Basil.
You rightly deserve it. Kindly send its details so that we can
publish it in our bulletin.
Fr. George Pulikuthiyil
Jananeethi, Kerala, India
2 May 2001
Dear Basil,
I was thrilled to hear that your work has been publicly appreciated and rewarded. I have been avidly reading every line of what you so regularly supply in your inter-net news column. Continue the good work and I hope, when you retire from work you will settle down in your home in Gonawala and that you will do so before I retire from life! God bless you, Basil!
Aloy.
Fr. Aloysius Pieris s.j.
Thulana, Kelaniya, Sri Lanka
2 May 2001
My best congratulations to Basil!!!
Anselmo
Anselmo Lee Seong-hoon
Secretary-General
Pax Romana-ICMICA
Geneva, Switzerland
28 April 2001
Dear Basil,
I just read the email about news on you.
Again, congraturations!
Even though I just stayed in Hong Kong for three weeks, I've got
strong impression from your passion human rights and humanity.
You are really deserve the award.
When we look at the world, there's a lot of things that remain to
be solved and you are one of the stones in building that world we
hope for.
I also in my part, will do my best.
Hope that sometime, I see you again and wish you good health.
Young-sook.
Kim Young-sook
Former intern at the AHRC
Gwangju, south Korea
27 April 2001
Dear Basil,
Just a quick note to send you all our good wishes and congratulations for winning the Gwangju award! It is indeed a reward for your untiring efforts for peace and human rights.
Sunila and others at INFORM
Sunila Abeysekara
Information Monitor – INFORM
Colombo, Sri Lanka
27 April 2001
Dear Basil,
We are glad to hear that you are selected for the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2001. This is indeed a befitting recognition for your outstanding commitment and activism shown in the past several years. I, as one among the many in the human rights community who has been inspired by your commitment and persistence take this opportunity to congratulate you. The entire family of human rights defenders is honoured by selecting to this well deserved award. Trustees, staff and the members of Vigil India Movement also join me in congratulating you.
Personal regards from Justice Nittoor Srinivas Rau and Prof. M. Basheer
Hussain.
Warm regards,
Saji Thomas
Vigil India Movement
Bangalore, India
27 April 2001
Dear Basil,
It was indeed with much delight that we learned you have been awarded the 2001 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights! It is very well deserved!
The link between denial of human rights and immense suffering & poverty is only too evident in the Asian region. We need just to think of the Dalits as an example.
Again, many congratulations and all the best in your future work for the oppressed.
Yours sincerely, on behalf of DCA,
Berit Gade
Asia Desk
DanChurchAid
Copenhagen, Denmark
27 April 2001
Congratulations, Basil! God bless and more power to you!!!
Buddy Martinez
McGilvary Faculty of Theology
Payap University
Chiang Mai, Thailand
26 April 2001
Congratulation to Basil,
This is wonderful news for us.
ANFREL would like to congratulate to Basil Fernando, our big brother in human rights circle. We wish you a very successful life and good health and thank you for his hard work for human right in this region.
We do support him.
We remain,
Somsri Hananuntasuk-Berger
Asian Network for Free Elections
Bangkok, Thailand
26 April 2001
Dear Mr. Basil,
Congratulations from me and from all my colleagues from People's Watch -
Tamil Nadu for your being awarded the Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2001. For a person of your caliber this may not be great but for us who have seen your consistency in the case of protection and promotion of human rights. This is an occasion when the award that you have obtained encourages us to continue this struggle, which is very often lonely. We would very much appreciate that you are able to continue your work in the Asian region with that singular contribution of yours both academic and action oriented. Keep it up and my special wishes to all your colleagues from all my colleagues and myself on this historical occasion.
Thanks and congrats,
Henri Tiphagne
People’s Watch
Chennai (Madras), India
26 April 2001Mime-Version: 1.0
Dear Basil & friends at the AHRC & Asian Legal Resource Centre,
On behalf of all of the members of the Australian Council for Overseas Aid (ACFOA), please accept our heartfelt joy and congratulations on Basil's receipt of the 2001 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. It stands as a firm testimony to the outstanding work for human rights & dignity that you are all doing.
Wishing you all every success in your continuing efforts,
John Ball
Australian Council of Overseas Aid
Australia
26 April 2001
My dear Basil,
Kindly accept the most sincere and warm congratulations from myself and from the Director and Members of the Indian Institute of Police Studies, Legal Assistance Center (LAC), T.M.Vergese Foundation for Public Affairs and cutting edge level human rights activists linked with these organizations, in India and the country-wide network subserving our cause, on the distinction conferred on you. As one who has known you and your commitment to the cause of human rights, and your very vibrant and inspiring activism against oppression and injustice, discrimination and dehumanization, we have no hesitation to say that the award is well merited. We have no doubt that this would spur you and the movements and organizations you lead and guide to surge further ahead for the common cause of human rights activism everywhere. Pledging our support and solidarity, and with best wishes and very warm regards.
Yours sincerely,
Dr. P. J. Alexander
[Former Director General of Police, Kerala, India]
Indian Institute of Police Studies
Kerala, India
26 April 2001
Dear Basil,
It was with immense pleasure that I came to know this morning about the granting of the Kwanju Human Rights Award to you for 2001. Please accept our (my and Winitha's) heartiest congratulations. We wish you all courage to continue in your chosen path. It takes more than normal human endeavour to fight for human rights especially in the Asian context. We wish to share this joy with your colleagues at the AHRC and your family at home.
Laksiri and Winitha
Dr. Laksiri Fernando
[former Director of the Diplomacy Training Program of the
University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia]
Professor of Political Science, University of Colombo
Colombo, Sri Lanka
26 April 2001
Congratulations Basil!
And congratulations to awarders--a wise choice!
Alejandro Bendaņa
Centro de Estudios Internacionales
Managua, Nicaragua
26 April 2001
Dear Mr. Basil Fernando,
Congratulations of being awarded 2001 Gwangju Prize for Human
Rights.
You will have all our supports on the good work at AHRC.
Thanks very much.
Best,
Voranuch Wangsuphachart
Bangkok, Thailand
26 April 2001
CONGRATULATIONS to Basil and AHRC on the 2001 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights!
Mark
Dr. Mark Tamthai
Professor of Philosophy; Director, Humanities for Society Center,
Chulalongkorn University
Bangkok, Thailand
26 April 2001
Dear Basil,
Congratulations on being awarded the 2nd Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. I strongly agree with AHRC's press release which mention how well deserved it is.
I think your play a strong role model for many activists or people dedicated to human rights - most likely much more than you think! I have not yet met anyone who has not referred to you when mentioning my internship at AHRC. It seems that everyone remembers you and that you have left them with a strong impression of your personality so dedicated to human rights. I think you are a great inspiration to us all.
I very much agrees that what is needed is a movement among the people. Not to say that International organizations like the UN does not have influence and can put a pressure on relevant governments - they most certainly can. But no pressure is stronger and more influential than the people's will. One can reflect through time to see how governments or rulers of nations has put people's movements down because of fear and feeling of being threatened.
Well Basil, you deserve this award. Be proud of your achievements.
With love from Tina
Tina Johannesen
Former intern of AHRC and an associate member of the ALRC
Copenhagen, Denmark
26 April 2001
Dear Basil,
Congratulations!
We are proud to hear the announcement that you are awarded with 2nd Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. We feel that they have selected the right person for this award as a gratitude for all your services in the field of human rights, specially your contribution to the Asian continent specially spreading the Gwangju sprit throughout the word.
Congratulations once again.
Rev. Fr. Nandana Manatunga & the SETIK Staff
26 Apr 2001
Dear Basil,
On behalf of the ACPP, congratulations on your being awarded
the 2001
Gwangju Prize for Human Rights.
Our best wishes to you and your family at this special time.
Regards,
James Tan.
Dear Basil,
We have very much pleasure to express our warm congratulations to you for the winning of Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. We are very proud. On this occasion, We also would like to wish you more strength, good health and long life for your invaluable work.
Warna, Shoba and other Sri Lankan Friends.
Dear Basil,
Congratulations to you for winning the Award of the 2nd Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. It is a great honour and recognition for you, your committed life and work and also for your organisation. We are proud of you and we all send our best wishes and many congratulations. Fr. Timm will try to see you when he will be in Hong Kong during 27-30 April for Hotline meeting.
But he sends you many congratulations on your success.
I am sure your recognition and honour will bring blessings for us and open a new era for this new century for the comrades of human rights. It is a challenge to do human rights and you had taken it by committing yourself fully for the cause. I am also sure that this award of yours will inspire many people to take this challenge in their life.
We will pray for you and be with you on 18 May when you will be getting your esteemed honour and award at Gwangju. With a lot of regards and CONGRATULATIONS AGAIN ON YOUR GREAT SUCCESS from Lal and other staff of Hotline Bangladesh.
With Regards,
Fr. Timm, CSC, Rosaline Costa, Lal Dawn Sang Amlai and others.
Basil
I didn't hear anything from you, but presume it is because you received the Gwangju award - congratulations and well deserved. When will you be going to receive it?
Nick
Dear Mr. Fernando,
Thank you very much for AHRC press release about Gwangju Prize for Human Rights 2001to you.
At the outset my hearty congratulations and prayers. It is in deed a rare privilege and you deserve it for your long commitment for Human Rights in Asia.
Once again this comes to with warm felicilitation and greetings
Yours sincerely,
Felix N. Sugirtharaj
Executive Secretary
26 April 2001
Dear Mr. Fernando,
Congratulations!
The Asian Forum for Human Rights Development is delighted to hear that you were awarded the 2001 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights. Your achievement is well deserved. The award could not be given to a more hard-working and dedicated person, who is committed to fight against the unjust human rights violations, than yourself.
As a fellow non-governmental human rights organization, we hope the award will further help you and your organization in promoting and ptotecting human rights and pave the way for justice for al human beings.
Respectfully yours,
Somchai Holaor
Secretary-general
Asia Forum for Human Rights and Development
Bangkok, Thailand
25 April 2001
Dear Mr. Fernando,
Congratulation on the Awards!
Keep doing good works.
Joao
Joao Sarmento
East Timor Students’ Solidarity Council
Dili, East Timor
25 April 2001
Dear Basil,
My heartfelt greetings and congratulations to you and everyone at AHRC!
Warm regards.
Aditi
Aditi Chowdhury
Asian Regional Exchange for New Alternatives (ARENA)
HONG KONG SAR
25 April 2001
Dear Basil,
Please accept our heartiest congratulations on being awarded the coveted Award. This is a recognition very well deserved for all your hard work and dedication to the cause. We are very proud of your achievement. We wish you years of progress and success in all your humane endeavors. We are equally proud of your organization and your colleagues at AHRC.
Well done.
Kingsley and Sunila
Kingsley Wickramasuriya
[Retired Deputy Inspector General of Police and presently a
commissioner of the Bribery Commission of Sri Lanka]
Colombo, Sri Lanka
25 April 2001
Mr.Basil Fernando,
Executive Director, AHRC and ALRC
Dear Sir,
Congratulations!
With kind regards and best wishes,
E. Weerapperuma
Editor, Daily Observer
Colombo, Sri Lanka
25 April 2001
Dear Basil,
Please do accept my Congratulations for this 2001 Gwangju
Prize for Human Rights.
Hope this will give you added responsibility to carry on further
tasks that lie ahead. Further this is also a vindication of the
work you are carrying on relentlessly.
Reid
Fr. Reid Shelton Fernando
Sri Lanka
25 April 2001
Dear Basil,
My best and heartfelt congratulations on a much merited recognition of all your work for human rights.
With my very best wishes to you and to all at AHRC,
Peter
Peter Bowling, Director,
The International Working Group on Sri Lanka
London, England
25 April 2001
Congratulations Basil! It’s a well-deserved recognition
of your relentless work done over the years. We are very proud of
a compatriot who has gone beyond the narrow boundaries of
nationalism and territoriality.
We also remember the colleagues who have been part of the web of
the movement particularly in Asia.
Niduk Wewa!
Shanthi
Shanthi Hettiarachchi
London, United Kingdom
25 April 2001
Congratulations Basil - a well deserved recognition for all your years of relentless work. Look forward to seeing you again when our paths coincide.
Best Wishes.
Liz
Liz Philipson
London, England
25 April 2001
Dear Basil
Congratulations on this very well deserved award!
Paul
Paul Harris
[A member of the Hong Kong Human Rights Monitor, a barrister and
a human rights advocate]
Hong Kong SAR, China
25 April 2001
Dear Basil
I am delighted at this news: a well deserved honour.
Continue the good work.
Best wishes.
Yash
Professor. Yash Ghai
Chair of Kenya Constitution Commission and
Sir Y. K. Pao Professor of Law of University of Hong Kong
Hong Kong SAR, China
Asian Human Rights
Commission
Email: ahrchk@ahrchk.org
Last updated May 29, 2001 04:32 PM.
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