Mary Robinson was in Memphis, Tennessee this week to receive a special award honouring her life’s work in the field of human rights and amplifying the voices of the most vulnerable.
Mary Robinson was in Memphis, Tennessee this week to receive a special award honouring her life’s work in the field of human rights and amplifying the voices of the most vulnerable.
The International Freedom Award 2013 was presented to Mrs Robinson from the National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis at a ceremony on 6th November held in the Cannon Center for Performing Arts.
In announcing this year’s awards, Beverly Robertson, president of the National Civil Rights Museum, said: “In their careers, each of the honourees has been engaged in shaping a culture and ultimately defining important aspects that drove change.“ Other Freedom Award honourees on the night were Geoffrey Canada, CEO and president of Harlem Children’s Zone and a leading advocate for education reform and equality in the United States; and Earl Graves, founder and publisher of ‘Black Enterprise Magazine’, and an activist for black consumer and black business power.
In a pre-awards interview, Mrs Robinson said how she was ‘humbled’ to be joining a group of distinguished human and civil rights campaigners in receiving the award, and was pleased to get the opportunity to visit the Museum and the scene of the assassination of Dr Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.
“I think it would surprise people if I say with quite a lot of conviction, that if Martin Luther King Jr was alive today, he would be talking about climate justice, and about the injustice of how climate change is affecting the poorest countries and the poorest communities,” Mrs Robinson said in the interview with Memphis TV station News Channel 3.
“The cause of climate change is the emissions from using carbon fossil fuel. Most of the countries that are now most affected are not countries that have access to electricity, not countries where people are driving cars – they are the poorest countries, and they’re being undermined in their food security. It’s a real injustice, but also a real opportunity to move rapidly to the clean energy that very many people don’t have.
Since 1991, the Freedom Award has served as a symbol of the ongoing fight for human rights both in America and worldwide. Recipients are celebrated for their tireless contributions in civil and human rights, education, the arts, sports & community service, justice and for their dedication to creating opportunity for the disenfranchised.
Previous recipients of the International Freedom Award have included His Holiness the Dalai Lama; Dr. Wangarai Maathai; President of Liberia Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf; and Nelson Mandela.
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Video: 2013 International Freedom Award recipient – Mary Robinson