The Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) takes pride in extending its warmest congratulations to our colleagues – Asma Jahangir of Pakistan and Basil Fernando of Sri Lanka for much deserved recognition – as 2014 recipients of the Right Livelihood Award for which they have been invited to Stockholm, Sweden on 1 December to accept the award. The award is given in the Swedish Parliament “to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today”.
Both Asma Jahangir and Basil Fernando have been active in pursuing human rights in their home countries as well as regionally and globally. FORUM-ASIA has worked together with both of them in a number of projects and campaigns through our members in Pakistan where Asma Jahangir is a key human rights lawyer and with the Asian Human Rights Commission, which Basil Fernando pioneered and headed for a long time.
We share the honor of this recognition to all human rights defenders and to all the victims of human rights violations in the region for whom the two laureates have dedicated their lives.
