Article by PBI-Canada

Proceso Digital reports that human rights defenders Dina Meza and Reinaldo Villalba Vargas will receive the Sir Henry Brooke Award on December 7.

The awards, presented by Peace Brigades International-United Kingdom and the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk, are an opportunity to celebrate the commitment of Sir Henry Brooke and the lawyers and other human rights defenders we protect to the rule of law.

The article notes that Dina Meza is a journalist, the director of the Association for Democracy and Human Rights of Honduras (ASOPODEUH), the founder of PEN-Honduras, and the director of the digital newspaper Pasos de Animal Grande.

Reinaldo Villalba Vargas is a lawyer with the Colectivo Jose Alvear Restrepo (CCAJAR) in Colombia. He is currently representing Senator Iván Cepeda in legal proceedings against a former president of Colombia, Álvaro Uribe Vélez.

Meza has been accompanied by PBI-Honduras since 2014 and CCAJAR has been accompanied by PBI-Colombia since 1995.

Sir Henry Brooke, who passed away in January 2018, was the founder of the Alliance for Lawyers at Risk and a sponsor of PBI-UK.

He stated: “PBI is a unique institution. When I meet the lawyers from Colombia and other countries, I am very struck by how single-minded they are. They put their clients’ interest first and foremost, long before their own safety. PBI provides them with accompaniment without which they could not do their work… they save them from being killed.”

The Alliance website further notes: “The Alliance was founded in 2010 by Peace Brigades International UK patron, the late Sir Henry Brooke, and has since then been collaborating closely with PBI in providing legal expertise to the human rights defenders PBI accompanies.”

To watch the one-hour ceremony of the third annual Sir Henry Brooke Awards for Human Rights Defenders, fill out this PBI-UK webinar registration form.