VZCZCXRO4461
RR RUEHIK
DE RUEHC #0500/01 0331814
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 021807Z FEB 10
FM SECSTATE WASHDC
TO ALL DIPLOMATIC AND CONSULAR POSTS COLLECTIVE
RUEHTRO/AMEMBASSY TRIPOLI 2550
RUEHRY/AMEMBASSY CONAKRY 3427
RUEHPU/AMEMBASSY PORT AU PRINCE 0661

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 STATE 010500 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: KWMN PREL KPAO PHUM
SUBJECT: ANNOUNCEMENT OF RECIPIENTS OF THE 2010 
SECRETARY'S AWARD FOR INTERNATIONAL WOMEN OF COURAGE 
 
REF: A. 09 STATE 111471 
        ¶B. 09 Colombo 1086 
        ¶C. 09 Damascus 840 
        ¶D. 09 Harare 923 
        ¶E. 09 Kabul 3824 
        ¶F. 09 Nairobi 2460 
        ¶G. 09 Nicosia 752 
        ¶H. 09 Santo Domingo 1394 
        ¶I. 09 Seoul 1922 
 
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FOR THE AMBASSADOR/COM FROM MELANNE VERVEER, AMBASSADOR- 
AT-LARGE FOR GLOBAL WOMEN'S ISSUES 
 
¶1. This is an action request.  See paras 5 and 7. 
 
¶2. Summary:  I am pleased to announce that Secretary 
Clinton has approved ten outstanding women to 
receive the Secretary of State's Award for 
International Women of Courage (IWOC) for 2010. 
These women will be recognized at a high profile 
ceremony with the Secretary on March 10.  I want to 
express my sincere gratitude to all posts that 
submitted nominations for the 2010 IWOC awards cycle 
and commend you for supporting this initiative on 
behalf of women globally.  Regional bureaus also 
deserve special praise for participating in the 
selection process and for continued coordination with 
the Secretary's Office of Global Women's Issues (S/GWI) 
to ensure the success of this program, now 
in its fourth year.  All posts that submitted 
nominations should use the occasion of International 
Women's Day on March 8 to recognize their "women of 
courage" locally and pay tribute to their 
achievements. 
 
¶3. Congratulations to posts for nominating the 
following ten women selected to receive the 2010 
Secretary of State's International Women of Courage 
Award from a competitive field of 75 nominations 
from 72 posts: 
 
AF 
 
Zimbabwe:  Jestina Mukiko.  Executive Director of 
the Zimbabwe Peace Project, Ms. Mukiko has been an 
activist, journalist, and human rights leader 
dedicated to fighting and exposing the numerous 
abuses occurring under the current government. 
Despite being abducted, brutally tortured, and 
imprisoned by government forces for her relentless 
activism, Ms. Mukiko courageously pursued justice 
through the country's legal system, eventually 
winning a landmark legal victory in the Supreme 
Court. She has become a beacon of hope to other 
victims of abuse. 
 
Kenya:  Ann Njou. Exemplifying leadership on a 
number of progressive causes, Ms. Njou has been on 
the frontlines in the fight against corruption, the 
push for gender equality, and the battle for 
constitutional reform-possibly the largest single 
issue that will determine her country's future.  She 
was instrumental to the passage of the Sexual 
Offences Act in 2008, mobilizing a civil society 
task force for the lobbying and advocacy necessary 
to secure the passage of this landmark legislation. 
She has been physically assaulted and arrested for 
her activism and criticism of the government. 
 
EAP 
 
Republic of Korea (ROK): Dr. Lee Ae-ran. Born in 
North Korea, Dr. Lee endured eight years as a 
prisoner in one of the harshest labor camps in the 
North Korean gulag after she and her family were 
designated "bad elements" as a result of her 
grandparents' defection. She eventually fled to the 
South where she went on to become the first female 
DPRK defector to receive a Ph.D. from a South Korean 
University and the first defector to run for the ROK 
National Assembly.  She has dedicated years to 
improving the status of the North Korean refugee 
community and exposing human rights abuses in the 
DPRK. She has spearheaded a number of initiatives to 
 
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bring hope and opportunity to this refugee group, 
including founding a female defector-focused NGO 
that provides practical job skills, human rights 
training, and education to empower North Korean 
women living in South Korea. 
 
EUR 
 
Cyprus:  Androulla Christofidou. At the age of 73, 
Ms. Christofidou merits recognition for her decades 
of activism and dedication to global human rights 
and, in particular, for her advocacy on behalf of 
victims of human trafficking.  Ms. Christofidou is 
leading the charge against the scourge of human 
trafficking that permeates Cyprus's commercial sex 
industry and "cabarets."  She has also challenged 
the powerful interests that benefit from maintaining 
a climate of tolerance for this form of exploitation 
of women.  She has created a network to raise money 
for trafficking victims, rescued victims from the 
hands of traffickers, and lobbied government 
officials at the highest levels to take action 
against this crime. 
 
NEA 
 
Iran: Shadi Sadr.  Ms. Sadr has emerged as a 
prominent and respected women's rights activist who 
has refused to be silenced even under pressure by 
the Iranian government.  She has been arrested twice 
for her work and was forced to flee Iran during the 
2009 election unrest. A practicing lawyer and expert 
on women's legal rights, she ran a legal advice 
center for women until the government shut it down. 
Ms. Sadr was instrumental in numerous campaigns to 
defend women's rights, including the "Stop Stoning 
Forever" initiative, and in 2003 succeeded in having 
the government suspend the laws for death by 
stoning.  She founded the first website in Iran 
dedicated to the work of Iranian women's rights 
activism. She currently resides outside Iran. 
 
Syria: Clauda Isaiah Naddaf (a.k.a. Sister Marie- 
Claude) As Mother Superior of the Good Shepherd 
Convent in Damascus, Sister Naddaf has demonstrated 
great perseverance in significantly raising 
awareness for and improving the safety of women and 
young girls in Syria (including refugees), whether 
they be victims of domestic violence, human 
trafficking, or sexual exploitation. She established 
the country's first women's shelter, initiated the 
first 24-hour hotline for women, and set up an 
emergency shelter which provides services to victims 
24-hours a day. 
 
SCA 
 
Sri Lanka: Jensila Kubais.  Ms. Kubais is one of Sri 
Lanka's few women activists from the country's large 
Muslim minority population. She lived as an 
internally displaced person (IDP)for almost 20 years 
and is dedicated to the defense of human rights, 
peace building, relief work, and women's 
empowerment.  She has tirelessly worked with Muslim 
and Tamil IDPs, recording human rights violations in 
the camps and developing grassroots programs 
focusing on life skills, health, and empowerment. 
She is a vocal supporter of reform and women's 
rights in the Muslim community and in an often 
oppressive Sri Lankan political environment. Ms. 
Kubais has been threatened with "dire consequences" 
by the Criminal Investigative Division of the police 
and received numerous warnings from government 
officials for her work.  She has taken unusual 
risks, surmounted obstacles, and challenged local 
Islamic cultural practices in her efforts to defend 
and promote progress for the Muslim community, in 
particular women and girls. 
 
Afghanistan:  Both honorees from Afghanistan have 
risked their lives, working in a climate where women 
are subjected to kidnappings and death threats, to 
advance the cause of Afghan women and the future of 
their country. 
 
Shafiqa Quraishi.  A Colonel in the Afghan National 
Police Force (ANP), Col. Shafiqa has chartered new 
territory for women in the work place and 
demonstrated visionary leadership within the police 
force. She spearheaded the Afghan National Gender 
 
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Recruitment Strategy Plan with the view toward 
increasing the number of women working in the 
Ministry of the Interior.  She has led the 
coordination of humanitarian missions for Afghan 
teachers and children, as well as raised awareness 
of gender rights and the role of women in the ANP. 
 
Shokuria Assil. As one of four female members of the 
Baghlan Provincial Council, Ms. Assil is committed 
to the empowerment of Afghan women and a role model 
for emerging women leaders.  She has fought on 
behalf of female teachers who were fired unjustly, 
promoted the role of women in the media, advanced 
the cause of girl's education, and created crucial 
linkages between remote communities and their 
provincial governments.  In a climate where the onus 
of sexual abuse is often put on the victim, Ms. 
Assil defied the cultural norms by going to the aid 
of a young girl who was gang-raped and rejected by 
her family, convincing authorities to take on the 
controversial case. 
 
WHA 
 
Dominican Republic:  Sonia Pierre.  Born on 
Dominican soil to parents of Haitian descent, Ms. 
Pierre has dedicated her life to the cause of 
Haitians and Haitian-descended women and men who 
have suffered marginalization, major discrimination, 
labor exploitation, and other injustices.  Founder 
and leader of the Movement of Dominican-Haitian 
Women (MUDHA), Ms. Pierre has not wavered from her 
commitment to the pursuit of social justice and 
helping the poorest of the poor despite facing 
hostility, death threats and opprobrium. She has 
been instrumental in raising awareness of the 
problems facing the ethnic Haitian community, 
successfully petitioned on their behalf in the 
Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and is a 
leading voice calling for the reform of 
discriminatory procedures with respect to birth 
registrations of individuals of Haitian descent born 
on Dominican soil.  Her persistence in raising these 
issues has led to increased dialogue and 
communication with the Dominican Government. 
 
¶4. Please note that Washington's official press 
announcement with the names and bios of the IWOC 
honorees will not be released until closer to the 
date of the awards ceremony. If posts wish to make a 
local press announcement prior to the Washington 
release, please limit it to the nominee from your 
host country. 
 
¶5. Action request for, Berlin, Colombo, Damascus, 
Harare, Kabul, Nairobi, Nicosia, Santo Domingo, and 
Seoul:  Posts representing the 2010 IWOC honorees 
should notify their nominees that they have been 
selected and confirm their ability to travel to 
Washington to accept the award and participate in a 
program from March 7-12.  S/GWI will be in contact 
separately via email with appropriate emboffs 
regarding travel details, interpretation 
requirements, public diplomacy guidance, and next 
steps in the IWOC process.  Posts should plan to 
have honorees arrive in Washington, DC by March 6 or 
7, departing March 12 or 13.  S/GWI and ECA will 
conduct an orientation on Sunday, March 7, with the 
official program starting March 8.  Posts will be 
asked to forward complete biographic data to ECA's 
Voluntary Visitor Division (ECA/PE/V/F/E or 
ECA/PE/V/F/A) through the regular Post EVDB Web 
Application. S/GWI will work with ECA and posts to 
finalize program details and logistics for travel to 
the U.S. 
 
¶6.  As previously noted (ref. A), nominating posts are 
responsible for covering the costs of their 
candidate's international travel to Washington, DC; 
ECA will cover the per diem, lodging, and local 
transportation during their stay in Washington. 
 
¶7.  Action for all other nominating posts; local 
recognition of nominees:  Regardless of whether a 
post's candidate was selected as one of the ten 
official women of courage honored with the 
Secretary's award, to be nominated is a distinction 
in and of itself.  Therefore, I encourage COMs to 
host an event locally to pay tribute to the IWOC 
nominee from your host country as a means of 
 
STATE 00010500  004.2 OF 004 
 
 
recognizing the achievements of these remarkable 
women.  You might consider using the occasion of 
International Women's Day on March 8, or Women's 
History Month in March, to hold such an event. Posts 
that have held a local ceremony on behalf of their 
candidate in previous years have reported that such 
Embassy recognition has helped raise the profile and 
furthered the cause of these women. (S/GWI will 
provide sample award language to posts for usage 
locally upon request.) 
 
¶8. For questions about the IWOC awards and related 
International Women's Day or Women's History Month 
programming, please contact the following S/GWI 
officers:  General information and response to 
action request in para 5, contact Irene Marr 
(marrif@state.gov).  Sample language for local 
awards ceremony, contact Justin Sosne 
(SosneJD@state.gov). Guidance regarding media and 
local public diplomacy programming, contact Ruth 
Bennett  (BennettRE@state.gov). 
 
¶9. We look forward to working with all posts involved 
in the 2010 IWOC awards process and thank you for 
your interest and efforts in support of this 
program. 
 
 
¶10. Minimize considered. 
CLINTON