Third Party Event: RAW in WAR – Anna Politkovskaya Awards
On the 7th of October 2006, Russian investigative journalist, Anna Politkovskaya, was killed in Moscow. A special evening honouring Anna on the first anniversary of her murder and the launch of the RAW in WAR Anna Politkovskaya Award for women human rights defenders from war and conflict will be held at the frontline Club. The award will be given every year to a woman human rights defender from a conflict zone in the world who, like Anna, stands up for the victims, often at a great personal risk.
We will be remembering Anna and her work in pursuit of the truth with John Sweeney, Natasha Kandic, a prominent human rights lawyer from Belgrade, Mariana Katzarova, founder of RAW in WAR, and many others in the audience, who knew Anna and her work. A short film about Anna Politkovskaya and a specially filmed reading from Vanessa Redgrave of Anna’s work will be shown. We will also speak on the phone to Anna’s sister, Elena Kudimova, in Moscow and to Oksana Chelysheva and Sergey Kovalyov in Nizny Novgorod.
The award will be presented by Nobel Peace Prize laureate Mairead Corrigan Maguire to a courageous woman journalist and human rights defender from “Anna’s war” – the war in Chechnya.
RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR) is a new international human rights NGO supporting women human rights defenders and women and girl victims of war and conflict around the world. Mariana Katzarova founded RAW in WAR in 2006, after working as a journalist and human rights advocate in the war zones of Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya, including 10 years as the Russia Researcher for Amnesty International.
Nearly 100 people from around the world have joined the committee of supporters for the Anna Politkovskaya Award. Among them are: President Vaclav Havel, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Harold Pinter, Andre Glucksmann, Sbignew Brzezinski, Betty Williams, Elena Bonner, Terry Waite, Vladimir Bukovsky, Sergey Kovalyov, Lyudmila Alekseeva, Lord Frank Judd, Elizabeth Rehn, Sister Helen Prejean, Mariane Pearl, Vanessa Redgrave, Gloria Steinem, Ariel Dorfman, Susan Sarandon and many others.
