PLAN, Manage Your Professional Development as a Graduate Student
Posted Monday, September 28th, 2009
Lydia Cacho, the 19th Raoul Wallenberg Medalist, will be speaking Thursday, October 8th, at 7:30pm in the Rackham Auditorium.
A journalist, author, feminist, and human rights activist from Cancún, Mexico, Ms. Cacho has worked for many years to bring attention to the human rights crisis of violence against women and child abuse. She has published hundreds of news articles and several books, including an exposé of child pornography, The Demons of Eden: The Power Behind Pornography in which she confronted complicit political and business interests. As a result of her courageous dedication to justice and human rights, she was illegally arrested and abused by corrupt police officials who operated with impunity, and prosecuted for her investigations. Vindicated after lengthy litigation, she still faces threats and persecution. The United Nations Human Rights Council has urged her to seek political asylum abroad, yet Ms. Cacho chooses to stay in Mexico where she is steadfastly outspoken about crimes against powerless victims that are ignored by Mexican courts, many officials and public opinion. She has taken on the cause of the many dozens of unsolved killings of women in Ciudad Juárez and has established the Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres (CIAM) in Cancún, a shelter which rescues and assists women and children seeking to escape violence and exploitation.
Ms. Cacho has received many awards, including the Human Rights Watch Award; CNN Hero of the World (2007); the Ginetta Sagan Award of Amnesty International USA (2007); the International Women's Media Foundation award (2007); the Oxfam Novib / PEN Freedom of Expression Award; and the UNESCO/Guillermo Cano Freedom of Expression award 2008.
Please visit The Wallenberg Endowment website for more information about Raoul Wallenberg, Ms. Cacho and previous medalists.
