13668: Anninger: Loune Viaud, recipient of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: Anne Anninger <aanninger@attbi.com>



Congratulations to Loune Viaud, recipient of the prestigious Annual Robert
F. Kennedy Human Rights Award !

The Robert F. Kennedy Human rights Award was established in 1984 to honor
creative individuals who are, often at great personal risk, engaged in
strategic and nonviolent efforts to overcome serious human rights
violations.

Loune Viaud is a champion of the poor in Haiti.  Her early work with a
Catholic youth group empowering impoverished communities through education
was considered subversive by her dictatorial regime, and Loune has survived
not only threats but a massacre of many of her colleagues and pupils.  Today
she is a leader in the delivery of health and social services to indigent
Haitians suffering form HIV/Aids and other debilitating diseases.  Loune
runs a pioneering public education campaign that is lowering the incidence
of disease, and she is a powerful advocate for the acceptance of health as a
human right within Haiti and around the Globe.