Southern Sudanese woman activist receives Human Rights Award

December 11, 2010, (ABYEI) – Sarah Cleto Rial, a South Sudanese woman based in the United States of America, on Friday received the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights award from US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in the presence of Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor.

The award was one of only four presented to mark International Human Rights Day, on 10 December. The other recipients included the late Professor Louis Henkin, Alice Hartman Henkin and Wade Henderson. The Eleanor Roosevelt Award for Human Rights was established by Secretary of State Madeleine Albright bright in 1998, at the direction of President Bill Clinton.

The award is made in recognition of Ms. Rial’s work as a human rights activist, during a career which began when she was a 17 year-old student in Khartoum.
“I was arrested when I was 17 years old because of the way I was dressed. I was put in an open truck that was driven around town. People were looking at me and throwing things at me and then I was taken to a civil court where I was interrogated and humiliated,” she says.

“Many others suffered worse. That kind of mistreatment and the civil unrest in Sudan triggered my political activism. For more than 25 years I have been advocating for the lives of the marginalized people in Sudan and I specifically focus on the importance of women’s voices to be part of this movement.”

Ms. Rial was born in Khartoum, capital city of Sudan. After the end of the first Sudanese Civil War in 1972, Sarah moved with her parents and siblings to the South where her father became the Secretary General of the High Executive Council which at the time was the equivalent of today’s Government of Southern Sudan. Her mother, Theresa Samuel Ibrahim, has been a teacher since 1963, and is now re-settled in the United Kingdom.

Speaking to Sudan Tribune from Wau town, capital of Western Bahr el Ghazal state where she returned in September in order to participate in the Southern Sudan’s up-coming referendum on independence, the delighted mother said, “I really feel very happy and proud of my daughter Sarah… This award means a lot to me. South Sudanese women have worked so hard. This award is for the pride of women.”

In 1993, Ms. Rial received a scholarship to pursue her higher studies at the American University in Cairo (AUC), Egypt. This represented an opportunity to escape from threats to her personal safety which resulted from her campaigning work.

After completing her studies in Cairo, Ms. Rial joined the staff of AUC African Studies Center. She could not return to Sudan because of her activism and turned to the United Nations for refugee status, which was granted. Ms. Rial resettled in the town of Lynn, Massachusetts, America, in 1999.

Rial is currently employed as the Program Director by My Sister’s Keeper, a faith-based women-led humanitarian organization based in America. In this capacity she directs the organization’s programs on girls’ education and women’s literacy and currently leads their peace-building initiative among women representing diverse regions, races, religions and ethnicities throughout Sudan and the Diaspora.

Previously, Rial was the Employment Services Manager for the Catholic Charities Archdiocese of Boston’s Refugee and Immigration Services, and Assistant Director for the American Anti-Slavery Group. She has a long history of dedication to organizations working to empower women and advocate for peace. Since her arrival in the United States, Rial co-founded the African Women Empowerment Group, a nonprofit organization helping immigrant and refugee women to achieve self-sufficiency and continued organization with the Sudanese community in Lynn, Massachusetts.

Rial holds a BSc. Degree in Statistics and Demography from Juba University, Sudan, an MA in Political Science – Professional Development from American University in Cairo, Egypt, and a Graduate Certificate on Program for Women in Politics and Public Policy from University of Massachusetts, USA.

The Eleanor Roosevelt award is given in honor of Eleanor Roosevelt, the wife of America’s 32nd President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and US First Lady from 1933- 1945. She played an instrumental role, along with René Cassin, John Peters Humphrey and others, in drafting the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). The Declaration was adopted by the General Assembly of the UN on December 10, 1948. Since that time it has been one of the core documents underpinning international relations.

(ST)