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Thursday, 8 March 2012 00:00 - - {{hitsCtrl.values.hits}}
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton will host the 2012 International Women of Courage Awards Ceremony with special guest First Lady Michelle Obama tomorrow.
Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues Melanne Verveer and other US and foreign dignitaries will also participate. Special guests this year include Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman, 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Laureates.
One of the ten award winners this year will be Maldivian Aneesa Ahmed, a gender-based violence activist and former Deputy Minister of Women’s Affairs. Ahmed is the founder of NGO ‘Hope for Women,’ and fights to end gender-based violence in Maldives. The names of all of this year’s honourees follow and full biographies and photos are available at: ttp://www.state.gov/s/gwi/programs/iwoc/2012/bio/index.htm
The prestigious Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage annually recognizes women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk. Since the inception of this award in 2007, the Department of State has honoured 46 women from 34 different countries.
The International Women of Courage Award Ceremony will be streamed live March 8 at 9:00pm Maldives time, 9:30pm in Sri Lanka at the US Embassy Colombo website http://srilanka.usembassy.gov/streamvideo.html.
