Khmer Sopheap Chak wins the Franco-German Human Rights Award

Sopheap Chak, director of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR), was awarded the Franco-German Human Rights Prize on December 10th, the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The French ambassador, Eve Nguyen Binh, and her German counterpart, Ingo Karsten, presented this honor to her. The award recognizes individuals who protect and promote "the rights that are essential for peace, stability, and justice in the world," according to the French government website, www.diplomatie.gouv.fr. It is presented annually by a team of Franco-German diplomats from the Quai d'Orsay and the Auswärtiges Amt to 15 individuals around the world who have fulfilled these criteria during the past year. According to lepetitjournal.com/Cambodge, "the CCHR provides tools to indigenous groups, youth, women, and the LGBT community to help them enforce their rights." Sopheap Chak dedicated this award, on her Twitter account, "to all those in Cambodia who risk their personal safety to help the most vulnerable against abuse, to defend the rights of all, and to try to hold those in power accountable in order to achieve more transparency."