Human Rights and
International Democratic Solidarity

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04-09-2013

CADAL nominated the Committee for Racial Integration of Cuba for the International Hrant Dink Award

The Puente Democrático Program of CADAL nominated Comité para la Integración Racial en Cuba, led by Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna, for the International Hrant Dink Award that Hrant Dink Foundation awards annually since 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Puente Democrático Program of CADAL nominated Comité para la Integración Racial en Cuba, led by Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna, for the International Hrant Dink Award that Hrant Dink Foundation awards annually since 2009 in Istanbul, Turkey.

The Citizens Committee for Racial Integration (CIR), led by Juan Antonio Madrazo Luna, is a nonprofit civil institution, without ideological affiliation or political aims, which integrates Cuban citizens, Cubans living abroad and foreign residents in Cuba that own sovereign will, on an equal footing, without distinction of any kind, that join with the purpose of promoting, through peaceful and lawful, the fuller integration of all citizens, regardless of race or skin color, in all social, economic, cultural and institutional places.

Each year, the Hrant Dink Foundation honors "individuals, organizations and groups that work for a free and just world, free of discrimination, racism and violence, that take risks to achieve those ideals and breaking down stereotypes and use the language of peace and in doing so provide inspiration and hope to others ". According to its website, with this award the Foundation aims to "remind all who fight for these ideals that their voices are heard, that their jobs are visible, they are not alone, and also to give courage to all to fight for their ideals."

Hrant Dink (Malatya, September 15, 1954 - Istanbul, January 19, 2007) was a Turkish journalist of Armenian origin. He wrote in the weekly Agos in Armenian and he was a columnist and editor in chief of the same from 1996 until his assassination. When he began to develop his journalism, Dink wanted to establish a connection and communication bridge between the Turks and the Armenian community which felt isolated at home. Another objective of the weekly was to join the two states, Turkey and Armenia, recognizing the injustices committed against the Armenian people in the past. In 2005 he was convicted for "insulting Turkishness" in an article on the Armenian diaspora. Dink wrote a series of articles in which he invited the Armenians of the diaspora to focus their ire in the end of confrontations with the Turks and to do so in the welfare of Armenia. January 19, 2007 he was shot dead on the street. On the night of January 20, the Turkish police reported the arrest of a 17 years old young boy in the city of Samsun, on the Black Sea coast, who had confessed to the crime.

In the application of CIR, CADAL highlighted its ability to "develop a civil organization to adversity in the Castro regime under unrelenting campaign of harassment and threats against members and activists of the organization". In addition, the nomination highlights that "among his most recognized practices in Cuba, it is the approach to peripheral sites of Havana, where there are several groups of marginalized African descent, activities of cultural and social development ".

 
 
 

 
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