User:Hiljmnijeta

Hiljmnijeta Apuk, ​Laureate of the prestigious UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights 2013.

Hiljmnijeta Apuk has been an activist for the rights of the persons with disabilities for over 30 years, both domestically as well as internationally. She is the founding director of the Little People of Kosovo organization and acts as national coordinator of an awareness campaign for employment possibilities of persons with disabilities. Ms. Apuk is also an artist, working to promote authentic culture of persons with disabilities through her artwork. Ms. Apuk was a member of the Ad Hoc Committee of the UN General Assembly on drafting of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.

The United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights is an honorary award given to individuals and organizations in recognition of outstanding achievement in human rights. The Prize was established by the General Assembly in 1966 and awarded for the first time on 10 December 1968, the twentieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, on what became widely known as International “Human Rights Day”. The Prize has been awarded every five years since 1968 (in 1973, 1978, 1988, 1993, 1998, 2003, 2008 and 2013). Previous laureates have included Amnesty International, Jimmy Carter, Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela and Eleanor Roosevelt. The Prize is an opportunity not only to give public recognition to the achievements of the recipients themselves, but also to send a clear message to human rights defenders the world over that the international community is grateful for, and supports, their tireless efforts to promote all human rights for all. Nominations were received from a broad variety of sources: Member States, specialized agencies and non-governmental organizations in consultative status and from other appropriate sources. Over 150 nominations have been received by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.