Issued by: Department of Foreign Affairs
The Director-General of the Department of Foreign Affairs and South Africa's former Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Mr Jackie Selebi, has been awarded the annual human rights prize of the International Service for Human Rights.
This was announced in Geneva by the International Service for Human Rights, a non-profit international association established in Geneva in 1984 by members of a variety of Non-Governmental Organisations.
The association provides information, training, strategic advice and logistical support to human rights defenders internationally, to enable them to take full advantage of international human rights law and procedures.
The prize, which will be presented to Mr Selebi at a ceremony in Geneva on 12 August 1998, is in recognition of Mr Selebi's highly respected chairmanship of the 54th session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights and the Oslo Diplomatic Conference on a Convention Banning Anti-Personnel Landmines, in September 1997.
The award is one of the most prestigious of its kind and is given annually to the individual who has contributed most to the promotion and protection of human rights. Mr Selebi received the most nominations from the selection committee, which comprised the International Service for Human Rights, the International Commission of Jurists, the Quaker United Nations Office and several other prominent Human Rights Defenders.
ISSUED BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS PRETORIA 23 JULY 1998