Heroes for a Better World

Irene Fernandez
(1946-)

Malaysian Human Rights Activist,
2005 Right Livelihood Award Winner
1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005

birthdate: ?
birthplace:
Malaysia

Irene Fernandez is a Malaysian teacher who became a human rights activist after seeing the suffering, malnutrition and depression in the poor inner-city students she taught. The mother of three children of her own, she became involved in many causes for social change in her country, including documenting the harmful impact of pesticides on women plantation workers, organizing workers and farmers to stand up to multinational corporations, and organizing women workers to fight against domestic violence and gender bias. In 1991 she co-founded the non-governmental organization, Tenaganita, to help protect the rights of migrant workers and other oppressed people in Malaysia after witnessing the intense suffering, sexual abuse and torture undocumented migrant workers faced in her country. In 1995 she published a report on the disgraceful living conditions migrant workers endure and was arrested and charged with 'maliciously publishing false news.' Seven years of trials followed and Irene Fernandez had to appear in court 300 times, but the support she found from international human rights organizations gave her the courage to continue on with her human rights work. In 2003, after seven years of trials, Irene Fernandez was found guilty and sentenced to a year in prison. In 2005 she received the Right Livelihood Award (often called the Alternative Nobel Prize) for "her outstanding and courageous work to stop violence against women and abuses of migrant and poor workers." That year she was also nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize as part of the 1000 Women for Peace project.


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