Libyan & Sudanese Amongst State Department’s 2012 International Women Of Courage Award Recepients

Hana Elhebshi & Hawa Abdallah Mohammed Salih

Washington, DC
March 5, 2012

One Libyan woman – Hana Elhebshi – and one Sudanese woman – Hawa Abdallah Mohammed Salih – are amongst ten of the world’s leading women activists honored today for their efforts to improve the lives of women despite obstacles and threats to their safety. U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and U.S. first lady Michelle Obama presented the 2012 International Women of Courage Awards during a ceremony today held at the State Department. Secretary Clinton said all the honorees have been working tirelessly to improve the lives of women and girls, despite sometimes having to endure imprisonment and abuse. Mrs. Obama praised the women for refusing to accept the world as it is, and instead fighting to remake the world “as they know it should be.”
The prestigious Secretary of State’s Award for International Women of Courage annually recognizes women around the globe who have shown exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for women’s rights and empowerment, often at great personal risk. Since the inception of this award in 2007, the Department of State has honored 46 women from 34 different countries.
Following the awards ceremony, the International Women of Courage will travel to 10 different U.S. cities to engage with their American counterparts through the International Visitor Leadership Program, including Bozeman, MT; Cincinnati, OH; East Lansing, MI; Indianapolis, IN; Jackson, WY; Kansas City, MO; Minneapolis, MN; Pensacola, FL; St. Louis, MO; Salt Lake City, UT; and Seattle, WA. Their visit to the U.S. began on March 5th with a stop in Pittsburgh.

Hawa Abdallah Mohammed Salih
Hailing from North Darfur, Hawa and her family were forced to flee their home village in 2003 due to fighting between Darfuri rebels and government forces. As a result, she spent much of her young adult life in Abu Shouk internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in El Fasher, North Darfur, where she emerged as a prominent voice for the IDPs. For her advocacy, Hawa has been persecuted and detained on multiple occasions by the Government of Sudan, and was forced to flee Sudan in 2011. In spite of the personal harassment and political challenges that she has faced, Hawa hopes to return to her homeland to continue defending the rights of Darfuris, and in particular the rights of women and children.

Hana Elhebshi
Ms. Hana El Hebshi is a 26-year old Libyan architect who, during the long months of the Libyan revolution, became a symbol of solidarity and a model of courage to many across the country. Working under the pseudonym “Numidia,” a reference to the ancient Berber kingdom and to her own Berber heritage, Hana contributed greatly to proper documentation of the violence and tumult of the revolution and reached out to international media to share the realities of living under the previous regime, despite grave risk. She also became a symbol of hope to the Libyan people that the world was aware of the suffering they were enduring and that hope was on the way.