The 2002 Reebok Human Rights Awards Winners Salt Lake City Set the Stage for Four Young, Deserving Activists Last month, in Salt Lake City, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Robert Redford and other celebrities were among those honoring the recipients of the 2002 Reebok Human Rights Awards as part of the Cultural Olympiad of the 2002 Winter Games. Established in 1988, the 2002 Reebok Human Rights Award annually recognizes four activists age 30 or under who have made significant contributions to the field of human rights strictly through non-violent means. For the first time in the 13-year history of the award, the four winners are women. This Year's Winners are: Babita Maili Lama, 25, IndialNepal, Rescuer of Sex Trafficking Victims Lama is a survivor of sex trafficking who now works courageously to help girls and young women escape from forced prostitution in the notorious brothels of Bombay. She leads the field work of the Bombay office of Maiti Nepal, planning and executing programs to free girls from lives of sexual slavery. Despite great danger, Babita has rescued rnore then 100 girls from captivity and has helped them rebuild their lives. Malika Asha Sanders, 27, United States, 21st Century Civil Rights Activist Sanders is a life-long civil rights activist from Selma, Alabama, who leads the 21st Century Youth Movement, an organization that helps young African Americans understand their civil rights heritage and develop leadership skills. She is dedicated to helping African American youth renew hope by finding and implementing solutions to the increase of youth-on-youth violence, drug abuse and crime, and the continuation of racism, sexism, and poverty in their communities. Dita Sari, 29, Indonesia, Crusader for Social and Economic Justice Sari is a labor activist dedicated to improving wages and working conditions for millions of impoverished Indonesian factory workers. At the age of 21, in defiance of then-President Suharto's laws, she formed the first independent labor union in Indonesia, soon becoming the onIy female political prisoner at the time. Her passion, vision and courage in developing a consciousness within Indonesian society that labor rights are human rights have continued since. Kavwumbu Hakachima, 27, Zambia, Advocate Against Child Abuse Hakacluma has single-handedly brought public awareness to the issue of physical and sexual child abuse in Zambia, a problem that has grown dramatically as a result of the AIDS crisis. As the founding coordinator of the Children In Crisis Center at the Lusaka YWCA, she advocated for Zambia to recognize the problem, demanded state protection for abused children and worked tirelessly to rescue them from perilous situations. providing them with shelter and counseling. Urban Mozaik Magazine congratulates all of the winners and celebrates all of those who have the dedication and courage to make a positive difference in this world. This website: Copyright © 2002 Dream World Media, LLC. / Urban Mozaik Magazine. All rights reserved. The opinions expressed in Urban Mozaik Magazine are not necessarily those of Urban Mozaik Magazine and the publisher cannot be held responsible for them. This website/publication, in whole or in part, may not be reproduced without written permission from the publisher.