The 2003 COHRE Housing Rights Defender Award is devoted to the memory of Rachel Corrie. On 16 March 2003, 23 year-old Rachel Corrie was killed in Rafah, Gaza by an Israeli bulldozer while defending a Palestinian dwelling against illegal demolition, and its inhabitants against arbitrary and violent forced eviction. With her unwavering courage, Rachel sets an example for the defense of human rights and the struggle to implement those rights without compromise. Her memory serves to inspire housing rights activists throughout the world.

“The atrocious killing of Rachel Corrie by agents of the Israeli State, as she placed her body between a Government bulldozer and a Palestinian home, is further testimony to just how far Israel and its American backers will go to maintain power at the expense of a just and lasting peace emerging in the Middle East. By awarding the Housing Rights Defender Award posthumously to Rachel, we honor her fortitude, her dedication and her courage by paying the ultimate price in trying against the odds to protect the housing rights of the Palestinian people against further abuse,” said Scott Leckie, COHRE’s Executive Director.

Award Presentation

Date:               Monday, 16 February 2004

Time:                6:00 to 8:00 pm

Place:              Evergreen State College

For further information, contact:

Bret Thiele at Bret@cohre.org  or 218-733-1370

The inaugural COHRE Housing Rights Defender Award is devoted to the memory of Rachel Corrie. At the age of 23, Rachel Corrie was killed on 16 March 2003 in Rafah, occupied Gaza, by an Israeli bulldozer while defending a Palestinian dwelling against demolition, and its inhabitants against forced eviction. Israel has destroyed thousands of Palestinian homes in recent years, and continues to deny Palestinian refugees the right to reclaim their former homes and lands which Israel has illegally confiscated since 1948. [Israel was given a COHRE Housing Rights Violator Award in 2002].

With her unwavering bravery and courage, Rachel Corrie’s determination to stand up for justice in the face of ruthless violence, serves as an inspiration for the defense of human rights and the struggle to implement those rights without compromise. Her tragic death and her memory are a powerful inspiration to housing rights activists throughout the world.

Organizational Profile:  The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE)

The Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions is one of the largest and most influential human rights organizations dedicated to securing economic, social and cultural rights. COHRE’s work focuses on protecting housing rights and preventing forced evictions. Well over one billion people live in slums, while 100 million people are homeless on any given night. Upwards of 20 million people are forcibly evicted from their homes every year, and even more are under threat of eviction at any time. Many millions of refugees are unable to reclaim their homes, even upon return to their countries, while women in dozens of countries face systematic housing discrimination.

The world is mired in a largely unacknowledged housing rights crisis, and it is COHRE’s primary aim to ensure that everyone, everywhere can live out his or her life in adequate housing, without the constant threat of forced eviction.

COHRE was founded in 1994 and now has some 45 staff working from offices in Bangkok (Thailand), Melbourne (Australia), Geneva (Switzerland), Rotterdam (Netherlands), Accra (Ghana), Porto Alegre (Brazil) and Duluth (USA).

COHRE administers eight programmes, which together constitute the COHRE movement for housing rights and against forced evictions. These are the COHRE Global Forced Evictions Programme, the three COHRE regional programmes – on Asia & the Pacific, the Americas and Africa – and four COHRE thematic programmes – on housing and property restitution, women and housing rights, economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights litigation, and the right to water.

In its ten years of work, COHRE has played a principal role in addressing land, housing rights and eviction issues in dozens of countries. Working closely with key civil society organizations across the world, COHRE has assisted in halting numerous large-scale forced evictions, which, if carried out, would have added several million people to the world’s homeless population. COHRE has fundamentally re-shaped international law standards on housing rights and eviction issues, through obtaining the adoption of over 50 new international standards on these issues.

COHRE has shaped national land and housing policies in a number of post-conflict situations including East Timor, Kosovo, Albania and others. It has successfully conceived and contributed to the establishment of major institutions such as the UN Housing Rights Programme, the Housing and Property Directorate in Kosovo, the Commission on Land, Housing and Property Rights in Sri Lanka and many others. COHRE has put entirely new issues on the global human rights agenda including the right of refugees to reclaim their former homes, the right to water as a human right, and the right of women to assert inheritance rights.

www.cohre.org