



Syeda Rizwana Hasan, chief executive of Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association (Bela), has won the Ramon Magsaysay Award 2012 for her campaign for social and ecological justice.

The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation (RMAF) recognises "her uncompromising courage and impassioned leadership in a campaign of judicial activism in Bangladesh that affirms the people's right to a good environment as nothing less than their right to dignity and life", according to an announcement made by the RMAF Board of Trustees yesterday.

Five other Asians -- Chen Shu-Chu of Taiwan, Romulo Davide of the Philippines, Kulandei Francis of India, Yang Saing Koma of Cambodia, Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto of Indonesia -- have also received the prestigious award this year for their contributions in different fields.

The six winners now join the 290 laureates, who have received Asia's highest honour to date. They each will receive a certificate, a medallion and cash prize.

The awardees will be formally conferred the Magsaysay Award at a presentation ceremony to be held on August 31 in the Philippine International Convention Centre.

Rizwana is the 11th Bangladeshi to win the award considered as the Noble Prize of Asia. Earlier, she won the international Goldman Award for her contribution to environmental campaign.

In her reaction to winning the award, Rizwana told The Daily Star that the award was arecognition for her overall work and achievement.

“I am overwhelmed with joy. To me, it is a great achievement. Now my obligation to my duties has increased significantly,” she said, adding, “My duty now is to advance my work area with people's support and popularise the notion of environmental justice.”

Established in 1957, the RMAF celebrates the memory and leadership of the third president of the Philippines. The award is given every year to individuals or organisations in Asia that manifest the sense of selfless service that ruled the life of the Filipino leader.

Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus, Brac Founder and Chairperson Sir Fazle Hasan Abed, Bishwa Sahitya Kendra Founder Abdullah Abu Sayeed, Prothom Alo Editor and Publisher Matiur Rahman, CDD Founder and its Executive Director AHM Noman Khan, Zafrullah Chowdhury, Taharunnesa Abdullah, Angela Gomes, Rev Fr Richard William Timm and Mohammad Yeasin are the Bangladeshis who previously won the prestigious award.

OTHER RECIPIENTS

Chen Shu-Chu has won this year's Magsaysay award for "the pure altruism of her personal giving, which reflects a deep, consistent, quiet compassion, and has transformed the lives of the numerous Taiwanese she has helped" while Romulo Davide for turning farmers into scientist-producer.

Kulandei Francis of India won the award for "his visionary zeal, his profound faith in community energies, and his sustained programs in pursuing the holistic economic empowerment of thousands of women and their families in rural India."

The foundation recognised Yang Saing Koma for putting science at the service of farmers in Cambodia while Ambrosius Ruwindrijarto was awarded for creating entrepreneurial ways for community-based natural resource management.