IBJ CEO Karen Tse

[includes video]  Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) - Karen Tse, founder and CEO of Geneva-based International Bridges to Justice (IBJ), will be awarded the 2009 Gleitsman International Activist Award for her work “to guarantee all citizens the right to competent legal representation, the right to be protected from cruel and unusual punishment, and the right to a fair trial.”  The honour, given by the Harvard Kennedy School’s Center for Public Leadership in Cambridge, Massachusetts USA , comes with a $125,000 prize. The awards ceremony takes place in Cambridge 29 September.

IBJ was founded in Geneva in 2000. Tse recognized that laws were not being applied in many countries. Lack of expertise and poorly trained judicial staff in many countries results in people being denied basic legal rights. Thus, untrained policemen torture prisoners to obtain confessions because it is the easiest way to extract information.

Tse began to train public defenders in 1994 in Cambodia, which was suffering from the aftermath of the Khmer Rouge regime’s policy of destroying everything intellectual, including lawyers.

The group now has programmes in 17 countries of the 93 around the world that employ torture. Tse told GenevaLunch in an interview that in 2008 IBJ had sponsored a competition to seek the best proposals for improvements to criminal justice systems that would reduce torture and injustice. The eight winners of the Justice Makers competition received $5,000. IBJ intends to extend the competition to 108 Justice Makers worldwide, and is launching a marketing campaign to raise funds. The campaign will runs until 10 December, Human Rights Day.

Tse says that she hopes she will be able to bring together, in Geneva, members of the IBJ from several countries, to learn from each other, exchange information, and interact in a “spiritual exchange.” The members of IBJ’s network operate under difficult conditions, she said, and it is “so important to have your candle lit by another person”.

For information on how to participate in the marketing campaign, contact Tom Scheu at tscheu@ibj.org

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