Haydée Castillo of Nicaragua receives an award from the Andrew Blane Memorial Fund for Human Rights Defenders.
On 15th March 2023, the Kota Alliance was proud present the Andrew Blane Human Rights Defenders Award of 2023 to Haydée Castillo for her relentless and lifelong work for Human Rights in Nicaragua. The award ceremony took place at the Kota Nest in West Harlem, at a networking event attended by the Kota Alliance’s global and local partners. At the event, Beatriz Borges of Kota’s partner organization CEPAZ also gave a presentation of their work and the current situation in Venezuela.
HAYDÉE CASTILLO
Haydée Castillo has a degree in Social Sciences and a Master's degree in Integration and Development. She is the founder of the organization Foundation for the Development of Women and Children - FUNDEMUNI, Foundation Institute of Leadership of Las Segovias - ILLS, and member of the Nicaraguan Initiative of Human Rights Defenders. She was a founder and active member of the Blue and White National Unity Political Council that was born at the request of the self-convened movements of the Nicaraguan people in the popular rebellion of April 2018.
Haydée has more than 30 years of international experience in the defense of Human Rights. She is an international consultant on Planning and Development and Regional Integration issues; in public policies, citizen participation, empowerment and democracy, as well as in climate change, NGO management and violence prevention. She is a former adviser to the Nicaraguan Human Rights Ombudsman prior to the Ortega regime and to the United Nations Civil Society Advisory Council in Nicaragua.
Haydée was forced into exile as a former political prisoner in October 2018. She is a victim of criminalization by the Nicaraguan dictatorship, violating the precautionary measures granted to her by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights-IACHR. In retaliation, she was suspended from her legal status and the Las Segovias Leadership Institute Foundation, an organization that defends human rights, of which she is president and founder, and which was occupied by paramilitaries. In February 2023, the Ortega Murillo regime withdrew her Nicaraguan citizenship, along with around 300 others, including 222 recently released political prisoners sent to exile in the US.
THE ANDREW BLANE MEMORIAL FUND FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS
The Andrew Blane Memorial Fund for Human Rights Defenders was established in 2019 and is administered by The Kota Alliance, Past recipients have included PreparaFamilia (Venezuela), Saba and Gulalai Ismail (Pakistan), and Mahbouba Seraj (Afghanistan).
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A recording of the event program can be viewed on our Instagram. (sound may be better viewed on your phone!)