Global Citizenship for Human Rights - Human Rights Heroes

  CHEN GUANGCHEN Chinese civil rights activist who rose to prominence by exposing harsh reality of China’s population policy Cheng Guanchemg was born in the rural area of Shandong province in 1971. He lost his sight in the early age and he worked as a civil rights activist in the rural areas of the People’s Republic of China. Because of his self-taught background in law he is often described as a ‘barefoot lawyer’ and he is known for advocating disability rights, land rights for farmers and the welfare of the poor. Reports from his early age said that he was illiterate until 1994 when he signed up for high school meant for the blind people and he studied there for four years. After that he was reported to study Chinese Medicine from 1998 to 2001 and returned to his home province of Shandong. Same time he managed to enrol in law classes and learned enough to help people in his village with his legal skills. Path to prison and back to freedom In 2005 he gained internati...

  ANGELO PEZZANA Angelo Pezzana was one of the most important figures in the gay rights movement in Italy. At a time when homosexuality was considered a perversion to be hidden, Pezzana made the voice of the LGBT world heard for the first time in public opinion. This, in the Italy of the time, caused him numerous enmities and attacks. In the country there were strong communist parties or parties of neo-fascist inspiration which, despite the political opposition, share strong homophobic sentiments and in contrast to individual freedom. Born in the province of Vercelli, after graduating he cultivated a passion for Jewish studies and worked as a bookseller in Turin (his was the historic Luxemburg bookshop, the subject of an anti-Semitic attack in 1988). A declared homosexual, he came out publicly and - despite a university professor friend of his advised him to continue in hiding - he decided to found an association that fought for gay rights: in 1971 the Italian Revolutiona...

  TAWAKKOL KARMAN (b. 1979) Tawakkol Karman (born 7 February 1979, Ta’izz, Yemen) is a human rights activist, journalist and politician. She played a key role in the 2011 pro-democracy youth uprising in Yemen and was reportedly called the "Iron Woman" and "Mother of the Revolution". Karman was awarded the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize, along with Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee, in recognition of “...her non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work.” Karman is the first Arab woman and the second Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, and at the time was the youngest recipient at 32. Tawakkol Karman was born on 7 February 1979 in Shara'b As Salam, Taiz Governorate, Yemen. She grew up near Taiz, which is the third largest city in Yemen and is described as a place of learning in a conservative country. She studied in Taiz. She is the daughter of Abdel Salam Karman, a lawyer and ...

  JOHN LEWIS (1940-2020) John Lewis has a long history of activism. He was an American politician, statesman, and civil rights activist and leader who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia's 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. John Lewis was born to a family of sharecroppers outside of Troy, Alabama, at a time when African Americans in the South were subjected to a humiliating segregation in education and all public facilities, and were effectively prevented from voting by systematic discrimination and intimidation. From an early age, John Lewis was committed to the goal of education for himself, and justice for his people. Inspired by the example of Rosa Parks and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the Montgomery bus boycott, he corresponded with Dr. King and resolved to join the struggle for civil rights. As a student he made a systematic study of the techniques and philosophy of nonviolence, and with his fellow students ...