State Department honors Ghanaian LGBTQ activist
The State Department on Tuesday honored a Ghanaian LGBTQ activist and seven other human rights advocates from around the world.
Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented Rightify Ghana Executive Director Ebenezer Peegah with the Secretary of State’s Human Rights Defender Award during a ceremony at the State Department. “He’s been a prominent figure advocating for equality and justice,” Deputy Assistant Secretary of State in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor Enrique Roig told the Washington Blade on Tuesday during an interview.
The other human rights activists who received the award include: • Mary Ann Abunda, a migrant workers advocate in Kuwait • Permanent Human Rights Assembly of Bolivia President Amparo Carvajal • Aida Dzhumanazarova, country director for the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law in Kyrgyzstan • Mang Hre Lian, founder of the Chin Media Network in Myanmar • Juana Ruiz of Asociación Asvidas, an organization that advocates for survivors of gender-based violence in Colombia • Rufat Sararov, a former prosecutor who runs Defense Line in Azerbaijan The State Department posthumously honored Thulani Maseko, a prominent human rights activist from Eswatini who was killed in 2023.
His wife, Tanele Maseko, accepted the award on his behalf. The ceremony took place on International Human Rights Day, which commemorates the U.N.
