Dr. Cynthia Maung to Receive 2007 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award
at a Ceremony in Taipei on 13 December 2007
Dr. Cynthia Maung will receive the 2007 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award (ADHRA) at a ceremony in Taipei on 13 December 2007 for her service to Burmese refugees at the Mae Sot Clinic on the Thai-Burmese border. Dr. Cynthia, a member of the ethnic Karen minority and a refugee herself, was born on 6 December 1959 in Rangoon, Burma and grew up in Moulmein. She studied medicine at the University of Rangoon. In 1988, while she was working at the NorthOkkalapa GeneralHospital, as violence between demonstrators and the military government was increasing, that same neighborhood became the site of a demonstration in which Burmese soldiers opened fire on civilians, including a number of children. Dr. Cynthia left Burma together with 14 colleagues and traveled through the jungle to Thailand, aiding the sick and injured along the way. She soon ended up at the Huay Kaloke refugee camp.
Dr. Cynthia started the Mae Tao Clinic in 1989 in a makeshift structure in Mae Sot, Thailand. Eighteen years later, the clinic’s staff, which consist of five physicians, 140 health workers, and 100 support staff, provide both basic health care and such services as occupational training, health education and counseling, housing for unaccompanied children, HIV/AIDS prevention education, and cultural and community events. Today, due to Dr. Cynthia and her colleagues’ effort, some 200 patients a day receive the care they so seriously need, all free of charge.
TFD Chairman Wang Jin-pyng formally announced on 19 November 2007 that the ADHRA Final Review Board had chosen Dr. Cynthia as the winner of the 2007 ADHRA. The members of the 2007 Final Review Board were Mr. Robert Ménard, founder and Secretary General of Reporters sans frontières, winner of the inaugural 2006 ADHRA; Dr. Alex Boraine, Chairperson of the International Center for Transitional Justice and former Deputy Chair of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission; Dr. Nisuke Ando, current member and former Chairman of the United Nations Human Rights Committee; Mr. Carl Gershman, current President of the National Endowment for Democracy; Ms. Asma Jahangir, Chairperson of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan and Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Religion or Belief; Mr. Wang Jin-pyng, Chairman of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy; and Dr. Lin Wen-cheng, President of the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy. This decision is made particularly significant due to the recent violent crackdown by the Burmese military government. The TFD has invited President Chen Shui-bian to confer the Award on Dr. Cynthia personally.
For more information, please contact Mr. Kiel Downey at +886-2-2708-0100 ext.211.
Mae Tao Clinic website: http://www.maetaoclinic.org