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President Chen to receive coveted award in the US

President Chen Shui-bian (陳水扁) will receive a prestigious international human-rights award when he visits New York on his way to Panama late this month, the Taipei Times has confirmed.

The International League for Human Rights, a 62-year-old organization with special consultative status at the UN and other key international organizations, will present its coveted Human Rights Award to Chen during a dinner on Oct. 31 during his two-day transit in New York.

The Dalai Lama received the same award last month.

League executive director Louise Kantrow confirmed that Chen will get the award, but could not provide details. She said that an official announcement will be made within a few days.

The award, according to the league's Web site, has been presented since 1968 to "a brave individual who has made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of international human rights and justice, which form the foundation for a peaceful civil society."

Previous recipients have included former South Korean president Kim Dae-jung, Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov, former UN secretary-general U Thant, former South African president Nelson Mandella, Poland's Solidarity movement, Manila Archbishop Jaime Cardinal Sin, Holocost survivor and rights campaigner Elie Wiesel, former UN human-rights commissioner Mary Robinson, Chinese dissident Fang Li-zhi (方勵之) and former US senator George Mitchell.

A number of US members of Congress are expected to meet Chen during his trip to New York, but it is not now known whether any will attend the award dinner. The Congressional Taiwan Caucus will be helping to coordinate the visits, and is urging as many members as possible to meet Chen, according to a representative of co-chairman Robert Wexler.

However, it is possible that US Congress will not be in session at the time, making it difficult to assemble a delegation. The last time Chen was in New York during the congressional session, a large group of congressmen flew on a government jet to make the trip and return the next day.

Chen will return to Taiwan via Alaska, sources say.
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