Katherine Martínez, Recipient of 10th Edition of Embassy of Canada Human Rights Award

The Embassy and the Universidad Central de Venezuela’s Padre Luis María Olaso Centre for Peace and Human Rights, have the honour to announce that Katherine Martínez is the recipient of the 10th edition of the Embassy of Canada Human Rights Award.

Katherine Martínez, Director of NGO Prepara Familia, received the award for her decisive and dedicated work over more than ten years, addressing the conditions, needs and rights of children and adolescent patients and their families at JM de los Rios Hospital.

"I was motivated to become a defender of human rights due to the situation of vulnerability that I had been witnessing and documenting, and what inspired me to continue was the resilience I saw in families, and in the children themselves. While we are currently living through very difficult times, I am filled with hope for a better Venezuela, one in which we are all human rights defenders."

Katherine Martínez, Recipient of the 10th edition of the Embassy of Canada Human Rights Award

For this 10th edition, the jury also awarded two honourable mentions: The first to Alejandro Álvarez Iragorry, Director of Clima 21 Ambiente y Derechos Humanos, for his work of more than 20 years in defence of the environment, and more recently for his work on warnings about the environmental and cultural impacts of Arco Minero.

The second honourable mention was awarded to Elvira Llovera de Pernalete, mother of Juan Pablo Pernalete, a young Venezuelan university student murdered during the 2017 demonstrations; and who has not stopped raising her voice on behalf of other parents who have had their children imprisoned or killed during demonstrations.

This year’s jury was chaired by Father Raúl Herrera, s.j. (Director, Centre for Peace and Human Rights "Padre Luis María Olaso", UCV), and included personalities from the human rights field: Marianna Romero, Rosa Elena Acevedo, Francisco Valencia, Oscar Murillo and Keymer Avila; and from the Embassy of Canada, Chargé d’Affaires a.i. Kirk Duguid.

The award will be presented to Katherine Martinez, today at a private event at the Official Residence of the Embassy of Canada. As part of the award, over the course of the year the winner will travel to Canada, and across Venezuela, where various meetings will be organized with universities, human rights organizations and government authorities, in order to share experiences in the defence of human rights.

For more information:

Public Affairs Officer, Embassy of Canada
michele.carezis@international.gc.ca
Tel +58 212 6003163
www.venezuela.gc.ca
X (Twitter): @EmbCanVenezuela
Facebook: CanadaenVenezuela