[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index ][Thread Index ]

The BurmaNet News: March 30, 1999



------------------------ BurmaNet ------------------------
 "Appropriate Information Technologies, Practical Strategies"
----------------------------------------------------------

The BurmaNet News: March 30, 1999
Issue #1239

Noted in Passing: "I want to convey my condolences personally, but I am
afraid my name will be marked down by the police." - Myint Maung, Rangoon
resident [see THE HINDUSTAN TIMES: FEAR OF JUNTA MUTES SYMPATHY] 

HEADLINES:
==========
ST. ANTONY'S COLLEGE: STATEMENT 
THE NATION: PAYING THE ULTIMATE PERSONAL PRICE 
AFP: FRIENDS RALLY AROUND GRIEVING LEADER 
HINDUSTAN TIMES: FEAR OF JUNTA MUTES SYMPATHY 
THE NATION: SUU KYI SONS HOPE FOR REUNION 
THE AUSTRALIAN: PRAYERS, PROTESTS 
THE NATION: WORLD STANCE TO HARDEN 
AFP: PHILIPPINE LEADER CONDOLES DEATH 
ANNC: THE J. MANN HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD 
****************************************************************

ST. ANTONY'S COLLEGE: STATEMENT, DR. MICHAEL ARIS 
27 March, 1999 

[BurmaNet Editor's Note: Please note the change from a previous BurmaNet
announcement in contact address for sending condolences.]

Dr Michael Aris

(Press Statement issued by the College on Saturday 27 March)

St Antony's is grieved to announce the death of Dr Michael Aris this
morning, his 53rd birthday, after a characteristically brave and selfless
fight against cancer.  Members of his family were at his bedside and his
passing was in peace and without pain.  As a Fellow of the College since
1989, he has been respected for his achievements as a scholar of Tibet and
the Himalayas and he has been loved for his warmth and wit.  The College
expresses its condolences to his family and his many friends.  On behalf of
the family, it requests that their privacy be respected as they adjust to
their great loss.  The family have requested that Michael's funeral be a
private and family occasion only.  A Memorial Service will be held at a
later date.

Condolences may be addressed to: 

Ms. Polly Friedhoff
Public Relations & Development Officer
St Antony's College
University of Oxford
Oxford 0X2 6JF, UK 

Fax 44.1865.274494
email polly.friedhoff@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
http://www.sant.ox.ac.uk/

****************************************************************
 
THE NATION: PAYING THE ULTIMATE PERSONAL PRICE FOR BURMA'S FREEDOM
29 March, 1999 by Yindee Lertcharoenchok 

MICHAEL ARIS NEVER DID HAVE THE CHANCE TO SAY A FINAL GOODBYE TO HIS WIFE,
AUNG SAN SUU KYI.

In the academic world, British scholar Dr Michael Aris had his own strong
credentials as an authority on Tibet and Himalayan studies. But ironically,
he would be best remembered as the husband of one of the world's most
renowned political leaders, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi of Burma.

The Oxford don died from prostate cancer at Churchill Hospital in Oxford
early Saturday morning, the day he was to have a small private family
get-together for his 53rd birthday. Sadly, his last wish to have a chance
to say goodbye in person to his wife in Rangoon was never fulfilled as the
Burmese junta had persistently refused to grant him a visa.


With him in his last hours were his close family members, particularly his
two sons, Alexander and Kim, who have, along with their parents, bravely
gone through much agony and sacrifice when Suu Kyi decided to stay on in
Burma after returning there in April 1988 to tend to her dying mother Daw
Khin Kyi.

In the introduction to his wife's book "Freedom from Fear", Aris wrote that
it was that decisive event on July 23,1988, when Burmese leader General Ne
Win, under the pressure of a popular uprising, declared that he would step
down and allow a referendum on the future of Burma that Suu Kyi decided the
time had come for her to step forward in the Burmese political scene.

Privately, the Aris family had suffered and sacrificed tremendously over
the past decade when the Burmese military rulers decided to exploit them on
a number of counts to break Suu Kyi's physical and mental strength.
Although they allowed Aris and the two boys to visit Suu Kyi occasionally
even when she was illegally placed under house arrest between July 1989 and
July 1995, they had expected that these family reunions would eventually
force her to leave Burma.

Virtually every member in the Aris family was not spared the regime's dirty
ploys. After a family reunion in July-September 1989, the ruling generals
decided to cancel the Burmese passports of Alexander and Kim, claiming that
they were not entitled to Burmese citizenship. "Very obviously the plan was
to break Suu's spirit by separating her from her children in the hope that
she would accept permanent exile," Aris wrote.

Suu Kyi herself has silently suffered from the regime's incessant campaigns
of character assassination. Apart from numerous threats, they have tried to
deport her by force despite that the fact she is a Burmese born in Burma
and holds a Burmese passport. She has refused to grant the regime its wish
for her to go into foreign exile, arguing that other Burmese people have
suffered much more personal losses and grievance under one of the world's
most repressive regimes.

Their latest trick which cost the couple dearly was depriving Michael and
Suu Kyi their last chance to be together for a final goodbye. She refused
the regime's pressure for her to go and see her dying husband in England,
knowing that she would never be let back in her home country. Aris' last
visit to his wife was over three years ago when he spent Christmas and New
Year with her.

Throughout Suu Kyi's non-violent struggle, it was Aris who had silently
watched and supported her, physically and spiritually, from behind the
scenes. Most important of all, he kept to his last breath the pledge he had
given before their marriage on Jan 1,1972, that should Burma and its people
need her, he will not stand in the way. "I only ask one thing, that should
my people need me, you would help me to do my duty by them," was Suu Kyi's
request.

As a father, Aris tried his best to look after the two sons who -- lost
their mother to the Burmese political movement at a tender age when
maternal love, care and attention were most needed. Guests to the family's
beautiful house in Park Town -- a quiet neighbourhood in Oxford -- were
often given a tour of their home including a rare glimpse of the master
bedroom where Michael kept the beautifully framed 1991 Nobel Peace Prize
certificate he and his two sons received on behalf of Suu Kyi in Oslo. Also
there, is a large collection of books the couple had accumulated throughout
their scholarly years, hers on Burma and his on Tibet and the Himalayas.


Suu Kyi has only praise and appreciation for the soft speaking, ever
modest and courteous Aris. He knew that Suu has put her country and its
people before her own priorities and will never give in or give up until
she achieves her objective. His deep personal torment of living thousands
of miles apart were kept to himself but the grievance was evident when he
spoke of the woman of his life.

Throughout those lonely years, Aris was often invited to give speeches or
receive  awards -- at various international functions across the globe on
behalf of his wife. But it was academic work and research which had kept
him busy and thus gave him solace. In fact, Aris himself had earned
worldwide recognition for his academic excellence in the field of culture
and political history of Tibet and the Buddhist Himalayas.

Aris was born on March 27, 1946, in Havana, Cuba. After completing his BA
in 1967, he spent seven years working as a private tutor to the royal
family of Bhutan and was also the head of the Bhutanese government's
Translation Department. After their marriage, Aris and Suu Kyi shared many
trips and periods of residence in the Himalayas including Bhutan, Nepal,
Ladakh, Arunachal Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh.

In 1974, Aris began his post-graduate studies in Tibetan literature at the
School of Oriental and African Studies of the University of London and
became a research fellow at several colleges of Oxford University after his
graduation. He had supervised graduate students on both sides of the
Atlantic and was a visiting professor of Tibetan and Himalayan studies at
Harvard University between 1990 and 1992. He then returned to Oxford and
rejoined the Asian Studies Centre of St Antony's College as a senior
research fellow -- the position he held until his death.

He had given many lectures and written a wide range of articles and
publications including "Bhutan: Aspects of Culture and Development",
co-editor, (1994); "The Raven Crown: The Rise of Monarchy in Bhutan"
(1994); "Lamas, Princes and Brigands" (1992); "Hidden Treasures and Secret
Lives" (1989) and "Bhutan: The Early History of a Himalayan Kingdom" (1979).

For her husband who had unfailingly supported her throughout their 27 years
of marriage, Suu Kyi had these final touching words. "I have been so
fortunate to have such a wonderful husband who had always given me the
understanding I needed. Nothing can take that away from me."

As the only remaining pillar of the family, Suu Kyi understands that her
two sons need her. It remains to be seen how the Burmese regime will treat
this latest twist of events and if they would reject the wish of a mother
who wants to be reunited with her two grieving sons in Rangoon as soon as
possible.

Ending his introduction in Suu Kyi's "Freedom from Fear", Aris wrote of his
selfishness for wishing that the Nobel Peace Prize would bring about
political dialogue and lasting peace in Burma and that the situation would
be eased for the family to be able to reunite. "We miss her very much," he
ended the chapter. But these days it will be Michael Aris himself whom the
family and the academic world will sadly miss. 


****************************************************************

AFP: FRIENDS RALLY AROUND GRIEVING MYANMAR DEMOCRACY LEADER 
29 March, 1999 

YANGON, March 29 (AFP) - Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi was
surrounded by friends at her home here Monday as she mourned the death of
her husband and tried to contact her sons in Britain, sources said.

The Nobel peace prize winner was "wan" but taking solace from hundreds of
friends and supporters who have paid their respects at her home since
Michael Aris died in Britain of cancer on Saturday, friends told AFP.

"I found her wan but mentally strong. She appears to be holding out well
under the circumstances with close friends and relatives in attendance,"
one of her close friends said after paying his respects.

He said the National League for Democracy (NLD) leader was being attended
constantly by a personal doctor.

[ ... ]

Sources said Aung San Suu Kyi was having trouble speaking to her two sons
in Britain to arrange her husband's funeral because the junta had refused
to provide her home with an international telephone line, despite repeated
requests.

She has instead been forced to go to the British embassy to contact her
family.

The junta places strict controls on her freedom of movement and expression
and rarely allows her contact with the outside world.

[ ... ]

A Buddhist funeral ceremony is being planned at her home later this week,
sources said. 

****************************************************************

THE HINDUSTAN TIMES: FEAR OF JUNTA MUTES SYMPATHY 
28 March, 1999 

Associated Press

Sympathy for Opposition leader of her husband in Britain was muted among
some in Myanmar today due to fear of the Southeast Asian nation's military
Government.

"I feel sorry for Daw (aunt) Suu and I think she is a strong and brave
woman," said Myint Maung, a retired businessman. "I want to convey my
condolences personally, but I am afraid my name will be marked down by the
police."

The streets of Myanmar's Capital, Yangon, were calm and quiet with many
people apparently unaware that Ms Suu Kyi's husband, Michael Aris, has died.

State-run media made no mention of Aris's death. Myint Maung, like others
who knew of it, learned of the news form BBC radio or other foreign radio
broadcasts.

[ ... ]

In the official Press, the military Government has threatened to deport Ms
Suu Kyi several times and regularly runs cartoons and editorials denouncing
her for marrying a foreigner.

Ms Suu Kyi spent six years under house arrest form 1989-95. The Nobel Peace
Prize winner's home is ringed by police checkpoints. Only senior members of
her party and diplomats are allowed by the military Government to visit her.

Anyone else seeking access must sign a list which is forwarded to the
authorities.

In recent months, the military has launched a campaign of arrests and
intimidation against members of Ms Suu Kyi's party, the National League for
Democracy, NLD leaders have said.

More than 10,000 NLD members have voluntarily resigned, according to the
military Government, but Ms Suu Kyi and NLD leader have said the
resignations have been coerced by authorities.


Should Ms Suu Kyi leave the country, many in Myanmar believe the NLD and
the Opposition would collapse entirely.

The military Government issued a statement today saying it is "deeply
saddened to hear of Michael Aris's demise and sends its sincerest
condolences and sympathy to the bereaved family in this time of grief."

At Ms Suu Kyi's home and at the NLD headquarters in Yangon, condolence
books were opened today for signatures.

A sympathetic Yangon resident, who spoke only on condition of anonymity,
expressed frustration at not being able to communicate his regrets to the
1991 Nobel Peace Prize winner. " I want to send a bouquet to Daw Suu
through a florist, but I doubt the florist has the courage to send it for
me," he said.

Others said, however, that they hadn't heard about Aris's death and were
more worried about surviving during the country's economic difficulties
than politics.

"My concern is the spiraling consumer prices," said one housewife who
insisted she not be identified.

Myanmar's currency, the Kyat, has plummeted in value in recent years, and
inflation is soaring as Myanmar, already a poor country, suffers through
economic difficulties because of a regional economic crisis.

****************************************************************

THE NATION: SUU KYI SONS HOPE FOR REUNION 
29 March, 1999 by Yindee Lertcharoenchok 

THE family of Michael Aris yesterday expressed love and support for his
widow, Burmese pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and wished that her
long awaited hope for a peaceful dialogue and reconciliation in Burma be
achieved in the spirit of Buddhism.

They also hoped that her two sons, Alexander and Kim, will one day be able
to reunite with her in Rangoon, a wish that Aris did not achieve before his
death on Saturday morning after two months of battling prostate cancer.

"The family continue to send all their love, support and hopes to their
beloved family member, in the hope that they may one day be reunited with
her and that her hopes for a peaceful dialogue and reconciliation. in the
spirit of the noble Lord Buddha, may be achieved," said a statement issued
by the Aris family in England yesterday.

[ ... ]

According to the family's statement, Aris died in great  peace and without
pain at 6.30 am (1.30 pm Bangkok time) on his 53rd birthday.

It gave a moving description of how Aris endured his illness, saying that
the Oxford don "bore his suffering with his usual quiet, stubborn love and
compassion and saw it as small by comparison with the continuing problems
facing his wife Aung San Suu Kyi".

Although Aris "was denied the possibility of seeing his Suu in this last
struggle, Michael, Suu and all the family were able to face his suffering
because of an avalanche of love, concern and best wishes from friends the
world over", it added.

The family will hold a private family funeral for him. A memorial service
will be held at a later date.

An informed source said Suu Kyi has planned to hold a Buddhist rite on
Friday for her late husband and that she was trying to have her two sons to
come and visit her in Rangoon as soon as possible.


It is not yet known if the ruling military government would grant them
visas. The regime had, after the sons' visit to Suu Kyi in July-September
1989 while she was under unlawful house arrest, cancelled their Burmese
passports, claiming that they were not entitled to Burmese citizenship.

Meanwhile, the ruling State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) yesterday
renewed its offer to assist Suu Kyi if she wants to travel to England to
attend Aris' funeral Last Friday, the 1991 Nobel Peace laureate sent away
an SPDC envoy who came to her home with a similar official offer to assist
her in visiting her dying husband in Oxford.

In an official statement, the regime said it was deeply saddened to hear of
Aris' death and sent its sincerest condolences and sympathy to the bereaved
family and was helping Suu Kyi carry out funeral and religious rites for
Aris in Rangoon.

"While the government is assisting Ms Suu Kyi in enabling her to carry out
her husband's funeral and religious rites in Rangoon the government
continues its offer and stands ready m providing Ms Suu Kyi with all
possible assistance if she desires [to] travel to England to attend the
funeral rites and family affairs at this time of family bereavement," it said.

Unlike its message last Friday, the SPDC statement yesterday did not
guarantee that Suu Kyi would be allowed to return to Burma if she leaves
for England to attend her husband's funeral.

[ ... ]

****************************************************************

THE AUSTRALIAN: PRAYERS, PROTESTS AS SUU KYI HUSBAND DIES 
29 March, 1999 by Peter Alford

OPPONENTS of Burma's oppressive military Government are organising a prayer
service in Rangoon for Michael Aris, whose dying wish to visit his wife,
Aung San Suu Kyi, was denied by the regime.

[ ... ]

In keeping with Buddhist custom, a "seventh day" memorial service is
planned for Friday. The day is also expected to be marked around the world
by renewed protests against the regime's repression of Burmese democracy.

[ ... ]

On Friday, the State Peace and Development Council renewed its call for Ms
Suu Kyi to visit Dr Aris and added there would be "no difficulty for Ms Suu
Kyi returning to Myanmar". Pointing out the military had reneged on many
undertakings, she refused.

Earlier last week a member of Ms Suu Kyi's National League for Democracy
claimed the authorities, who have her communications under constant
surveillance, were disrupting her phone calls, even from Dr Aris.

"People around her say this is very cruel," the aide said. Weekly phone
conversations had been the couple's only direct contact since Dr Aris last
visited Burma.

[ ... ]

****************************************************************

THE NATION: WORLD STANCE TO HARDEN AGAINST CALLOUS JUNTA 
29 March, 1999 by Kavi Chongkittavorn 

The Burmese regime's refusal to grant a visa to Dr  Michael Aris, the
husband of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, will further harden the
international opposition against Rangoon in the foreseeable future. With
Aris having passed away on Saturday and his wish left unfulfilled, it would
also further complicate relations between Asean, of which Burma is a
member, and the grouping's key dialogue partner, the European Community.


The Burmese leaders have been using the request of Dr Aris to return to
Burma to visit Suu Kyi as an instrument to embarrass her and eventually
purge her from the country forever. Both tactics did not work.

After a long series of negotiations between the British Foreign Office and
the Rangoon regime in London, no headway was made. It was an open secret
that the current foreign minister, U Win Aung, who served as the ambassador
in London before taking up the current post, did not like the British
government which he felt failed to treat him honourably.

Later on, the British government made a request to the Thai Foreign
Ministry in February to assist its effort to help Aris obtain an entry visa
to Burma. When Win Aung visited Bangkok in mid-February to prepare for the
visit of the Burmese delegation headed by Prime Minister Than Shwe, Foreign
Minister Surin Pitsuwan brought this matter up with his Burmese
counterpart. But the answer from the Burmese was the same: it would not
give in.

Rangoon argued that when Aris was allowed inside Burma three years ago, he
shattered all hope for a national reconciliation between the regime and the
opposition party when he gave press interviews criticising the Burmese
regime and its leaders on leaving Burma. During the meeting with Surin, Win
Aung also said that in the Burmese tradition, the person in good health,
meaning Suu Kyi, should visit her husband instead of letting her
cancer-stricken husband come to her.

The matter was raised again during Than Shwe's visit to Thailand early this
month by Prime Minister Chuan Leekpai, but Burma's position remained
unchanged. But Rangoon did come up with a response that it was considering
the visa request by Aris knowing full well that his days were numbered.

Last week, after numerous appeals to Burma to grant a visa on humanitarian
grounds from Japan, UK, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore, US and the United
Nations, the junta leaders said that Suu Kyi would be allowed to return if
she decided to visit her husband in Oxford-shire, England. But Suu Kyi
refused to take up the offer knowing full well that the regime could not be
trusted. In the past decade, she has personally suffered from the regime's
back stabbing and lies. Of course, the biggest was the election result in
May 1990, which was won by the opposition party, National League of Democracy.

The death of Aris would certainly have an immediate effect of toughening
the position of EU vis-a-vis Asean, which has softened somewhat following
frequent dialogues between Thailand, as an Asean-EU coordinator, and
Germany, currently holder of the-EU presidency. It might now affect the
twice-cancelled joint cooperation commission meeting between Asean and EU
to discuss bilateral cooperation, scheduled to be held in May in Bangkok.
Europe had earlier agreed to a passive presence by Burma at the meeting.

The meeting in Berlin later this month between foreign ministers from the
Asia-Europe Meeting would also be tense. Even though Burma is not a member
of Asem, the sadden news of Aris might have a spill-over effect on the
position of the European countries against Asian countries, especially Asean.


Suu Kyi, who was with diplomats and friends, when news of her husband's
death reached her, remained serene. After their marriage in 1972, they have
spent their time on and off between England and Burma. When she returned to
Burma  in 1988 to nurse her dying mother, the whole country was in the
midst of a political crisis.

As daughter of national hero Gen Aung San, she was entrusted as leader of
prodemocracy groups fighting against the regime. Both Aris and Suu Kyi have
chosen to live apart, especially for the former, so that she can carry on
her mission to lead her country towards democracy.

The Burmese regime had sought to exploit this very personal matter
involving Aris and Suu Kyi. If a decision to allow the visit was made weeks
before Aris was hospitalised, he and his two sons could have a peaceful
reunion with Suu Kyi. That consideration on a humanitarian ground would
certainly be a major public relations coup for Rangoon. It might also have
been able to help heal the rift between the NLD and the junta leaders.

In the Burmese tradition, whoever can fulfil the last wish of a dying
person would be reciprocated. Too bad, the regime decided to do nothing
about it.

****************************************************************

AFP: PHILIPPINE LEADER CONDOLES DEATH OF AUNG SAN SUU KYI'S HUSBAND 
29 March, 1999 

MANILA, March 29 (AFP) - Philippine President Joseph Estrada said Monday
that the Yangon junta missed a "confidence building step" by effectively
refusing to allow a final meeting between Myanmar opposition leader Aung
San Suu Kyi and her husband before his death.

Estrada offered condolences to Aung San Suu Kyi and her family over the
death on Saturday in London of her British husband, Michael Aris, an
official statement said.

It disclosed that before Aris' death, Manila had been "making quiet
representations with the government of Myanmar for the issuance of a visa
to Dr. Aris as a compassionate and humanitarian gesture."

Estrada said "we regret that Dr. Aris' wish to visit his wife, Daw Aung San
Suu Kyi, whom he had not seen for years, was not fulfilled."

He said the Philippines "also expresses its regrets for the missed
opportunity of a confidence building step that could have transpired" if
the junta had allowed Aris to meet his wife a final time.

Aung San Suu Kyi, who won the Nobel Peace Prize for leading the struggle
for democracy in Myanmar, had refused to leave for London to be with her
dying husband, fearing the junta would not allow her back.

The junta effectively denied Aris a visa to visit his wife in Yangon one
last time before he died, saying he was unfit to travel and would be a
burden on Myanmar's limited medical facilities.

****************************************************************

ANNOUNCEMENT: THE J. MANN HEALTH AND HUMAN RIGHTS AWARD
29 March, 1999 from JMannAward@xxxxxxxxxxx 

Dear Colleague,

We want your help. Specifically, we would like you to nominate an
individual or organisation to be the first recipient of the Jonathan Mann
award for Global Health and Human Rights.


As you know, Jonathan Mann and his wife Mary Lou Clements-Mann were
tragically killed a few months ago. Their untimely death, in the crash of
Swissair flight 111 in September 1998, takes from us a crusader against
AIDS and a champion for human rights.

As an epidemiologist in Africa, Jonathan was able to see clearly the
connection between poverty and illness. He played a major role in focusing
public attention to the fact that prejudice and discrimination were helping
to drive and spread the AIDS epidemic. He realised early on that fuelling
the epidemic was not simply the virus itself, but discrimination against
those at risk of infection and restrictions on free expression concerning
the scope, transmission, and prevention of the virus. 

While he occupied lofty positions as the founder and head of the World
Health Organisation's fight against AIDS and Harvard's Francois-Xavier
Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights, history will especially
remember Jonathan for bringing to the world's attention the basic notion
that improved health cannot be achieved without basic human rights, and
that these rights are meaningless without adequate health.

The Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights has been
established to honour this remarkable individual and to help to call
continued attention to the vital links between health and human rights.
Four leading international health and human rights organisations have come
together as partners to support the Jonathan Mann Award. They are the
Association Francois-Xavier Bagnoud, Doctors of the World, the Global
Health Council and Human Rights Watch. Former President Jimmy Carter will
present the Award on June 22, 1999 at a special luncheon at the Global
Health Council's Annual Conference.

The Award will be presented annually to a leader in health and human
rights, be it an individual or organisation. The Award is intended to be a
substantial cash prize to allow its recipients a measure of freedom to
pursue their work in this important area.

A blue ribbon committee of individuals who have championed international
health and human rights will undertake the final selection of the Award
recipient. The committee includes Dr. Peter Piot of UNAIDS, Dr. Helene
Gayle of CDC, Dr. Barry Bloom of Harvard University, Dr. Anthony Fauci of
the National Institutes of Health, Senator Patrick Leahy, Jonathan's
daughter, Naomi Mann, representatives from the four partnering
organisations supporting the Award, and others to be named shortly.

We are seeking nominations of individuals or organisations that have
demonstrated leadership, courage, commitment, and creativity in promoting
and enhancing the links between human rights and health. This year priority
will go to nominees working in the field, at the grassroots level.

We are experimenting this year with using the e-mail to facilitate
nominations. This in an effort to encourage broad participation in the
nominations process and to move quickly since we have less than five months
before presentation of the Award. If deadlines are to be met, we must have
your nomination in-hand no later then Thursday, April 1, 1999.


Should you have questions or require additional information please feel
free to contact:

Mike Feldstein
Tel: +1-202-833-5900, ext. 220
Email: JMannAward@xxxxxxxxxxx

Jonathan Mann blazed a path for all of us concerned with health and human
rights. We benefit from his work in the fight against AIDS and championing
the rights of those marginalised by their societies. I encourage you to not
simply "delete" this message, but rather take a few minutes now and make a
nomination for this Award that remembers Jonathan and his ground breaking
work.

Sincerely,
Albina du Boisrouvray
Victoria Sharpe
Nils Daulaire
Kenneth Roth

The Global Health Council (formerly NCIH)
Global AIDS Program
1701 K Street, NW, Suite 600
Washington, DC 20006, USA
Tel: +1-202-833-5900
Fax: +1-202-833-0075
Email: AIDS@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

http://www.globalhealthcouncil.org

Moderator's note: Any nominations received by the Human Rights forum will
be passed directly to the award organisers.

****************************************************************