BAGHDAD, Iraq - A US-based organization that has closely monitored the devastating conflict along the Kurdistan Region’s borders for years was honored with a prestigious Dutch human rights award in Baghdad on Tuesday.
The Community Peacemakers Teams (CPT) received the Human Rights Tulip on December 12. The Dutch embassy in Baghdad presented the award to the organization during a ceremony late on Tuesday.
The CPT “was selected from numerous organizations around the world for its excellent work under very challenging geopolitical conditions,” the ambassador of the Netherlands to Iraq, Janet Alberda, told Rudaw English. “They were particularly chosen for the way they engage with and really live within communities to report and carry out their work,” she added.
The Human Rights Tulip award, founded in 2008, also includes a €100,000 prize to support the work of the winners.
The CPT has been instrumental in tracking and reporting on casualties, injuries, and damage to land and property resulting from Iranian and Turkish military operations within the Kurdistan Region. The organization has also attended court hearings for several journalists.
Kamaran Osman, one of the three members of the organization’s Kurdistan Region branch, received the award on behalf of his team. He said the prestigious award is a recognition and testament to nearly two decades of dedicated work the CPT has done in the Kurdistan Region.
"It is also an acknowledgment of the suffering endured by farmers, villagers, and all civilians who have been affected by the Turkish and Iranian military operations since 1991," Osman said.
The Dutch foreign ministry has previously stated that it presents the award annually to “support human rights defenders in their efforts to advance and safeguard human rights [conditions] around the world.”
The Dutch chief diplomat also hoped that the CPT would “continue their work,” lauding their reporting as “an excellent source for many organizations, including our own embassy.” She further stated that the award should assist them.
Osman noted that the funding will indeed help the CPT expand its works, emphasizing that their success lies in working on the "frontlines" of defending human rights.
