Sunday (on 22 May), Hebrew Union College awarded the 2005 Roger E. Joseph Prize to Jan Egeland, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. The presentation took place at the Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religions Ceremony of Investiture and Ordination at Central Synagogue in New York City.
The Joseph Prize is an international award presented annually to an individual or organization, which, by virtue of religious and moral commitment, has made a distinctive contribution to humanity and whose conduct or work enhances or encourages the values and ideals that derive from religious teaching.
Mr. Egeland was awarded the 10.000 US dollar (58.000 DKR) prize for his work on behalf of victims worldwide. He was among the first to sound the alarm on the present situation in the Darfur region of the Sudan and has 25 years of human rights, peace, and humanitarian work.
– We must always speak the truth about the reasons why so many suffer, and how matters can be put right, said Mr. Egeland at the ceremony. – We must never avoid speaking the truth because we are afraid of offending people in power, he added.
Roger E. Joseph, a lawyer and decorated World War II veteran, was severely stricken with polio in 1951. The disease left him almost completely paralysed for the remainder of his life. Confined to an iron lung, he spent years learning to care for himself. Ultimately, he was able to resume his law practice and was active in many causes.
To honour their brothers memory, Burton M. Joseph and Betty Greenberg established the Roger E. Joseph Prize through a grant from the Joseph Foundation to Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion.
Established in 1978, previous recipients of the 10.000 dollar award include Victor Kugler, who gave refuge to Anne Frank and her family during the Holocaust; Helen Suzman, the South African anti-apartheid activist; Rosa Parks, the mother of the modern American civil rights movement; the village of Le Chambon, which gave refuge to Jews and Christians fleeing the Nazis during the Holocaust; posthumously to Johan Jorgen Holst, for facilitating the Middle East peace accords; Chaplain Mychal Judge, posthumously, and the City of New York Fire Department; and Daniel Pearl, posthumously, and The Daniel Pearl Foundation.
Under-Secretary-General Egeland will donate the proceeds of the prize to field operations carried out by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
Kilde: www.runiceurope.org
