Carmel Budiardjo
(1925-)

British Human Rights Activist
1995 Right Livelihood Award Winner

birthdate: June
birthplace:
London, England

Carmel Budiardjo is a British human rights activist who has been advocating for human rights in Indonesia, East Timor and West Papua for the past 25 years. After marrying an Indonesian government official and moving to Indonesia in 1951, Carmel Budiardjo's life was turned upside down in the 1960s when President Suharto seized power. Her husband was arrested and spent 12 years as a political prisoner, and she herself spent 3 years in detention, without a trial, before she was forced to leave Indonesia in 1971. In 1973, she and other activists in London founded TAPOL (Indonesian for 'political prisoner') and have been advocating against human rights abuses by the Indonesian government since. TAPOL has brought these abuses to the international community's attention by appealing to the United Nations and to governments who supply the Indonesian government with weapons, and through the publication of a regular newsletter, numerous reports and several books. In 1995, Carmel Budiardjo received the Right Livelihood Award (often referred to as the Alternative Nobel Prize) “...for holding the Indonesian government accountable for its actions and upholding the universality of fundamental human rights.”

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