Wonderful news that Archbishop Desmond Tutu has been named Human Rights Global Treasure by the American based NGO article3.org
The award, given for his courageous campaign against the apartheid regime in South Africa, comes 36 years after he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
The 89-year-old Arch received the honour in a Human Rights Day ceremony which was live-streamed between San Francisco and Tutu’s Cape Town home.
The award was formally accepted on Tutu’s behalf by the current Archbishop of Cape Town, Thabo Makgoba.
In acceptance he gave a gave a quote from a speech which Tutu had made at Khartoum University in October 1989 urging people from all religions to strive for justice and peace and oppose injustice and oppression.
In a statement Piyushi Kotecha, the CEO of the Desmond and Leah Tutu Legacy Foundation, said: “Over a lifetime of activism for fairness, dignity and justice for all, the Arch has had the courage to act on his choices: Friend of the underdog, voice of the voiceless, nemesis of unscrupulous leaders; he is a tailor who heals the tears and the tears in the fabric of humanity. A pastor to the world.”