Geldof and Ethiopian Activist Gebre to Receive Human Rights Prize

Bogaletch Gebre

EiTB24.com -- Irish rocker Bob Geldof and Ethiopian activist Bogaletch Gebre are to receive European human rights prizes in Lisbon next week.

The Council of Europe said it will give its North-South Prize to Geldof, who has worked to fight poverty in Africa, and Gebre, who campaigns for women's rights, at a ceremony Monday in parliament.

The Strasbourg-based Council of Europe, which is the continent's human rights watchdog, said in a statement late Thursday that Geldof has dedicated himself to African issues such as trade justice and debt cancellation for the past 20 years.

In 1985, Gebre founded Parents International Ethiopia-Development through Education, a nonprofit organization based in the United States. She also set up an Ethiopian non-governmental organization in 1997.

The prize is awarded every year to two candidates from the northern and southern hemispheres for their achievements in promoting human rights.

The Lisbon-based North-South Centre was created to foster links between the hemispheres.