Linkevičius became the Laureate of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute Award

This year’s “Human Rights Champion Award” of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute will be granted to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Lithuania Linas Linkevičius, stated at a news conference the institute’s board chairman Leonidas Donskis.

Minister will be awarded for his cooperation with activists of Eastern European countries and for supporting the Latvia’s Foreign Minister Edgars Rinkevics, who stated publicly he is a homosexual.

The Linkevičius award will be conferred on 10 December on the International Human Rights Day.

The award of the Human Rights Monitoring Institute was established in 2006. In the previous year, the prize was awarded to the founder of the Children Support Centre, Ausra Kuriene.

The International Human Rights Day is a celebration established by the United Nations General Assembly to honour the adoption and proclamation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948. The day is dedicated to champions of human rights, who strive to ensure protection of their own rights and human rights of other people. They put a lot of effort in activities which ensure that human rights are respected on a daily basis. Many of these champions are prosecuted, deprived of work or unjustly imprisoned. This celebration is a great opportunity to honour their courage and achievements.