The Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law will be presented to Montserrat Solano at a ceremony on February 21 in San José.

By Wendy Anders

Montserrat Solano Carboni, Defender of the Inhabitants of the Republic of Costa Rica, will receive the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights at a ceremony to be held this Tuesday, February 21, at the Residence of French Ambassador Thierry Vankerk-Hoven. Both Ambassador Vankerk-Hoven and his German counterpart, Dr. Ingo Winkelmann, will deliver the medal to Mrs. Solano, who on December 1, 2016 was unable to attend the gala award event in Berlin.

Solano was one of the 15 individuals worldwide chosen to receive the first Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and Rule of Law last year. The award, created in 2016 jointly by the governments of Germany and France, seeks to recognize the work of human rights defenders. German and French embassies around the world proposed candidates to their respective foreign affairs ministries.

According to Ingo Winkelmann, Germany’s ambassador to San José, “protecting and promoting human rights represents the center of foreign policy in both France and Germany.” Thierry Vankerk-Hoven, the French ambassador, said that the granting of this award to Solano, “symbolizes the importance of her contribution to the defense of human rights, values ​​shared by France, Germany and Costa Rica, and reflects the common will of these countries to defend the rule of law and multilateralism within the international community.”

The Costa Rican Ombudsman took this opportunity to call on the country’s legislators to prioritize approval of the law against discrimination, whose text the Ombudsman has been supporting in Congress. She said that Costa Rica, “Must make a greater effort so that its international leadership in the promotion of human rights is reflected at the national level in the full and daily experience of freedom, equality and justice.”

As part of the prize, the defenders were invited to travel to Berlin, for a ceremony on December 1, 2016. However, Solano had to cancel her trip and due to the pivotal role played by this Ombuds’ office during the emergency caused by Hurricane Otto.

The other winners of the first edition of the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law 2016 were: Tahmima Rahman (Bangladesh), Oleg Goulak (Belarus), Maria da Penha (Brazil), Saray Thun (Cambodia), Maximilienne Ngo Mbe (Cameroon), Beverley K. Jacobs (Canada), Wang Qiaoling (China), Sunitha Krishnan (India), Mary Lower (Ireland), Pietro Bartolo (Italy), Eva Abou Halaweh Valentina Tcherevatienko (Russia), Jacqueline Moudeïna (Chad), as well as the White Helmets (Syria).

The governments of Germany and France and the embassies that represent them were pleased to have finally been able to give Montserrat Solano this much-deserved recognition of her work for human rights both inside and outside of Costa Rica, said the officials.