The Human Rights House Foundation (HRHF) has called Pastor Bulambo Lembelembe Josué, right, and congratulated him as the winner of this year´s Rafto Award. Pastor Bulambo expressed his gratitude for the award to the Rafto Foundation and confirmed that he will attend the seminar and award ceremony in Bergen early November. (25-SEP-08)
In the conversation with Pastor Bulambo, HRHF expressed its appreciation and approval of the board of the Rafto Foundation´s decision to name Pastor Bulambo as this year´s Rafto Human Rights Award Laureate. HRHF shares the broadly expressed view that this is a well deserved, timely and very important award, not only considering Pastor Bulambo´s own struggle for peace, reconciliation and rehabilitation in eastern congo, but also with a view to the scope and depth of the conflict and the amount of human suffering it continues to cause.
-Given the regional character, with numerous negative spill-over effects of the conflict in eastern Congo into the neighbouring countries, it is high time that more of the world´s attention is directed towards this conflict. It is equally important to address the same countries´ direct and destabilising interests, engagement and responsibility for prolonging the suffering for several hundred thousand people in eastern Congo. Our hope is that this year´s Rafto Award will put further pressure on the stakeholders to the conflict and the international community at large to intensify their efforts to bring the situation under control and the human suffering to an end, says Niels Jacob Harbitz, left, HRHF´s project manager for Africa.
