CPTnet
December 11, 2003
JAPAN: Peggy Gish to receive Yoko Tada award for work with CPT in Iraq

On December 18, 2003, CPTer Peggy Gish will accept the Yoko Tada Human
Rights Award at a ceremony in Tokyo for her work with Christian Peacemaker
Teams in Iraq.
    Journalist Masakazu Honda, who writes for the Asahi Shimbun Newspaper in
Tokyo, nominated Gish for the award after he interviewed her in Amman,
Jordan in last March. The Iraqi government had at that time asked some
members of CPT to leave Iraq and placed restrictions other members of CPT
and the Iraq Peace Team (IPT) that would not have allowed them to work
effectively to deter bombings of civilian facilities. Because of limited
resources, CPT and IPT decided to send many of their workers to Jordan.

    "I just happened to be the one he [Honda] interviewed in Amman," Gish
said in a phone interview. "It was the work he was excited about, what IPT
and CPT were doing together. I'm accepting this award not just for myself,
but for CPT's work in Iraq."

    Gish noted that the foundation sponsoring the Yoko Tada award had
consciously chosen someone working on Iraq issues because Japan is currently
considering whether to send troops to support the U.S. occupation of Iraq.
They hope honoring the work of CPT and IPT in Iraq will mobilize Japanese
public opinion against sending the troops. "It's just another step closer
to reversing the Article 9 provision in the Japanese constitution that says
Japan will not have a standing army," Gish said.

"The other thing that excited me about the honor was that they are
scheduling me to meet with various groups [in Japan] over the next week to
share my experiences. It reminds me how much other countries are also
involved in Iraq," Gish said.

Of the three Yoko Tada awards presented each year in Japan, one is made to
overseas grassroots campaigners working for human rights. The awards
commemorate the life of Yoko Tada, a human rights lawyer who was involved in
numerous high profile campaigns in Japan until her death, at the age of 29,
in 1989. Past recipients include Jinzaburo Takagi, a scientist who alerted
the Japanese public to the dangers of Japan's plutonium program, Cumbrians
Against a Radioactive Environment, who worked to stop nuclear transports
between England and Japan, SUH Sung for his work promoting democracy in
South Korea and Michèle Pierre-Louis for her work with women's health
issues in Haiti.