The Year 1998 represents a significant milestone in raising the profile of the human rights issue across the world. It marks the fiftieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It is also be the tenth anniversary of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought which the European Parliament awards to an individual who has made a significant contribution in the year to the promotion of human rights. Past winners have included Nelson Mandela, the leader of the Burmese democratic movement Aung San Suu Kyi, and the Chinese dissident Wei Jingsheng.
Parliament's President Jose-Maria Gil Robles will be presenting this year's prize to the Kosovo Albanian leader, Dr Ibrahim Rugova, who is the chairman of the Democratic League of Kosovo, a movement which has pursued a path of non-violent resistance to the Yugoslav suppression of the rights of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Linked to this award will be an exhibition in Parliament in Strasbourg on human rights, including in particular a series of photos on the rights of children and a video detailing the 10 years of the Sakharov Prize. All former winners have been invited to attend the event and it is likely that many will be coming.
Such events underscore the importance which the European Parliament attaches to human rights. In the words of its President it "does not pass over crimes against humanity in silence and it supports all those who fight against intolerance, fanaticism and hate and who advocate the right to exercise one of the most important freedoms: freedom of thought and expression."