April 20, 2009
Dear Friends:
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We are thrilled to announce that ELAW partner Rizwana Hasan from Bangladesh was one of only five recipients of the prestigious Goldman Prize for her work challenging abuses of Bangladesh's exploitative and environmentally-devastating ship breaking industry.
Rizwana is an environmental attorney who led a successful legal battle against rogue ship breaking operations. She has collaborated with ELAW for more than a decade.
The Goldman Prize committee created a wonderful video about Rizwana and her work. View it here:
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ELAW Staff Scientist Mark Chernaik has traveled to Dhaka to work with Rizwana and her colleagues at the Bangladesh Environmental Lawyers Association, and Rizwana has made several trips to Eugene.
ELAW is a "nominating" organization and nominated Rizwana for this year's prize.
Finding a free minute in her busy day, she spoke to me from San Francisco on Friday:
"Mark sent us the U.S. guidelines on ship breaking. The judge used a page from those guidelines when he made his ruling. ELAW provided us with the scientific information we needed and helped us understand international law and its implications. It put the whole issue into a global perspective. Lessons from our victory have been shared through the ELAW network with lawyers in other countries where wastes are being dumped. This is a great help."
Read more about Rizwana and her inspiring work in our blog -- ELAW Spotlight -- and on the Goldman Prize web site.
Sincerely,
Maggie Keenan
Communications Director
Environmental Law Alliance Worldwide