2006 SVU Humanitarian Award Presented to Petra Procházková
Beginning with the year 2001, the Czechoslovak Society of Arts and Sciences has been granting annual Human Tolerance Award, bearing the name of the sponsor Andrew Elias, “in recognizing and honoring individuals whose life and work been guided by tolerance and compassion.”
At the recommendation of the SVU Civil Society Award Committee, consisting of Jaroslava Moserová (Chair), Martin Palouš and Martin Butora, the SVU Executive Board decided to give this year’s Elias Humanitarian and Tolerance Award to a noted Czech journalist Petra Procházková. The rationale for this year’s selection is reflected in Petra Procházková’s biography below.
The award was presented to her, together with an honorarium of $1000, by SVU President Mila Rechcigl, on the occasion of the SVU World Congress at the University of South Bohemia in Ceske Budejovice on June 30, 2006. Following the presentation, the awardee gave a talk on “Illusion in the West about the Impact of Humanitarian Aid.”
Petra Procházková’s Bio:
Petra Procházková was born in Český Brod on 20th October, 1964. She graduated from Charles University Dept. of Journalism. After the Velvet Revolution she started working for one of the major dailies Lidové Noviny. The paper sent her to Russia in 1992. She worked as a war reporter in Abchasia. Since 1994 she started supplementing her written reports by excellent film documentaries from various centers of conflict, in Abchasia, Georgia, Osetia, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Kurdistan, documenting conditions in prison camps and raided villages, trying to kindle compassion and understanding in the general public. She very bravely stayed in Czechnya during the worst fighting, showing great compassion and courage and offered herself as a hostage in exchange for the sick in a hospital.
She mainly concentrates on calling public attention to the worst violations of human rights, showing mass graves, victims of kidnappings, destitution etc. In 2001 she was evicted from Russia.
She initiated humanitarian help to the post-conflict localities, knowing from first hand experience under what conditions people have to live. She is very effectively active in the humanitarian organization Berkat.
She is a very exceptional personality, an active promoter of human rights, a true humanitarian, endowed with surprising modesty.