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Virak Ou

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Nationality
  
Cambodian

Known for
  
Human rights activism


Name
  
Virak Ou

Role
  
Human rights activists

Virak Ou httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommonsthu

Born
  
January 7, 1976 (age 48) (
1976-01-07
)

Awards
  
Reebok Human Rights Award (2007)

Education
  
California State University, Fresno

Organization
  
Cambodian Center for Human Rights

Virak ou will cambodia see a spring


Ou Virak (Khmer: អ៊ូ វីរៈ ) (born 7 January 1976) is a Cambodian human rights activist and intellectual, the President of the Cambodian Center for Human Rights, founder of the Alliance for Freedom of Expression in Cambodia (AFEC), and winner of the Reebok Human Rights Award for his civil society campaign for freedom of expression and for the release of human rights advocates imprisoned for criticizing the Cambodian government.

Contents

Life under the Khmer Rouge

Born in Cambodia during the first year of Khmer Rouge rule, Virak's father - an officer in the army of the Lon Nol regime - was murdered by the Khmer Rouge before Virak was born. Virak lived through Khmer Rouge rule with his mother and four older brothers. Facing persecution during the occupation of Cambodia by Vietnam, they fled to refugee camps in Thailand before being granted refugee status and moving to Fresno, California in 1989 when Virak was 13.

Life in the United States

Virak attended Theodore Roosevelt High School in Fresno, California. He overcame the hurdles of being a young migrant in the United States, and went on to study economics at California State University (receiving a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts). Whilst at university, he was Vice-President of the National Cambodian Student Association.

Human Rights in Cambodia

Working in law and public welfare, Virak then returned to Cambodia to lecture on economics at Pannasastra University, Phnom Penh. He joined the Cambodian Center for Human Rights (CCHR) as Advocacy and Public Relations Director in 2005, and became its President in 2007. In 2007, he was the winner of the Reebok Human Rights Award for his civil society campaign for freedom of expression and for the release of human rights advocates imprisoned for criticizing the Cambodian government.

Virak leads the Alliance for Freedom of Expression in Cambodia (AFEC), working with other NGOs to promote and protect freedom of expression, information and assembly in Cambodia. He is the Vice-Chairman of the Cambodian NGO Working Group for establishing a National Human Rights Commission and ASEAN Human Rights Body, and represents this NGO Working Group to the Cambodian Joint Government-NGO Working Group for establishing a National Human Rights Commission and ASEAN Human Rights Body. Virak also represents the Cambodian NGO Working Group for establishing a National Human Rights Commission and ASEAN Human Rights Body to the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism.

References

Virak Ou Wikipedia


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