UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador         As the most active Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), soprano Barbara Hendricks has single-handed redefined the role of Goodwill Ambassador. Since 1987, Barbara Hendricks has worked and travelled ceaselessly on behalf of refugees all across the world. Her travels for the organizations has taken her to Zambia (1989), visiting one group of refugees preparing to return to Namibia, and another from Mozambique in a settlement on the Zambia-Mozambique border. In 1990, she visited the most renowned refugee camp for Vietnamese boat people, Pilau Bidong in Malaysia.       Support for refugees         In late 1992, Barbara Hendricks visited several Cambodian refugees sites at the border of Thailand and returned one year later to greet some of these same refugees returning home to Cambodia from those camps to prepare for the first democratic elections in Cambodian history. She later arranged funding for a period of three years for a collaborative project between the UNHCR and Handicap International for the rehabilitation of victims of anti-personnel mines in Cambodia, and since then has been actively supporting the international campaign to ban anti-personnel mines. Her most recent missions have been in the Great Lakes Region of Africa, Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi.   Winners of the Nobel Peace Prize         In addition to the field missions, Barbara Hendricks has met with heads of state and other government officials responsible for refugee and human rights matters. She has made many appearances on television and is often invited to address civic groups and young students on her activities as Goodwill Ambassador. She eagerly embraces the opportunity to create an awareness for the public as to refugee needs, problems and solutions worldwide. From the outset, Barbara Hendricks has seen her role of UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador as the perfect vehicle to express her commitment to humanitarian work and the need to be vigilant in the defence and preservation of human rights. For more than 50 years the UNHCR an apolitical and humanitarian organization and two-time winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, has been successfully fulfilling its mandate of aiding and protecting more than 50 millions refugees throughout the world. Presently it is providing aid to 22.3 million refugees and displaced persons, 80% of who are women and children in 120 countries. To care about refugees is to care about ourselves, our children and the future of humanity. It is the responsibility of each member of the human community to promote and defend the human rights of all. An outstretched hand never comes back empty because it is filled with the warmth of the essence of humanity. After more than 15 years of service to the cause of refugees and her untiring support for the UNHCR she has been named Honorary Ambassador For Life by the UNHCR and will be given special tasks that demand her long unparalleled experience and commitment.       New Years Eve concerts in Yugoslavia         A special concern for the fate of the people of former Yugoslavia led Barbara Hendricks to perform two solidarity concerts in the war-ridden country, both on December 31st at midnight. The first, in Dubrovnik in 1991, was organized by the Association 'A la Première Heure du Premier Jour' (At the first hour of the first day), and the second in Sarajevo in 1993, in coordination with the Association for Humanitarian Action, was at the invitation of the Sarajevo Orchestra, at a time when the city was under constant siege, bombings and snipers' fire. Barbara Hendricks accepted a new challenge when the Director General of UNESCO, Federico Mayor named her Special Advisor on Intercultural Relations. In this capacity, she participated in the organization of the European Youth Campaign against xenophobia, anti-semitism and intolerance launched in December 1994 by the Council of Europe.   Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation     The goal of this Barbara Hendricks campaign, which lasted until December 1996 was to inspire the youth of Europe to be the advocates and the champions of an open and tolerant society within Europe as well as the rest of the world. She represented the Director General at the inauguration of Nelson Mandela in 1993.To underline the very purpose behind her humanitarian actions, Barbara Hendricks likes to quote John Phillip Curran, the Lord Mayor of Dublin in 1790, who once said : ' the condition on which God have given man liberty is constant and eternal vigilance'. She founded in 1998 the Barbara Hendricks Foundation for Peace and Reconciliation to personalize her struggle for the prevention of conflicts in the world and to facilitate reconciliation and enduring peace where conflicts have occurred.   NEW ACQUITTED!     Aktham Naisse, the Laureate of the 2005 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), was acquitted Sunday 26 June by the Supreme State Security Court in Damascus. After several postponements, the Court has finally dropped all charges against our laureate, as demanded by many international and regional human rights organisations. This is an enormous encouragement for all human rights defenders around the world. We are also Pleased to announce that the cermony of the Martin Ennals Award will take place in Geneva at the Bâtiment des Forces Motrices on 12 October 2005 at 17h00 followed by a reception at 18h00 where the audience will be able to meet the Laureate. The award will be presented by Louise Arbour, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The event is organised in the context of the International North South Media Festival.