Kerry Kennedy, President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights and Honorary President of the Robert F. Kennedy Foundation of Europe, will participate in the opening panel of the 32nd annual Ischia Internazionale di Giornalismo (Ischia International Journalism Awards), on Friday, July 8.
The events will begin at 2 pm Italian time, and will be broadcast live on Italian television station Sky TG 24. Ms. Kennedy will participate in a panel discussion, moderated by Italian TV journalist Paola Saluzzi, on the issue of human rights, the media, and women. Other panelists will include Elena Milashina, acclaimed journalist for the Russian newspaper Novaya Gazeta, known for its hard-hitting investigative articles; Rym Ali Brahimi, former CNN war correspondent and recipient of the 2011 International Premio Ischia award; Stefania Craxi, Italian Undersecretary of State for Foreign Affairs; and Anita Shahzad, whose husband, investigative journalist Syed Saleem Shehzad, was tortured and killed in Pakistan in early June of this year.
Ms. Kennedy started working in the field of human rights in 1981 and has since devoted her life to the pursuit of justice, to the promotion and protection of basic rights, and to the preservation of the rule of law. As President of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, Kerry Kennedy supervises the RFK Journalism Awards, which have been presented to outstanding journalists for more than 40 years. Called the “Poor People’s Pulitzer", the award was established by journalists who followed Senator Robert Kennedy’s presidential campaign in 1968. Also David Gilkey will be in Ischia: winner of the 2011 RFK Journalism Award for International Photography, David was awarded for his reportage on Haiti after the earthquake.
In Italy, the Robert F. Kennedy High School and University Journalism Award was created with the patronage of Premio Ischia Internazionale di Giornalismo, with the aim of raising awareness among future citizens and future media operators on human rights issues. The Award this year was open to students from Italian high schools who participate to the “Speak Truth To Power” human rights education program. The award recipient will be presented with a bronze bust of Robert Kennedy by sculptor Robert Berks and with a scholarship at the ceremony, which will be held in Ischia on July 9, and will be broadcast on RAI Uno national public TV channel on July 21.
