Mangala Sharma

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Mangala Sharma
Born1969
NationalityBhutanese
Known forWinner of Ginetta Sagan Fund Award in 1997

Mangala Sharma was born in 1969[1] in Tsirang, Bhutan. She was a human and women's rights activist and the first winner of the Ginetta Sagan Fund Award in 1997.[2] She was exiled from the country in March 1992[a] after being outspoken against the government's "One Nation, One People" policy and their discrimination against ethnic minorities, known as Lhotshampas.[4] Since her exile, she has formed the Bhutanese Refugees Aid for Victims of Violence (BRAVE), a self-help organization dedicated to assisting affected refugees from Bhutan. BRAVE facilitates counseling and training in all eight of the Bhutanese refugee camps in Nepal.[2] In 1995 Sharma took some of the women refugees to Beijing, China to the International Women Conference. There she got help from the United States Government, the United Nations and the Australian Government.[5]

Sharma was granted asylum and moved to the United States in 2000 and started working for the Refugee Women Network based in Georgia. She moved to Roseville, Minnesota in November 2007, where she started the Nirvana Center that assists resettled families.[4]

References[edit]

Notes
  1. ^ Some sources say she fled with her husband and child in 1990[3]
Citations
  1. ^ Gold, Taro (5 February 2013). The Tao of Mom: The Wisdom of Mothers from East to West. Andrews McMeel Publishing. p. 113. ISBN 978-0-7407-8743-0.
  2. ^ a b "Ginetta Sagan Award Winners". Amnesty International. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  3. ^ Cahill, Kevin M. (1999). A Framework for Survival: Health, Human Rights, and Humanitarian Assistance in Conflicts and Disasters. Psychology Press. p. 58. ISBN 978-0-415-92235-7.
  4. ^ a b "Mangala Sharma". From Exile to Resettlement. Retrieved 26 April 2014.
  5. ^ Born in Bhutan and exiled