The American missionary Dorothy Stang today received the posthumous award of 'Defender of Human Rights' as part of the 2006 Human Rights Awards presented by the Office of the President.

In February 2005 Stang was murdered near Anapú in the state of Pará after denouncing environmental and human rights abuses committed by local landowners. For more than 20 years she had been involved in social projects helping poor people in the region, which is well known for agrarian conflicts and illicit appropriation of land.

Paulo Vannuchi, a minister in the Special Human Rights Secretariat in the Office of the President, stated that one of the purposes of the award was to help ensure that human rights violations are not forgotten.

Source: Office of the President and Embassy of Brazil in London