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Courage in Journalism Awards

Every year the International Women’s Media Foundation honors brave women journalists who risk political persecution,injury and sometimes death in their efforts to expose corruption and champion human rights.

Global Research on Women

The IWMF is working on ground-breaking research on the status of women in the media worldwide. The new study, the Global Report on the Status of Women in the News Media, will measure the career progress of women in the news media and use the results to help advocate for change.

The IWMF also tracks past studies on women in the news media, and will draw from this prior work in compiling the Global Report, which will be published in 2011.

4-Year Africa Project

With generous support from the Howard G. Buffett Foundation, the IWMF launched "Reporting on Agriculture and Women: Africa." The project is energizing the way African media cover one of the most important topics on the continent.
The IWMF is helping African journalists to boost coverage of agriculture and rural development and increase women’s voices – both as journalists and as sources – in stories about agriculture

Funding HIV/AIDS Investigative Reporting

The IWMF is establishing 10 fellowships to train journalists in South Africa to write investigative reports on the HIV/AIDS epidemic. With support from the M*A*C  AIDS Fund, these experienced journalists will conduct interviews and write in-depth research for their publications in 2011.

03

    Lydia Cacho, Mexico

Cacho, 44, is also a human rights advocate. She is the founder and director of the Centro Integral de Atención a las Mujeres in Cancún, a crisis center and shelter for victims of sex crimes, gender-based violence and trafficking.

Cacho began her career in the mid-1980s, when she worked for the cultural section of the newspaper Novedades de Cancún . In the 1990s she wrote articles about the prostitution of Cuban and Argentine girls in Cancún. From 1994-1999, Cacho hosted a public radio program called Estas Mujeres [These Women], and she anchored the television program Esta Boca es Mía [This Mouth is Mine] from 2000-2005. During this time, Cacho also wrote a political analysis column called Interludio [Interlude], which ran for 12 years in various magazines and newspapers in Mexico.

Cacho’s books include Mujer Delfin [Dolphin Woman], a poetry book published in 1997, and Muerdele El Corazon [Bite the Heart], a novel published in 2005 about a woman who is HIV positive.

In 2004, Cacho published Los Demonios del Edén [The Demons of Eden], a book based on her research on child pornography among Mexican politicians and businessmen. A year later, she was arrested on libel charges and driven to a jail 20 hours from her home in Cancún, with officers hinting that there was a plan to rape her. Cacho paid a fine and was freed; she later filed a successful counter-suit for corruption and violation of human rights.

In recent years, Cacho has written extensively about pedophiles. In February 2006, a recording of a conversation between a businessman and a Mexican governor discussing a plan to have her arrested and raped was obtained by the media. Several years earlier, in 1998, Cacho was raped and beaten in the bathroom of a bus station. She suspects the attack was related to her work.

On May 8, Cacho alleged that her car was tampered with in an attempt to cause an accident. Her bodyguards discovered that the nuts had been loosened on one of the wheels, nearly causing the car to crash. The attack came just days after Cacho testified at the trial of accused pedophile Jean Succar Kuri, one of men she wrote about in her book. During the trial, Kuri’s lawyer attacked Cacho for writing her book. Kuri complained that he was in jail because of Cacho and that he would do away with her.

Cacho was born in Mexico City on April 12, 1963.

Comments

melanie
Saturday, January 24, 2009 1:31 AM
keep fighting for our kids. I have been to Cancun, once I brought my son, then 2 and half. I have not been back since seeing one of your interviews. I was oblivious to the fact that children were being abused in such ways. I hope you encourage the government to protect. I will not come back especially with my children until I know it is safe. They are hurting there own tourism business by not protecting these women and children. I count myself lucky that no harm was done to me. God Bless you and keep you safe.
else klavins
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 4:46 AM
When will the book be available in English? God bless you, brave honourable woman!

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