The Leitner Center awarded Amokura Family Violence Prevention Strategy from New Zealand with its Annual Human Rights Prize at the Center’s Annual Dinner on March 3, 2009. Accepting the award on behalf of Amokura were the organization’s Executive Director, Di Grennel and Advocacy Legal Analyst Ani Pitman.

Each year, the Leitner Center honors one of the activists/organizations with whom the Crowley Program worked during the prior year’s human rights fact-finding project. The 2008 Crowley Project focused on family violence in New Zealand. The award was fully-funded by alumni of the Crowley Program in International Human Rights.

The Award is intended to bring international and domestic attention to Amokura’s inspirational iwi-led violence prevention program. In line with this goal, the Leitner Center organized meetings with relevant NGOs, professionals, UN officials, and others during their week-long stay in New York.

While in New York, Ms. Grennell and Ms. Pitman spoke at the 13th Annual Fordham Forum on Domestic Violence. Amokura met with representatives from Safe Horizon's Domestic Violence Law Project (DVLP). Ms. Grennell and Ms. Pitman also led a brown-bag seminar in conjunction with the UNDP Indigenous Peoples Liaison Committee’s "Civic Engagement Dialogue Series." Fordham University’s WFUV Public Radio interviewed Ms. Grennell and Ms. Pitman for a radio show focusing on the Crowley Program’s project in New Zealand. Listen to the show here.

The Human Rights Award also spotlights Amokura's work within New Zealand. Since Ms. Grennell and Ms. Pitman returned to New Zealand, they have been interviewed for radio and television programs eager to share the news of the Leitner Center's recognition.

In New Zealand, Associate Minister of Social Development and Employment Hon Tariana Turia praised the organization: "Amokura is dedicated to the goals of promoting safety in all the homes of the North, by innovative strategies to increase community awareness, and to provide simple messages for change. I am delighted for them - and for us all - that their expertise in this area has been given such prestigious recognition." Read the full press release here.

The Leitner Center's Executive Director, Jeanmarie Fenrich, said that the local media attention and public recognition that Amokura received upon their return to New Zealand was "what we had hoped for in terms of our Human Rights Prize. Amokura is doing amazing work in New Zealand and they deserve recognition for their efforts."

Photos from the Annual Dinner and Awards Ceremony are available online here, and photos from Amokura’s visit to New York City are available online here.