The human rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Tawakkol Karman has congratulated the Yemeni activist, Fadia Najib Thabet, on being awarded International Women of Courage Award annually presented by the US Department of State. 

“With all my heart, I congratulate Fadia Najib Thabet on The IWOC Award the US Department of State has presented this year to 12 women from around the world," said Karman on her Facebook page.

Mrs. Karman added, “This reward, which has been given as an appreciation for her efforts to defend rights and freedoms and refuse recruitment of children, is also an honor for Yemen’s women who have great will and determination as the events have proved”.

The Secretary of State’s International Women of Courage Award annually recognizes women around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and women’s empowerment, often at great personal risk. 

As a Child Protection Officer who reported on violations against children in conflict during the recent conflicts in southern Yemen, Fadia Najib Thabet faced death on a regular basis as she tried to protect the region's children from Al Qaeda and Houthi militias, as stated in her biography published by the US State Department. 

“Through her courageous work, she dissuaded young boys from joining Al Qaeda, exposed its Yemeni branch "Ansar al Sharia" as a recruiter of child soldiers, and documented for the United Nations Security Council cases of mining, abduction, rape, and other human rights violations by various armed groups.”

According to the State Department statement, Thabet took the view that children recruited by extremists and militants were not criminals, but, victims. 

“She worked with parents, schools, communities, the children themselves, and eventually the United Nations to develop an action plan in southern Yemen to save children from the war,” the statement mentioned. 

It was also pointed out that Thabet continues to work on behalf of dispossessed and uprooted children with the American Refugee Committee.

Since the inception of this award in 2007, the State Department has honored over 100 women from more than 60 different countries.

This year, honorees included a Bangladeshi activist who rebelled against her own child marriage; the Colombian survivor of an acid attack; a hospital worker from Niger; and a gender violence activist in Papua New Guinea.