U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton poses for a photo with the 2012 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report Heroes Sister Azezet Kidane, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain].
SR. AZEZET HABTEZGHI KIDANE, Comboni Missionary
U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton poses for a photo with the 2012 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report Heroes Sister Azezet Kidane, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain].
Sr. Azezet, also known as Sister Aziza, is an Eritrean nun with the Comboni Missionary Sisters who volunteers as a nurse for the NGO Physicians for Human Rights- Israel (PHR-I). During the past two years she has led PHR-I’s efforts to call attention to human trafficking in Sinai, Egypt, including sexual slavery and the torture of hundreds of African asylum seekers. PHR-I developed a groundbreaking research project that has interviewed hundreds of victims living in Israel.
This painstaking work was accomplished by the devotion of Sister Aziza who helped identify men, women, and children who had been kidnapped, repeatedly raped, or subjected to forced labor and sexual servitude, in addition to being tortured, in the Sinai.
Her perseverance, heartfelt concern, and willingness to listen to countless hours of interviews enabled many victims to open up about their experiences of rape, torture, kidnapping, forced labor, and sexual servitude. Whereas previously little was known of the specific atrocities in Egypt, these documented firsthand accounts have led to widespread international media reporting and attention to human trafficking in the region. The State Department has relied on the work of Sister Aziza and PHR-I to promote awareness of this important issue. (From http://www.state.gov/documents/organization/192587.pdf )
![U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton poses for a photo with the 2012 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report Heroes Sister Azezet Kidane, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain].](https://qwsqwam.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/azezet1.jpg "U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton poses for a photo with the 2012 Trafficking in Persons (TIP) Report Heroes Sister Azezet Kidane, at the U.S. Department of State in Washington, D.C., on June 19, 2012. [State Department photo/ Public Domain].")