2013
Dr. Denis Mulwege
Introduction by Bill Keller, Op-Ed Columnist and former executive editor of The New York Times
At least two of my good friends at The Times…have visited Dr. Mukwege at his hospital in Bukavu on more than one occasion, and can testify to his remarkable accomplishments, as a tireless surgeon, as the guiding spirit of one of Africa's most admirable medical ventures, and as a campaigner for the most elementary of human rights.
The particular evil that Dr. Mukwege combats is sexual violence used to subjugate women, but the Congo has no monopoly on that. Look no further than last Sunday's Times Op-Ed page, where my colleague Nick Kristof describes harrowing cases of sex trafficking — not in some remote, Third-World hell, but in Tennessee.