Mangala Sharma (born 1969 in

Tsirang Tsirang District (; ; previously Chirang) is one of the 20 dzongkhags (districts) of Bhutan. The administrative center of the district is Damphu. Tsirang is noted for its gentle slopes and mild climates. The dzongkhag is also noted for its ri ...

Bhutan Bhutan, officially the Kingdom of Bhutan, is a landlocked country in South Asia, in the Eastern Himalayas between China to the north and northwest and India to the south and southeast. With a population of over 727,145 and a territory of , ...

) is a human and women's rights activist and the first winner of the

Ginetta Sagan Ginetta Sagan (June 1, 1925 – August 25, 2000) was an Italian-born American human rights activist best known for her work with Amnesty International on behalf of prisoners of conscience. Born in Milan, Italy, Sagan lost her parents in her teen ...

Fund Award in 1997. She was exiled from the country in March 1992 after being outspoken against the government's "One Nation, One People" policy and their discrimination against ethnic minorities, known as

Lhotshampas The Lhotshampa or Lhotsampa (; ) people are a heterogeneous Bhutanese people of Nepali descent. The Lhotshampa were estimated to comprise around 35% of the Bhutan's population by the U.S. Department of State as of 2008. The Lhotshampa are pre ...

. Since her exile, she has formed the Bhutanese Refugees Aid for Victims of Violence (BRAVE), a self-help organization dedicated to assisting affected refugees from Bhutan. BRAVE facilitates counseling and training in all eight of the Bhutanese refugee camps in

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

. In 1995 Sharma took some of the women refugees to

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

to the International Women Conference. There she got help from the

United States Government The Federal Government of the United States of America (U.S. federal government or U.S. government) is the Federation#Federal governments, national government of the United States. The U.S. federal government is composed of three distinct ...

, the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

and the

Australian Government The Australian Government, also known as the Commonwealth Government or simply as the federal government, is the national executive government of Australia, a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy. The executive consists of the pr ...

.Born in Bhutan and exiled
/ref> Sharma was granted asylum and moved to the United States in 2000 and started working for the Refugee Women Network based in Georgia. She moved to

Roseville, Minnesota Roseville is a city in Ramsey County, Minnesota, Ramsey County, Minnesota, United States. It is one of two Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Twin Cities suburbs that are bordered directly by Saint Paul, Minnesota, Saint Paul and Minneapolis (Lauderdale, M ...

in November 2007, where she started the Nirvana Center that assists resettled families.

References

;Notes ;Citations 1969 births Living people Bhutanese human rights activists Women's rights activists People from Tsirang District Bhutanese people of Nepalese descent Bhutanese emigrants Immigrants to the United States People from Roseville, Minnesota {{Bhutan-bio-stub

See also

References