Carmel Budiarjo

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Carmel Budiarjo (1925- ) is a British human rights activist, founder of the organisation Tapol and a recipient of the Right Livelihood Award.

Carmel was born in London in 1925, before receiving a Bachelors degree in Economics in 1946 from London University. She met Bud Budiarjo, an Indonesian Government official while working in Prague for the International Union of Students, and married and moved to Indonesia in 1951. After General Suharto seized power in 1965, her husband was imprisoned, spending 12 years in jail. She herself was imprisoned for 3 years, and was then expelled to England on her release in 1971.

Upon returning she founded Tapol (Tahanan Politik - political prisoner), to campaign for political prisoners in Indonesia. The organisation expanded its activities, and was very prominent in getting out reliable information on the overwhelming military activity and human rights violations in East Timor, and West Papua. The Tapol Bulletin was a major source of information about the human rights situation in Indonesia under the dictatorship. She is also the author of a number of books on human rights and politics in Indonesia and its occupied territories. The organisation remains active, with Carmel still playing a very important part in its activities.

In 1995 Carmel Budiarjo was awarded the Right Livelihood Award for her work, being nominated by the International Federation for East Timor