Musue Noha Haddad

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Musue N. Haddad of Liberia, formerly a Hubert Humphrey Fellow at the University of Maryland, College Park, Merrill School of Journalism, and a 2000 Visiting Scholar at the Columbia University Center for Human Rights and Advocacy Training was presented the Human Rights Watch Hellmann-Hammett Award, granted to writers around the world who have been the targets of political persecution. Human Rights Watch in its Hellmann-Hammett biography of Ms. Haddad states: "Ms. Haddad wrote unbiased, factual reports, criticizing the government and providing information that the government tried to suppress. Following articles she wrote about a visit to the United States in 1998, she was accused of spying as a CIA employee. In February 2001 when many of her colleagues at The NEWS were imprisoned, she became their advocate in the international community. As a result, Liberian death threats followed her to the United States where she now lives in hiding."

Ms. Haddad, a Liberian photojournalist started her journalism career while in exile in Accra, Ghana during the civil war in her country, Liberia. She is a recipient of the Nelson Mandela Award for Best Student in Photojournalism from the Ghana Institute of Journalism.

In Ghana, she associated with several organizations, and worked on numerous projects, including a photography project, "A Day in the Lives of Two Teenage Mothers," documenting the lives of the teengae mothers and their children, and the implications of teenage pregnancies on young mothers and their children, and society. The project led to a three day photoexhibition in 2005. Another of Ms. Haddad's activities was a photography exhibition: Ghanaian Women and Children in Health and Development." The exhibition was held in commemoration of UNICEF's 50th anniversary in Accra, Ghana. Ms. Haddad also worked with a team of photojournalists in completing a research project, Ghanaian Funerals. The project climaxed with a 11 day exhibition and the launching of 47-page book published in Germany in 1996.

Ms. Haddad returned to her home country in early 1997, and joined THE NEWS, one of Liberia’s independent daily newspapers. As a journalist, Ms. Haddad has suffered physical attack, threats, and intimidation from the government and its security officers because of her work.

Haddad received several awards in Liberia, including the 1998/1999 Journalist of the Year and Photo-Journalist of the Year.

In 2001, Haddad received the United Nations Association of the National Capital Area, (UNA-NCA) Human Rights Award for her “outstanding dedication and service towards the recognition, promotion and protection of the inherent dignity and equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family.”

Stephanie Robinson, Staff Attorney, Lawyer's Committee for the Human Rights renamed, Human Rights First Washington offices, said her organization had become familiar with Ms. Haddad and were proud of her commitment, adding “Haddad has remained consistent in highlighting human rights situations in her country despite attempts to discredit her extraordinary work.”

Haddad was also nominated for the International Women's Media Foundation (IWMF) 2001 Courage in Journalism Awards, which recognizes women journalists who risk their lives in the course of reporting.

As a journalist, Haddad has brought international attention to the human rights abuses that occurred in her native Liberia while in exile in the U.S.

Ms. Haddad completed a Master of International Policy and Practice (MIPP) in 2006 from George Washington University.