Sonia Pierre facts for kids
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Sonia Pierre (born 1963, died December 4, 2011) was a brave human rights activist. She worked in the Dominican Republic.
Sonia fought against antihaitianismo. This is unfair treatment of people from Haiti or those with Haitian family. For her important work, she won the 2006 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. In 2010, she also received the International Women of Courage Award. This award came from the United States Department of State.
Sonia Pierre's Life
Sonia Pierre was born in 1963 in Villa Altagracia. This town is in the Dominican Republic. Her parents came from Haiti. Her mother arrived in 1957 with a special work permit. Her father came to the Dominican Republic without legal papers.
Sonia was one of twelve children in her family. They lived in a special camp for workers. These camps are called batey. Many people from Haiti live and work in these areas. Sonia's birth certificate had a mistake. It said her name was Solain Pie. She said this was a clerk's error.
Sonia Pierre passed away on December 4, 2011. She was 48 years old. She had a heart attack while on her way to the hospital.
Her Important Work
When Sonia was only 14, she led a protest. This protest was for sugar cane workers. She even went to jail for it. But the protest got a lot of attention. After her brave actions, the workers received better tools and more money.
Sonia became the director of a group called MUDHA. This stands for the Movement for Dominican Women of Haitian Descent. The group's main goal was to stop "antihaitianism." This means ending unfair treatment against people from Haiti in the Dominican Republic.
In 2005, Sonia took a big case to court. It was about two children of Haitian background. They could not get Dominican birth certificates. The court told the Dominican government to give the children their birth certificates. However, a higher court later said that Haitian workers were only "in transit." This meant their children could not be citizens.
Awards and Honors
Sonia Pierre received many awards for her human rights work:
- In 2006, she won the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Senator Edward Kennedy gave her this award.
- She also received the 2003 Human Rights Ginetta Sagan Fund Award. This award came from Amnesty International.
- In 2002, Sonia and her group MUDHA were nominated for a UNESCO Prize. This was for Human Rights Education.
- She received the Giuseppe Motta Medal in 2008. This was for her work in human rights.
- The United States Department of State honored her in 2010. She received the International Women of Courage Award.
See also
In Spanish: Sonia Pierre para niños
