(New York, October 8, 2003). President Chen Shui-bian of the Republic of China (Taiwan) received the 34th annual International Human Rights Award of the International League for Human Rights at an award dinner held on Friday, October 31, 2003 in New York City. The award was presented at a gala dinner at New York's Waldorf-Astoria Hotel with over 900 people attending, including U.S. Congressmen Gary Ackerman and Tom Lantos.

"President Chen is being recognized for his life-long dedication to the international human rights movement," said League President Scott Horton. "A leader of the human rights and democracy movement in Taiwan, Chen faced years of official repression including imprisonment because of his strongly held views. He played a key role in Taiwan's movement from an authoritarian state to a modern, pluralistic democracy."

The citation also notes Chen's leadership in the effort to enact domestic legislation guaranteeing observation of internationally recognized human rights norms and creating a national human rights commission endeavoring to surmount an obstacle faced by Taiwan for being excluded as a member of the United Nations.

The League has bestowed the Human Rights Award annually since 1968 to an individual who has made notable contributions to the cause of international human rights. Prior recipients of the award include U Thant, Andrei Sakharov, Elie Wiesel, Kim Dae-jung and U.S. Sen. George J. Mitchell, Jacobo Timerman and Daniel Patrick Moynihan.

Founded in 1941, the League is the world's oldest human rights advocacy organization and was the first such organization to be accorded consultative status within the United Nations system. With the Universal Declaration of Human Rights-written with the involvement of many former League officers and directors-as its platform, the League works to develop respect for human rights around the world. Its most recent activities focus on expanding the capacities of local human rights organizations in nations in transition and beset by conflict.

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