Jemera Rone (March 13, 1944 – July 29, 2015) was an American human rights activist. She served as the

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

East Africa East Africa, Eastern Africa, or East of Africa, is the eastern subregion of the African continent. In the United Nations Statistics Division scheme of geographic regions, 10-11-(16*) territories make up Eastern Africa: Due to the historical ...

Coordinator, and was best known for her years of human rights reporting on Sudan.

Biography

Rone was born in

Fort Worth, Texas Fort Worth is the fifth-largest city in the U.S. state of Texas and the 13th-largest city in the United States. It is the county seat of Tarrant County, covering nearly into four other counties: Denton, Johnson, Parker, and Wise. According ...

in 1944 and was raised in

Venezuela Venezuela (; ), officially the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela ( es, link=no, República Bolivariana de Venezuela), is a country on the northern coast of South America, consisting of a continental landmass and many islands and islets in th ...

. She graduated from

Barnard College Barnard College of Columbia University is a private women's liberal arts college in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded in 1889 by a group of women led by young student activist Annie Nathan Meyer, who petitioned Columbia ...

in 1966 and

Rutgers University Rutgers University (; RU), officially Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey, is a Public university, public land-grant research university consisting of four campuses in New Jersey. Chartered in 1766, Rutgers was originally called Queen's ...

Law School. She was an outspoken critic of the development of the oil infrastructure in East Africa, which she believes often comes at the expense of the local population, rather than to their benefit. She initiated

Human Rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

investigations, and has overseen investigations in

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

, and

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

, and been involved with monitoring human rights in 24 different countries. Rone lived in El Salvador in 1985 during their civil war. She reported on the human rights violations committed by the revolutionaries - the Sandinistas - to provide more factual evidence than the U.S. State Department was providing; they were backing the corrupt Salvadoran government. The information provided by the Human Rights Watch showed that even with a powerful administration such as Reagan's, they will provide the truth.

Death

Rone died on July 29, 2015, in Washington, D.C. from

ovarian cancer Ovarian cancer is a cancerous tumor of an ovary. It may originate from the ovary itself or more commonly from communicating nearby structures such as fallopian tubes or the inner lining of the abdomen. The ovary is made up of three different c ...

at the age of 71.Obituary
''Washington Post'', August 5, 2015.

References

Sources

Human Rights News Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

November 23, 2003
Sudan Government and Rebels Guilty of Deaths in Custody
April 21, 1999 1944 births 2015 deaths Deaths from ovarian cancer Deaths from cancer in Washington, D.C. American human rights activists Women human rights activists Barnard College alumni People from Fort Worth, Texas {{US-bio-stub