The Delhi gang-rape victim, known to the world as Nirbhaya (fearless), has been selected as one of the recipients of the 'United States International Women of Courage' Award.
First Lady Michelle Obama and US Secretary of State John Kerry will honour 10 women for their courage and leadership in campaigning for women's rights and empowerment on 8 March, which marks International Women's Day.
The 23-year-old Delhi student, who succumbed to her injuries two weeks after being gang-raped in a moving bus, is among the 10 extraordinary women to be honoured with the bravery award. The award will be presented posthumously on Friday. "'Nirbhaya' bravely recorded two police statements while in the hospital, repeatedly called for justice against the six attackers, and stated her will to survive to see justice done, the US department of state said in a statement released on Monday.
"Like many Indians inspired by her struggle, she was born into a working class family that invested their hopes and life savings into her dream to pursue medicine. She had just graduated from a physiotherapy program when her life was cut short."
List of 2013 awardees of International Women of Courage Award also includes:
Malalai Bahaduri, First Sergeant, Afghan National Interdiction Unit (Afghanistan)
Samira Ibrahim, Coordinator, Know Your Rights (Egypt)
Julieta Castellanos, Rector, National Autonomous University of Honduras (Honduras)
Dr Josephine Obiajulu Odumakin, President, Campaign for Democracy (Nigeria)
Elena Milashina, journalist, human rights activist (Russia)
Fartuun Adan, Executive Director, Elman Peace and Human Rights Centre (Somalia)
Tsering Woeser (Wei Se), Tibetan author, poet, blogger (China)
Razan Zeitunah, human rights lawyer and founder, Local Coordination Committees (Syria)
Ta Phong Tan, blogger (Vietnam)
International Women's Day
All the recipients of the award will be honoured on 8 March. This year's UN theme for women's day is "A promise is a promise: Time for action to end violence against women. It calls for better efforts to put an end to violence against women.
According to UN statistics, an estimated 603 million women live in countries where domestic violence is not yet considered a crime. About 70 percent of women in the world have reported that they have either experienced physical or sexual violence at some point in their lives. The UN has called for international community's commitment to address issues of violence against women.
