Zagreb church reader wins human rights award

|PIC1|Todd Becker, an active member and reader in the Anglican church in Zagreb has been honoured with a human rights award from the Croatian Helsinki Human Rights Organisation (HHO), the oldest and largest human rights organisation in Croatia.

The award was presented by the Prime Minister of Croatia, Dr Ivo Sanader, in recognition of Mr Becker's seven years as Deputy Head of the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe's Mission to Croatia to promote and protect human rights in the country.

It is the first time the HHO has presented any of its awards to a non-Croatian citizen.

Mr Becker's work involved furthering and supporting the development of governmental and non-governmental offices, institutions and organisations to ensure human rights development. He also worked extensively to strengthen the legal framework for human rights, particularly minority rights, in Croatia.

"The award, given to me for my personal work also reflects the extensive successful work of the OSCE Mission as a whole in all of these areas," he said. "The guiding principle for all my work is the life and teachings of Jesus."

Mr Becker was born in Washington DC but has lived in Europe for most of his adult life, working for a total of 43 years in the United States diplomatic service and the OSCE.

He is also involved in the Diocese in Europe as reader in St Boniface Anglican Church in Bonn, Germany, the Anglican Church in Athens, Greece, where he was reader in charge of Kifissia chapel. For the past eight years, he has served as reader in St. Joseph's Chapel, Zagreb, Croatia - part of the chaplaincy of Vienna.

The Zagreb congregation meets at St Joseph's Chapel in the Jesuit Training Academy and is primarily made up of English speaking ex-patriots, diplomats and businesspeople.