The Wassu-UAB Foundation awarded the Jaime Brunet 2022 prize in human rights promotion

UAB Rector Javier Lafuente attended the event to accept the prize in representation of theWassu-UAB Foundation. He expressed the satisfaction of being awarded this prize “because the objective and spirit of this prize is the perfect representation of the Wassu-UAB Foundation's raison d'être”, given that the prize “is in recognition of our University's ability to foster and house projects with a clear social and international projection”. In his specch, Rector Lafuente also acknowledged the work carried out by founder of the Wassu-UAB Foundation Adriana Kaplan: "I wish to thank her for her dedication to this project throughout these 22 years".

The event was attended by the rector of the University of Navarra and president of the Brunet Foundation, Ramón Gonzalo García, the vice-president of the foundation, Joaquín Mencos Doussinague, and the secretary, Francisco Javier Blázquez Ruiz.

Preventing harmful traditional practices

The Wassu-UAB Foundation was born with the fundamental objective of preventing harmful traditional practices, especially female genital mutilation, through research and knowledge transfer. From a holistic and culturally respectful approach, the foundation addresses a dramatic situation of flagrant violation of human rights through a pioneering methodology, which aims to generate knowledge through applied research and transfer knowledge to promote positive social transformations.

Thanks to this approach, and by means of qualitative and quantitative methods and techniques, the Wassu-UAB Foundation has studied in depth the socio-cultural, legal and medical aspects of female genital mutilation and, based on this knowledge, has developed a contextualised, efficient and sustainable prevention and care strategy. The foundation's activity in Africa was instrumental in the enactment of a law in 2015 in The Gambia banning female genital mutilation.
The Jaime Brunet International Prize for the Promotion of Human Rights was established in 1988 by the Brunet Foundation. It is awarded annually to individuals and organisations that contribute to promoting the defence of human rights and to eradicating inhuman and degrading situations and treatment that violate the rights inherent to human dignity.