Saskia Kouwenberg
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Saskia Kouwenberg | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Kouwenberg in 2017 | |
| Born | 1952 (age 73–74) |
| Occupation | Human rights activist |
| Years active | 1981–present |
| Known for | Support of East Timorese independence |
| Honours | Ordem de Timor-Leste (2017) |
Saskia Kouwenberg (born 1952) is a Dutch human rights activist and journalist. She is known for her advocacy for the self-determination of indigenous people, including in Timor-Leste and Maluku, as well as her campaigns against nuclear weapons, colonialism and war, with which she has worked with human rights groups and organisations including Amnesty International and the United Nations. While Kouwenberg has advocated for peace and held mediation meetings, she also supported the raids of military bases as a form of protest.[1]
Kouwenberg was born and raised in Zundert, a village in North Brabant; her parents were greengrocers.[1] When she was 19, she travelled along the hippie trail to countries including Pakistan, India and Nepal, where she noticed the significant poverty experienced by people there. Upon returning to the Netherlands, Kouwenberg began working in the film industry, including with director Paul Verhoeven, where she worked until the 1980s, when she decided to focus on human rights work.[2]
Activism
Kouwenberg participated in anti-nuclear weapons demonstrations in Amsterdam on 21 November 1981, and went on to help establish a peace camp outside the Volkel Air Base. Kouwenberg used her film-making knowledge to make a documentary about nuclear tests in New Zealand.[1]
Kouwenberg campaigned for land rights for indigenous people in Indonesia, which had previously been a Dutch colony; her father had fought for the Dutch army during the colonial era, and Kouwenberg spoke about feeling colonial guilt.[3] She was part of a delegation that travelled to Maluku to report on interreligious conflicts that had happened there. On 12 November 1991, the Santa Cruz massacre occurred in Dili in the Indonesian-occupied East TImor, in which one of Kouwenberg's friends was killed; British cameraman Max Stahl captured footage of the events, and Kouwenberg smuggled it from Dili to the Netherlands, via Jakarta, in her underwear.[3][4][5][6] The footage was broadcast internationally, and led to greater understanding and support of the East Timorese independence movement, including the establishment of the East Timor Action Network.[2]