AUST. DAY HONOURS:
Kay Danes - A Passion for Social Justice
By Judith Kerr - Jan. 26, 2014, 12:01am
KAY Danes, of Wellington Point, has been honoured with a Medal of the
Order of Australia (OAM) for service to the community through promoting
social justice and human rights.
An author and humanitarian, Kay has been
living between Australia and the Middle East for two years, as her
husband Kerry, a member of the Australian Defence Force, is on
deployment in the Middle East.
She has worked tirelessly for many years in
Australia and overseas, raising awareness of human rights and social
justice, having experienced the violation of her own human rights 13
years ago when she and her husband Kerry, while working for a security
company in Laos, were unlawfully detained over a dispute between the
Laotian Government and one of their clients.
They spent almost 12 months in a prison in
Laos, where they were tortured and interrogated before diplomatic
efforts secured their release, and a pardon was given by the President
of Laos.
Among the many projects on which she has
worked, Kay, who is completing her master’s in human rights, has helped
create greater safety for Australian travellers by helping to educate
the community about not expecting to find in other countries the same
judicial processes as those found in Australia, and has run campaigns to
improve health and education for people who live in poverty and those
affected by war zones and conflict.
In Australia, she also campaigns to improve
literacy among indigenous Australians and supports the Soldier On
charity, which assists Australian soldiers who were wounded in
Afghanistan.
She has helped renovate a women’s prison in
Afghanistan, and has also been a volunteer consultant to the National
Human Rights Commission of Australia, the Joint Standing Committee on
Treaties and the Secretary to the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture.
Kay is currently starting a project called
Blankets and Books, which aims to supply orphans in Jordan with care
packages containing books, a blanket, small toys, crayons, pyjamas and
more.
She said receiving the OAM didn’t “seem quite real”.
“It’s hard to describe the feeling, but I’m
really proud that whoever nominated me and whoever selected me thought
me worthy of this award,” she said.
Kay attributed her drive to help others to her parents, who were self-funded missionaries in the Philippines.
http://www.baysidebulletin.com.au/story/2045838/aust-day-honours-kay-danes-a-passion-for-social-justice/?cs=213
Congratulations Kay from everyone at the e-Club!