‘Respect our differences’

VALERY Wichman, a leading figure in the Cook Islands’ LGBTQI+ movement, was presented with the Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law in Wellington.

She is one of 12 people to receive the award; joining recipients from Syria, Venezuela, SAR Hong Kong (China), the Central African Republic, Iraq, Lebanon, Poland, Ghana, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Nigeria. However, Wichman is the first Pacific recipient of the award.

She works as a barrister and solicitor, for the Cook Islands Government, and is a leading campaigner for human rights in that small country.

Wichman is also one of the founders the Cook Islands rainbow group Te Tiare Association, and has been a leading figure in the LGBTQI+ movement throughout the Pacific for almost 20 years.

She said this award is in recognition of generations of rainbow community members advocating and pushing for positive change.

“We talk about equality before the law, which is guaranteed under our Constitution but it’s more than that, and as I alluded to in my speech earlier, it’s about instilling those foundational values which are prominent in our cultures, island cultures, Cook Islands, wherever.

“We all must love each other, we must be kind to each other, and we must respect each other despite our differences and so for me this recognition shows me that the world is watching and the world acknowledges the hard fight from our Pa Metua right down to today.”

Wichman also said “we’ve been conditioned to ‘othering’ people who are different, and I guess this part of the process of ‘unothering us’”.

This is not the first time she has been recognised for her work.

In 2016 she received a Queen’s Young Leaders Award for supporting LGBTQI+ rights in the Cook Islands. She helped to draft policy and worked with policymakers to develop support services for the LGBTQI+ community.