Monika Hauser

Hauser spent her youth in the Swiss village of Thal, Saint Gallen, in German-speaking Switzerland, before continuing her medical studies in Innsbruck, Austria.[https://www.rightlivelihoodaward.org/laureates/monika-hauser/ Laureates: Monika Hauser] Right Livelihood Award She completed her doctorate in medicine in Innsbruck and Bologna in 1984, obtained her German medical licence in 1988 and completed her gynaecological specialization at the Essen University Hospital in 1998.[https://www.rightlivelihoodaward.org/laureates/monika-hauser/ Laureates: Monika Hauser] Right Livelihood Award.

At the conclusion of her medical studies, Hauser moved to Cologne, where she began working on behalf of female victims of violence in warzones. To this end, she travelled to Bosnia-Herzegovina, Afghanistan, Congo, Liberia and Israel, with the organisation Medica mondiale, which she founded.{{cite book|last=Cockburn|first=Cynthia|title=The space between us: negotiating gender and national identities in conflict|year=1998|publisher=Zed Books|isbn=978-1-85649-618-6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gPGDLH5gUvAC&dq=%22Monika+Hauser%22&pg=PA189|accessdate=8 October 2010|page=189}} In 1993, she set up the first rape crisis centre in Bosnia. She was photographed with a child in her arms who had been born as a result of a wartime rape. That child was Ajna Jusić,{{Cite web |title=Bosnia: An interview with Ajna Jusić from Forgotten Children of War |url=https://medicamondiale.org/en/violence-against-women/news/ajna-jusic-from-forgotten-children-of-war-bosnia |access-date=2024-03-09 |website=medicamondiale.org |language=en}} who grew up to become an advocate for others born after rape. She and Hauser were reunited in Sarajevo when Jusić was 25. Jusić was recognised for her work in 2024.{{Cite web |date=2024-03-04 |title=US Recognizes 'International Women of Courage' |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/us-recognizing-international-women-of-courage-/7512577.html |access-date=2024-03-09 |website=Voice of America |language=en}}

After her first years in the field, she suffered a mental breakdown in 1995, from which she only recovered after three months.Julia Rothhaas (31 December 2018), [https://www.sueddeutsche.de/leben/vergewaltigung-opfer-monika-hauser-1.4266645 Die Kriegerin] Süddeutsche Zeitung.

In 1999, Hauser initiated the project Medica mondiale Kosova, involving numerous project visits to Albania and Kosovo. In 2000, she assumed the operational leadership of Medica Mondiale.

In 2017, Hauser joined Sima Samar, Gino Strada, Ran Goldstein, and Denis Mukwege in signing an open letter published by The Lancet, in which they called on incoming Director-General of the World Health Organization Tedros Adhanom to focus on sexual and gender-based violence.{{cite journal | url=https://www.thelancet.com/pdfs/journals/lancet/PIIS0140-6736(17)31818-4.pdf | title=Open letter to the UN's new health chief from "Alternative Nobel Prize" laureates | journal=The Lancet | date=7 July 2017 | pages=359–360 | volume=390 | issue=10092 | accessdate=16 February 2019 | doi=10.1016/s0140-6736(17)31818-4| pmid=28693814 | last1=Samar | first1=Sima | last2=Strada | first2=Gino | last3=Hauser | first3=Monika | last4=Goldstein | first4=Ran | last5=Mukwege | first5=Denis | doi-access=free }}

Hauser received the Right Livelihood Award in 2008 and – together with Asma Jahangir – the North-South Prize of the Council of Europe in 2012 for her work with female victims of violence in conflict zones.{{cite web|title=Right Livelihood Award: 2008 – Monika Hauser|url=http://www.rightlivelihood.org/hauser.html|publisher=Right Livelihood Award Foundation|accessdate=8 October 2010|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101130103727/http://www.rightlivelihood.org/hauser.html|archivedate=30 November 2010}} In addition, she is the recipient of the following honors:

• 1994 – Gustav Heinemann Prize, awarded by the Social Democratic Party of Germany
• 2000 – Peter Beier Prize, awarded by the Evangelical Church in the Rhineland
• 2005 – nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize by the organisation PeaceWomen Across the Globe, along with 1000 women{{Cite web|title=Friedensfrauen weltweit|url=http://buchdeutsch.1000peacewomen.org/gefunden.php?ID=180|access-date=13 October 2020|website=buchdeutsch.1000peacewomen.org}}
• 2011 − European of the Year, voted by the European editors of Reader's Digest[http://www.presseportal.de/pm/32522/1747497/monika-hauser-ist-europaeerin-des-jahres-2011-mit-bild Monika Hauser ist „Europäerin des Jahres 2011".] In: presseportal.de 13 January 2011 and presented by Margot Wallström
• 2012 – State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia, awarded by Minister President Hannelore Kraft[https://www.land.nrw/de/staatspreis-des-landes-nordrhein-westfalen State Prize of North Rhine-Westphalia]
• 2017 – Honorary doctorate, University of St. Gallen
• 2017 – Paracelsus Medal, awarded by the German Medical Association
• 2019 – Decoration of Honor of the State of Tyrol[https://www.suedtirolnews.it/unterhaltung/kultur/ehrenzeichen-des-landes-tirol-fuer-monika-hauser Ehrenzeichen des Landes Tirol für Monika Hauser] suedtirolnews.it, 14 February 2019.

In 1996, Hauser turned down the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany in protest against the government's policy of forced repatriation of Bosnian refugees.

Hauser is married to fellow Medica Mondiale co-founder Klaus-Peter Klauner. The couple has a son and lives in Brühl.

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• [http://vimeo.com/channels/30thirty Monika Hauser @ 30|THIRTY Project- 30sec. films for each of the Right Livelihood Award Laureates]

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:Swiss gynaecologists

Category:Italian gynaecologists

Category:Italian emigrants to Germany

Category:Swiss emigrants to Germany

Category:Anti-globalization activists

Category:People from the canton of St. Gallen

Category:Physicians from Cologne

Category:Sexual abuse victim advocates