By a happy chance, we have reconnected with one of our Alumni, Marc Sanda Kimbimbi, who was a postgraduate fellow at the University of Cambridge in 1978-1979. In December Mr Kimbimbi came to Brussels to receive the first prize of the Faculty of Law and Criminology of the Université libre de Bruxelles, awarded to a graduate who, ‘through his professional activity, his civic or political engagement, has made a remarkable contribution to human emancipation and dignity”.
On that occasion, the newspaper La Libre Belgique featured an article on Mr Kimbimbi. After chosing “to put his legal training at the service of humanitarian law and African refugees”, Mr Kimbimbi worked for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1981 until 2013. “An outstanding figure”, writes Jean-Claude Matgen, “Mr Kimbimbi took the risk of working as closely as possible to the field and to human distress. After completing two years of training at the UN headquarters in Geneva, he did not hesitate to move to areas, mainly in Africa, affected by armed conflicts, xenophobic attacks, famine and other humanitarian crises”. The jury of the prize paid homage to “a man who has risked his life to help those most in need”.
The Wiener-Anspach Foundation extends its warmest congratulations to Mr Kimbimbi.
Pictures by Jean Jottard.
