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Award Recipients: 2014 Human Rights Awards Dinner
 
2014 Don & Arvonne Fraser Human Rights Award Recipient
 Marilyn Carlson Nelson Marilyn Carlson Nelson
Keynote speaker and recipient of the 2014 Don & Arvonne Fraser Human Rights Award, Marilyn Carlson Nelson, is an extraordinary values-based leader and human rights advocate. While often best known for the success of the Carlson brands, Carlson Nelson, the former Carlson CEO and board chair, signed the travel industry’s International Code of Conduct to end child prostitution, pornography, and trafficking, and she co-founded the World Childhood Foundation. She also worked tirelessly to defeat the marriage amendment in Minnesota.
 
Carlson Nelson’s book How We Lead Matters: Reflections on a Life of Leadership is a best seller. The book, a collection of anecdotes originally intended just for her family, will be available for purchase at the Human Rights Award Dinner; 15% of the book’s sales that evening will be donated to The Advocates, courtesy of Magers & Quinn Booksellers.
 
 
Special Recognition Award
 
Chimgee HaltarhuuChimgee Haltarhuu, a Mongolian immigrant living in Saint Paul, Minnesota, who teaches and performs at Circus Juventas, founded a circus group in 2010, Mission Manduhai, which travels to the far reaches of Mongolia to put on free performances for nomadic herders to raise awareness about the problem of domestic violence. A survivor of domestic violence, she has helped The Advocates with its domestic violence work in Mongolia.

 
Volunteer Awards
 
Mark PettyMark Petty, an attorney editor at Thomson Reuters, is an exceptional volunteer translator for The Advocates. “Mark is often one of the first people to respond to our requests for translators, and his turn around time is unparalleled,” says Sarah Brenes, staff attorney for The Advocates’ Refugee and Immigrant Program. Since 2012, Petty has donated over 100 hours of French and Spanish translation work to the organization.
 
Julie SheltonJulie Shelton has proven an invaluable team member on several of The Advocates’ Africa projects. An attorney with Faegre Baker Daniels in Chicago, Shelton served as the team leader for a pro bono needs assessment in Cameroon, worked on a report on LGBTI rights in Cameroon, and wrote draft bills for post-conflict Somali law reform. “Julie has consistently gone above and beyond the call of duty,” says Jennifer Prestholdt, director of The Advocates’ International Justice Program.
 
Laura Tripiciano Laura Tripiciano has volunteered with The Advocates for 17 years, starting as an intern in law school. Today, Tripiciano is a private immigration attorney who represents asylum seekers. She has a particular devotion to Ethiopia, where her adopted son was born. In response to one of The Advocates’ listings of new cases in 2013, Tripiciano offered to take on all of the new Ethiopian clients. Sarah Brenes says: “Laura’s interest in serving our clients is genuine, her kindness is unsurpassed, and her dedicated advocacy is unquestionable.”