Al Jazeera’s 101 East wins Prestigious Human Rights Award

101 East, Al Jazeera’s weekly Asian current affairs programme, has been named a winner at the 21st Annual Human Rights Press Awards in Hong Kong for the second year running.

Malaysia: Babies for Sale, a film by 101 East Senior Reporter/Producer Chan Tau Chou and Producer Sarah Yeo, won the English broadcast category award at a ceremony in Hong Kong on Saturday.

Another 101 East film, Maid in Singapore, a programme about domestic workers from Myanmar by Lynn Lee and James Leong, won a merit award.

Malaysia: Babies for Sale was the result of an undercover investigation into the sinister world of baby selling, where infants are sold to the highest bidder.

The exclusive film, which exposed how babies are advertised online and buyers can customise a baby based on gender, race and skin colour, sparked a Malaysian police investigation that resulted in the arrests of a number of doctors and traffickers involved in the underground trade.

It is the second consecutive year that 101 East has won the award.

“It’s an honour to be included in these prestigious awards,” Chan said.

“When we started this investigation, we wanted to find out the extent of baby selling in Malaysia. We were shocked by the brutality of the traffickers who exploit women and children for profit, and by the corruption among doctors and government officials that allows this business to continue. This award keeps the spotlight on the issue and highlights the importance of sustaining law enforcement against the illegal trade.”  

Malaysia: Babies for Sale went viral on 101 East’s social network platforms and attracted widespread press coverage, both in Malaysia and around the world. It has played a vital role in raising awareness of baby selling.

The annual Human Rights Press Awards are Asia’s most prestigious honours recognising outstanding human rights reporting.

The award was presented to Chan Tau Chou and Sarah Yeo at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club in Hong Kong on Saturday.

This is the second film by Chan Tau Chou and Sarah Yeo that has been honoured at the Human Rights Press Awards. Last year, they won the English Broadcast Grand Prize for The Invisible Children of Sabah, Malaysia, a film about the struggles faced by stateless children.

Chan Tau Chou, a multilingual journalist from Singapore who joined Al Jazeera in 2005, has won numerous awards for his investigative documentaries and special reports.

Malaysian journalist Sarah Yeo has produced many award-winning socio-political documentaries for Al Jazeera since joining the team in 2008.

101 East is broadcast weekly on Al Jazeera English at the following times:

Thursday at 2230 GMT, Friday at 0930 GMT, Saturday at 0330 GMT, Sunday at 1630 GMT and Monday at 0530 GMT.

The program is available on YouTube.