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Sally Becker (born 29 March 1962) is a British humanitarian aid worker, best known for her work during the Bosnian and Kosovo Wars in the late 1990s. She is the founder of charities Road to Peace and Save a Child. She is credited with saving hundreds of lives through her actions in the Balkans, and was frequently referred to in the British media as the "Angel of Mostar".

Activism

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Moved by the images of suffering in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Becker travelled there to deliver aid to people living close to the front line in west Mostar, driving into and out of the city in an old Renault. As one of the only foreign aid workers able to travel freely in the area, she was asked by a UN officer to try to gain access to the east side of the city, where 50,000 Bosniaks were trapped. With permission from the Croatian Ministry of Defence, she crossed the front line to evacuate wounded children and their families from the besieged hospital. The mission was successful and she became known as the Angel of Mostar.

On 10 December 1993, she led a convoy of 57 ambulances and trucks from the United Kingdom to deliver medical aid to besieged hospitals and evacuate wounded children and their families from on all sides of the conflict. She managed to arrange ceasefires, and is credited with saving hundreds of lives. The mission was dubbed Operation Angel.

In February 1994, aid convoys were grounded due to snow, leaving 28 injured children and their families trapped in a monastery serving as a makeshift hospital in Nova Bila. Becker reached the area by helicopter and flew them to safety.

Kosovo

When Slobodan Milošević ordered his troops into Kosovo as part of the Kosovo War, Becker led a humanitarian aid convoy to the region. When the borders were closed, she brought the convoys to northern Albania where thousands of refugees had escaped from the fighting. Led by a soldier from the Kosovo Liberation Army, she crossed the mountains into Kosovo on foot to bring pediatric medicines to a besieged hospital in Junik. She was asked to take 25 injured children and their mothers across the mountains to safety. They were ambushed by Serb paramilitaries and Becker, who stayed behind to help a woman and two children who were trapped, was captured and imprisoned. The families made it across the border and, when Becker was eventually released, she traced them to a refugee camp in northern Albania.

She arranged for them to travel to the United Kingdom for medical treatment but on 13 November 1998, the day the Hellenic Air Force was supposed to fly them to Britain, Home Office Minister Jack Straw refused to issue their visas. Two days later, Becker was shot by a masked gunman as she returned to her hotel with a colleague. The President of Albania sent his Minister of Health to evacuate her but she refused to leave without the children, remaining in the area until they were accepted for treatment in other countries.

Other countries

In August 2006, she brought humanitarian aid to families trapped in shelters during the conflict between Israel and Lebanon. Becker was appointed as a goodwill ambassador for Children of Peace, a multi-faith charity dedicated to building friendship, trust and reconciliation between Israeli and Palestinian children.

In 2016, Becker founded Road to Peace, a British charity helping children in areas of conflict. In 2016 she attempted to negotiate temporary asylum in the United Kingdom for 1400 Yazidi survivors. In 2018 she and her volunteers provided medical treatment for children fleeing from ISIL in Syria and northern Iraq and established an emergency medical facility for Yazidi children in Sinjar. From Mostar to Mosul and across the Middle East, Sally and her volunteers have helped thousands of sick and injured children.

Becker is the founder and Executive Director of Save A Child Global Paediatric Network, a registered British charity helping to save the lives of sick and injured children in besieged or remote areas across the globe.

Awards and honours

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• 1994 - Unsung Heroes - The Celebrity Guild of Great Britain.
• 1994 - The Ross McWhirter Award for Bravery
• 1994 - Women of the Year Great Britain
• 1995 - Special Award from The Variety Club of Great Britain
• 1999 - Woman of the Year - Blue Drop Group Sicily
• 2001 - Sally was granted the 'Freedom of Tropoje'
• 2012 - Sally was an Olympic flag bearer representing Peace and Justice at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London alongside United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and boxer Muhammed Ali.
• 2020 - Sally was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize by a group of academics from Slovenia for her work in the Balkans and other war torn areas.

Personal life

Becker's memoir, Sunflowers and Snipers, was published by The History Press in 2012.

References

1. "November: Sally Becker". BBC News. 22 December 1998. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
2. ^ "Sally Becker went where angels fear to tread". Retrieved 12 October 2020.
3. "Briton rescues five Mostar children: Aid worker braves sniper fire and". The Independent. 28 August 1993. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
4. ^ Guardian Staff (9 February 2012). "Sally Becker, Angel of Mostar". the Guardian. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
5. The Times 29 February 1994
6. "'Angel' ends prison hunger strike". BBC News. 30 July 1998. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
7. "Operation Angel chief resigns". BBC News. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
8. "Kosovo clashes threaten ceasefire, safety of peace monitors". CNN. 15 November 1998. Archived from the original on 24 March 2012. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
9. "Becker leaves hospital 'for safety'". BBC News. 16 November 1998. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
10. "Sally Becker". Hadassah Magazine. 12 June 2014. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
11. Jacobs, Gerald (1 November 2012). "Sally Becker looks back on a life in the war zone". Jewish Chronicle. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
12. "Yazidi boy who survived ISIS captivity can't come to Canada unless he leaves his big brother behind | CBC Radio". CBC. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
13. Phillips, Kristine (12 February 2017). "A severely injured Iraqi toddler has been in the U.S. for three months — without his parents". Washington Post. Retrieved 12 October 2020. Three months after the explosion, Becker, founder of Road to Peace, a nonprofit that facilitates medical treatment for wounded children in war-torn countries, visited the camp and found out about Dilbireen.
14. Smith, Mark S (29 April 2016). "'Angel of Mostar' calls on UK Government to open its doors to Yazidi women and children – with the support of Scots MPs". The Herald. Retrieved 12 October 2020.
15. "Battle for Mosul: Iraq forces repel IS counter-attack". BBC News. 26 June 2017. Retrieved 19 February 2023.
16. "Iraq's Yazidis return to a healthcare crisis". The New Humanitarian. 16 March 2018. Retrieved 22 January 2021.

External links

Official website

• Living people
• British philanthropists
• Mostar
• 1962 births