Kate Holt - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

Biography

Kate Holt was born in Zimbabwe in 1972 to British and South African parents, grew up in Newfoundland, Canada and was educated in the UK at St Anne's, Windermere, from the age of eleven. Before going to university she spent a year working in the Negru Voda Orphanage in Romania with HIV positive and disabled children. She returned there each summer during her years as a student. She completed her studies with a History Masters from St Andrew's University, Scotland and a Post Graduate Diploma in Photojournalism from The London School of Printing, London.

Career

She started her career with the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, working on Breakfast News and News 24. Her first field experiences were in Kosova, documenting the humanitarian effects of the conflict. From there she went on to write her first investigative report that uncovered the trafficking of young girls from Eastern Europe into Bosnia and on to the UK. This work was published as a cover feature in The Sunday Times Magazine and in The Observer. It was the first time the issue of trafficking of women from Eastern Europe for sexual purposes was exposed.
Since then she has traveled extensively documenting refugees and the effects of war and poverty on women and children, in conflicts in the Dem. Rep. of Congo, Somalia, Kenya, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Iraq and Afghanistan. She photographs regularly for numerous Non Government Organisations including UNICEF, Care International and Jhpiego.

Her work has been published by The BBC, The Independent, The Times, The Observer, The Mail on Sunday and The Financial Times.

Sexual Exploitation by UN Peace Keepers and the resignation of the High Commissioner

In 2004 and 2005 Kate uncovered the story of sexual exploitation by UN peace keepers in the Dem. Rep. of Congo in a series of articles for The Independent entitled When peace makers become predators. The story led to Kofi Annan

Kofi Annan

Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...

announcing a ‘Zero Tolerance’ policy to the issue. She went on to uncover an extensive cover-up by the UN in New York of the issue which led directly to the resignation of High Commissioner for Refugees and the former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, Ruud Lubbers

Ruud Lubbers

Rudolphus Franciscus Marie "Ruud" Lubbers is a retired Dutch politician of the Christian Democratic Appeal . He served as Prime Minister of the Netherlands from November 4, 1982 until August 22, 1994....

. She exposed the findings of an OIOS report that cited Lubbers had sexually harassed members of his staff. The report had been hidden by the UN and never published.

Awards

Kate has been nominated twice for the Amnesty Award for Humanitarian Reporting. Once in 2005 for her series of articles entitled When peacemakers become predators and again in 2010 for a photographic series on Elderly people in Zimbabwe.

In 2010 she was nominated for the Prix Pictet Award for a series of images on maternal healthcare in Afghanistan.

Exhibitions

In 2003 Kate traveled to Iraq and photographed the impact of the UK and US invasion on the civilian population in Basra and Nazariah. The work produced was exhibited in London and Angers in France. The exhibition, entitled ‘Victory’ was supported by the play writer Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter

Harold Pinter, CH, CBE was a Nobel Prize–winning English playwright and screenwriter. One of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years. His best-known plays include The Birthday Party , The Homecoming , and Betrayal , each of which he adapted to...

and Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali

Tariq Ali , , is a British Pakistani military historian, novelist, journalist, filmmaker, public intellectual, political campaigner, activist, and commentator...

, both of whom supported the anti war movement. The photographs were used by Amnesty International for their campaign to end the use of cluster bombs and illegal weapons by the Coalition Forces in Iraq.

Published Work

External links

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