Yr ymgyrchydd gwrth-lygredd Charmian Gooch yn cael ei chyflwyno’n Gymrawd Prifysgol Aberystwyth

Charmian Gooch, Cymrawd er Anrhydedd Prifysgol Aberystwyth (canol) gyda'r Dr Glyn Rowlands, Dirprwy Ganghellor Prifysgol Aberystwyth, a'r Dr Engobo Emeseh, Adran y Gyfraith a Throseddeg.

Mae cyd-sylfaenydd a chyfarwyddwr Global Witness, Charmian Gooch, wedi ei hanrhydeddu â Chymrodoriaeth Prifysgol Aberystwyth.

Mudiad di-elw yw Global Witness sy’n ymgyrchu i roi terfyn ar gamymddwyn amgylcheddol a cham-drin hawliau dynol, sy’n cael eu gyrru gan gam-ddefnyddio adnoddau naturiol a chan gyfundrefnau gwleidyddol ac economaidd llwgr.

Roedd Charmian yn un o arweinwyr ymgyrch gyntaf Global Witness, a ddatgelodd fasnach mewn coed rhwng y Khmer Rouge a chwmniau torri coed Thai a’u cefnogwyr gwleidyddol a milwrol.

Hefyd, datblygodd a lansio’r ymgyrch i frwydro yn erbyn ‘diemwntiau gwaed’, ac am y gwaith hwn enwebwyd Global Witness am Wobr Heddwch Nobel yn 2003.

Enillodd Charmian, sy’n alumna o’r brifysgol (BA Hanes, 1987), y Wobr TED flynyddol yn 2014, ac ynghyd â’i chyd-sylfaenwyr yn Global Witness, derbyniodd Wobr Gweithredydd Rhyngwladol Gleitsman a Gwobr Skoll am Fentergarwch Gymdeithasol. Yn 2014 rhoddwyd ei henw ar restr Bloomberg Markets, y 50 Mwyaf eu Dylanwad.

Cyflwynwyd Charmian Gooch yn Gymrawd ddydd Mawrth 12 Gorffennaf gan Dr Engobo Emeseh, Adran y Gyfraith a Throseddeg.

Cyflwyniad Charmian Gooch:

Canghellor/Dirprwy Ganghellor/Trysorydd, Is-Ganghellor, darpar raddedigion, gyfeillion.  Pleser o’r mwyaf yw cyflwyno Charmian Gooch yn gymrawd Prifysgol Aberystwyth.

Chancellor/Pro Chancellor/Treasurer, Vice-Chancellor, prospective graduates and supporters.  It is an honour and a privilege to present Charmian Gooch as a Fellow of Aberystwyth University.

Charmian Gooch is a foremost campaigner and investigator dedicated to exposing and addressing the deep dark underbelly of natural resources exploitation – the most egregious forms of environmental and human rights abuses- and its intricate links with corruption in the global political and economic system.  She is director and co-founder of Global Witness, a non-profit organisation whose mission it is to campaign to end these abuses.

In the two decades since its establishment, Global Witness has been involved in several ground-breaking investigations, and campaigns that have brought about real change and for which both Charmian and Global Witness has received recognition and awards at the highest levels.  Two of these campaigns that were specifically led by Charmian include:

• Global Witness's first campaign from 1995-1997 exposing the illegal trade in timber between the Khmer Rouge and Thai logging companies and how it helped fund the conflict. The advocacy leading on from this led to the closure of the border, depriving the Khmer Rouge of $90 million a year, a factor that undoubtedly contributed to their ultimate downfall. 
• Perhaps by far the best known investigation and campaign by Global Witness is that aptly named “blood diamonds”,  which exposed how diamonds was fueling civil war in Angola and across Africa,  facilitated by the practices of the global diamond industry which turned a blind eye to the sources  of these diamonds.  This led to the development of a whole new governance framework for a certification scheme in the trade in diamonds known as the “Kimberly process”. Charmian it was who developed and launched this campaign.  For this ground-breaking work, Global Witness was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003.
• Other notable campaigns by Global Witness include that which led to the establishment of the EITI and PWYP in 2002 aimed at addressing corruption in the minerals sector; exposure of the illegal timber trade funding conflict in Charles’ Taylors Liberia resulting UN sanctions, forcing the renegotiation of an unfair Minerals contract by Mittal Steel in Liberia.

Charmian, together with Global Witness co-founders Patrick Alley and Simon Taylor, was also the recipient of the Gleitsman International Activist Award In 2005.  In 2014, they received the Skoll Award for Social Entrepreneurship, awarded to ‘transformative leaders who are disrupting the status quo’.

Charmian was also named one of Fast Company’s 100 most creative people in business and appeared on Bloomberg Markets’ 50 Most Influential list. She is also a member of the World Economic Forum Young Global Leader Alumni Group.

In 2014 Charmian was awarded the TED Prize, given to an ‘extraordinary individual with a creative and bold vision to spark global change’.   She is using the million dollar award to campaign against another huge challenge- “to make it impossible for criminals and corrupt dictators to hide behind anonymous companies” otherwise known as shell companies “so that they can no longer be used anonymously against the public good”.  In her words, “Let's ignite world opinion, change the law, and together launch a new era of openness in business.”

As an activist, Charmian is an inspiration.  Her uniqueness and success as an activist is rooted in that rare ability to undertake thorough, well researched investigations, and transform a campaign into tangible mechanisms that can effect change on the ground.  It is therefore all the more humbling when one realises that she and her co-founders at Global Witness started with a “first computer out of a bin outside their office and relied on friends and family to pay for their international calls”.  It shows that she was  really too idealistic to dare to stand on the side of the weak, the poor, the disenfranchised; taking on the powerful corporations, governments and the global economic governance systems.  Example like hers allows all today, especially at the start of our journey after graduation to also dream a little… and hope… and act!

Dirprwy Ganghellor, mae’n bleser gen i gyflwyno Charmian Gooch i chi yn Gymrawd. 

Pro Chancellor, it is my absolute pleasure to present Charmian Gooch to you as a Fellow of Aberystwyth University.

Anrhydeddau Prifysgol Aberystwyth 2016

Bydd Prifysgol Aberystwyth yn anrhydeddu deuddeg o bobl yn ystod seremonïau Graddio 2016, a gynhelir yng Nghanolfan Gelfyddydau’r Brifysgol rhwng dydd Mawrth 12 Gorffennaf a dydd Gwener 15 Gorffennaf.

Cyflwynir wyth Cymrodoriaeth er Anrhydedd i unigolion a chanddynt gysylltiad ag Aberystwyth neu â Chymru ar hyn o bryd neu yn y gorffennol, ac sydd wedi gwneud cyfraniad eithriadol i’w dewis feysydd.

Bydd un gradd Doethuriaeth er Anrhydedd yn cael ei chyflwyno. Cyflwynir y rhain i unigolion a fu’n eithriadol llwyddiannus yn eu maes, sy’n nodedig am eu gwaith ymchwil neu wedi cyhoeddi’n helaeth.

Cyflwynir tair gradd Baglor er Anrhydedd. Cyflwynir y rhain i unigolion sy’n aelodau o staff Prifysgol Aberystwyth heb radd lefel-mynediad, i gydnabod eu gwasanaeth hir, eu cyfraniad a’u hymrwymiad i’r Sefydliad; ac i aelodau o’r gymuned leol sydd wedi gwneud cyfraniad sylweddol i Aberystwyth a’r cyffiniau.

Anrhydeddir y canlynol hefyd:

Cymrodoriaethau er Anrhydedd:

Dr Catherine Bishop, enillydd Olympaidd driphlyg, diplomydd gwrthdaro rhyngwladol, siaradwr a hwylusydd profiadol

Natasha Devon MBE, awdur, ymgyrchydd, sylwebydd teledu, a sylfaenydd y Self Esteem Team

Yr Athro Julian Dowdeswell, Cyfarwyddwr Sefydliad Scott i Ymchwil y Pegynnau ac Athro Daearyddiaeth Ffisegol ym Mhrifysgol Caergrawnt

Ruth Lambert, cyn Gadeirydd Ymddiriedolaeth y Tabernacl Machynlleth, a fu’n drefnydd Gŵyl Machynlleth a rhaglen arddangosfa MOMA Machynlleth am ymron i ddeng mlynedd ar hugain

 Dr Mitch Robinson, arbenigwr yn y gyfraith ryngwladol i Adran Amddiffyn yr Unol Daleithiau sy’n arbenigo mewn iawnderau dynol, ac alumnus o’r Brifysgol

Syr Evan Paul Silk KCB, Llywydd Grŵp Astudio’r Senedd; cyn Glerc yn Nhŷ’r Cyffredin, Clerc i Gynulliad Cenedlaethol Cymru a Chadeirydd y Comisiwn ar Ddatganoli yng Nghymru

A J S “Bill” Williams MBE (1920-2016), peilot yn yr RAF a darlithydd ym Mhrifysgol Aberystwyth a enwyd yn 2014 yn un o’r 175 o Wynebau Cemeg y Gymdeithas Gemeg Frenhinol.

Gradd Doethur er Anrhydedd:

Yr Athro Ken Walters, Athro Ymchwil Nodedig yn Athrofa Mathemateg, Ffiseg a Chyfrifiadureg y Brifysgol, Cymrawd Cychwynnol o Gymdeithas Ddysgedig Cymru a Chymrawd y Gymdeithas Frenhinol

Graddau Baglor er Anrhydedd:

Karina Shaw, Prifathrawes Gynorthwyol yn Ysgol Penglais, Aberystwyth, Cyfarwyddwr Fforwm Cymunedol Penparcau, sylfaenydd a Chadeirydd presennol grŵp Hanes a Threftadaeth Penparcau, a gwirfoddolwr gydag elusennau

Aled Haydn Jones, golygydd radio yng Nghymru, cyflwynydd a chyn-gynhyrchydd gyda Radio 1 y BBC, a chyflwynydd gydag S4C.

Stefan Osgood (1994-2016), a gyflawnodd ac a gyfrannodd yn helaeth wrth astudio yn Aberystwyth, yn enwedig mewn chwaraeon ac fel cyfrannwr eithriadol i ymgyrch codi arian y myfyrwyr yn y brifysgol

Charmian Gooch, Cymrawd er Anrhydedd Prifysgol Aberystwyth (canol) gyda'r Dr Glyn Rowlands, Dirprwy Ganghellor Prifysgol Aberystwyth, a'r Dr Engobo Emeseh, Adran y Gyfraith a Throseddeg

Charmian Gooch

Charmian Gooch gyda'r Athro April McMahon, Is-Ganghellor Prifysgol Aberystwyth

Rhannu