(New York) -- Human Rights Watch is deeply saddened to announce the death of our beloved colleague Mike Jendrzejczyk. Mike was the Washington Director for the Asia division. He died of natural causes in Washington, D.C. on May 1. He was 53.
Mike has left a void that simply cannot be filled -- not only as a powerful advocate for human rights, but also as a colleague and friend whose infectious energy, and passion for social justice inspired us all.
In his 13 years with Human Rights Watch, Mike was the leading advocate in the United States on human rights in Asia. His depth and breadth of knowledge was astounding. He was widely respected for his expertise on China, Japan's emerging global role, the World Bank and human rights, trade policy and worker rights, and US foreign policy in Asia. He was particularly engaged in seeking accountability for the 1989 Chinese military crackdown in Tiananmen Square, getting assistance to North Korean refugees, denying funding to abusive security forces across Asia, including Burma and Indonesia, and in defending religious freedom for minorities from Tibetans in China to Montagnards in Vietnam. In the past several years, Mike was also increasingly engaged in South Asian affairs, from the humanitarian consequences of the war in Afghanistan, to the human rights consequences of the military coup in Pakistan and the rise of religious intolerance in India.
Mike, who grew up in Connecticut, was the grandson of Polish immigrants, and an avid Bruce Springsteen fan. With his white short sleeve dress shirts, yellow ties, and contagious laugh, he used far more than his fair share of exclamation points!! Colleagues joked that if you could harness Mike's energy, it would power a small city. There's no one in D.C. who didn't know him, and no one in military fatigues in Asia who didn't have reason to fear him. He was late for every meeting, but only because he was saving the world on the other line. No email went unanswered, no phone call went unreturned, and no opportunity to make a difference was ever passed up. He has changed and saved the lives of so many.
For those who didn't know Mike, a comment from Human Rights Watch's former Asia Director Sidney Jones sums up the difference he made in so many people's lives:
"Mike has become an institution in DC. I have people I barely know who, once they know I'm from Human Rights Watch, begin to tell me how Mike is a national treasure; how effective he is, and how knowledgeable and well plugged-in. NGO colleagues from India to Indonesia know that by going through Mike, they can get access to more and higher-level officials than they can by going through anyone else.
Mike's ability to trade information is by now legendary. If he'd gone into the stock market, he could have made a killing. He gets a piece of human rights news or gossip, floats it, and watches it circulate as everybody in a position to check it chases it down, and then waits until they call him back with the facts, grateful for the heads up he's given them."
Mike first became involved in the human rights movement as a Vietnam war protestor in the 1970s and an anti-nuclear demonstrator in the 1980s. He began working at Amnesty International USA in the mid-1980's, then went on to work on the staff of the Amnesty International Secretariat in London in 1988. In 1990, he became Washington Director for the Asia division of Human Rights Watch. Once a pre-school teacher, he continued to teach us all.
Though most of us are unable still to correctly spell his last name, we simply could not have gotten through each day without him. It is hard to imagine how we will.
Our sincerest condolences go to Mike's wife, Janet.
