My friend Guy Horton, who has died aged 73, was a human rights defender, journalist and educator who spent much of his life dedicated to helping others, whether on the frontline of conflict, or mentoring young people such as myself.
From 1998 to 2005, while working for the Brussels-based Euro-Burma Office (EBO), among others, Guy uncovered widespread human rights violations in eastern Myanmar against the Karen and Shan ethnic groups, following a 50-year war between the Burmese government and indigenous peoples. His 2005 report, Dying Alive, and supporting video footage was submitted to the UN security council in 2007. The UN committee on the prevention of genocide later carried out an investigation and placed Myanmar on the genocide watchlist.
