Corinne DufkaCorinne Dufka grew up in Utah and California and holds a Masters in Social Welfare from the University of California at Berkeley. She worked as a psychiatric social worker in San Francisco until 1986, after which she moved to El Salvador to work as a aid worker for the Lutheran Church. While there, she began documenting the impact on civilians of that county's civil war, and, while never having studied photography, embarked on a freelance career as a photojournalist. Dufka started "stringing"' for the Reuters news agency in Central America in 1988, and in 1992, as war in the former Yugoslavia spread, was sent by Reuters to cover the siege of Sarajevo. Several months later, Dufka and two colleagues ran over an anti-tank mine in central Bosnia, seriously wounding all three. In 1994, Dufka was sent to East Africa to cover the Rwandan genocide, and, from her base in Kenya, covered stories in Africa until leaving the profession in 1999. During her over ten-year career, Dufka covered more than a dozen armed conflicts on three continents and was honored with some of the profession's most prestigious awards including the Robert Capa Gold Medal (from the Overseas Press Club); a World Press Club award; a Pulitzer nomination for spot news; and the Courage in Journalism award from the International Women's Media Foundation. After leaving photojournalism, Dufka joined Human Rights Watch, a non-governmental organization. Over the next two decades and from her base in West Africa, she worked as a researcher, using victim and witness testimony to advocate for an end to violence. In 2003 she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship for her work documenting war crimes in Sierra Leone. Dufka left Human Rights Watch in 2022, and now works as an independent researcher and advisor, focusing on helping countries mitigate the risk of armed conflict. Dufka has been blessed with a daughter, a foster son, and an indefatigable curiosity about and deep reverence for the human condition. She lives in suburban Washington, DC with her four dogs.
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