Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies would like to give Shulamith Koenig and her Adlerian group the due recognition and appreciation for having forged the motto "breaking through the vicious cycle of humiliation"! For that purpose a team created by PDHRE is now developing an international dialogue between women and men about transforming the patriarchal system into a human rights system.

Since several decades, Shulamith Koenig has used the motto "breaking through the cycle of humiliation" which she developed with her Adlerian friends thirty years ago. She is proud of being the first to use this motto in this sense, and with more power and essence than the mere "breaking the cycle of humiliation." Her version is "breaking through the vicious cycle of humiliation." In her words, "you do not ''break a cycle,' you 'break through a cycle'... It is a vicious cycle...!"

Shulamith Koenig is the executive Director and Founder of PDHRE, The People's Movement for Human Rights Education. She spearheaded a worldwide human rights education advocacy and implementation campaign and the promotion of an implementation strategy - a Decade of Human Rights Education - with the UN Human Rights Center, the UN Commission on Human Rights, and at the Vienna Conference. Shulamith Koenig has initiated the development of Human Rights Cities and has worked in more then 60 countries for women and men to promote the holistic vision of human rights as a way of life and how to claim them. According to Shula, "Every human being knows when injustice is present, every human being wants to move away from humiliation."
On 10th of December 2003, Shulamith Koenig was awarded the UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights, which since 1968 is given to five people every five years. Previous awardees include Nelson Mandela, Martin Luther King, Eleanor Roosevelt, Jimmy Carter, and James Grant amongst others. More details can be found on www.pdhre.org.