The photojournalist Fernando Moreles has been awarded the second Tim Hetherington Grant, an annual visual journalism award focusing on human rights, Human Rights Watch and World Press Photo announced today.

Human Rights Watch and World Press Photo established the grant to honor the legacy of Hetherington, a photojournalist and filmmaker who was killed during fighting in Libya in April 2011. The €20,000 grant was given to Moleres for his project “Waiting for an Opportunity,” in which he is documenting the harsh realities of juvenile justice in Sierra Leone.

Moleres’ photography and video project explores the brutal conditions that children and young people endure while incarcerated in the adult prison in Pademba, Sierra Leone, and follows them in their struggle to adjust to life after their release. Many are imprisoned as children and housed with adults in inhumane conditions. They often wait years for trial without access to any legal assistance.

“Fernando Moleres’ moral and emotional commitment to his photographic subjects is clear,” saidCarroll Bogert, deputy executive director for external relations at Human Rights Watch. “Tim Hetherington would have loved this work and Human Rights Watch is thrilled to support it.”

In the course of his documentary work, Moleres was inspired to create a nongovernmental organization, Free Minor Africa, which supports the reintegration of formerly incarcerated young people into society in Sierra Leone.

Photo: Youths incarcerated in Pademba Road Prison in Freetown, Sierra Leone.

© 2011 Fernando Moleres, Panos Pictures / 2012 Tim Hetherington Grant

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