New York, Oct 16 (IANS) Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen will be honoured with an Inspiration Prize here Friday by Breakthrough, an international human rights organisation working in India and the US.Amartya Sen is Lamont University Professor of Economics at Harvard University and has written extensively on social and economic development, with focus on inequality, status of women and need for education.

John Thornton, former president of the investment bank Goldman Sachs, will also be honoured with the Inspiration Award at Breakthrough’s fourth benefit gala at Cipriani hotel in midtown Manhattan, said a press release from Breakthrough.

Thornton has emerged as a leading expert on US-China relations and is the director of the Global Leadership Programme at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

Shashi Tharoor, noted author and former UN undersecretary general, will present the awards.

Mallika Dutt, an Indian American, is the founder and executive director of Breakthrough. New York-based Dutt was earlier the programme officer for the Human Rights and Social Justice Program at the Ford Foundation’s New Delhi office.

Breakthrough uses media and popular culture tools to raise awareness about human rights issues, including women’s rights, HIV/AIDS, immigrant rights and racial justice. Its most recent campaign in India calls on men and boys to take a stand against domestic violence.

In the US, Breakthrough is part of a national campaign to restore due process and fairness to immigration policy. Its recent initiatives include a cutting-edge video game ICED (I Can End Deportation) and a 3D simulation of detention conditions.