On 21 April 2011, the US State Department give its Human Rights Defenders Award to a Cuban opposition group whose members are wives and relatives of jailed dissidents , know as “Las Damas de Blanco” (the Ladies in White). Founded after the arrest and imprisonment of 75 Cuban dissidents in 2003, the women march peacefully in Havana every Sunday in white clothing, a color they say is intended to symbolize peace. Even though the 75 dissidents have all been freed the Ladies in White continue their protests. The group says that there are still about 60 prisoners left to be freed and is preparing a list of dissidents still in prison. “We are very pleased and moved to know that our peaceful actions to free political prisoners have been recognized,” Berta Soler, one of the leaders of the group, told AFP in Havana.
While the recognition is totally deserved, the question is whether US recognition for a Cuban group will impress anybody. The wider question is whether this and other purely governmental awards really give the protection intended.
There is no internationally recognized definition of what constitutes a truly independent award, but it clearly involves a Jury that is completely autonomous and has the final say. A strong non-governmental element in the management of the award would also seem to be indispensable. Without these attributes, it is too easy for human rights violating governments to portray the laureates as ‘stooges’ supported by foreign powers. These regimes may allege this anyway, but is easier to do when the award is plainly a governmental award. Moreover, Gaddafi run for years a Human Rights award (with a big prize) which not many Human Rights Defenders would gladly accept.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
April 30, 2011 at 15:07
Well, it’s true that some so-called “human rights” awards might be given by people whose motivations are actually different from, or even opposite to, the winner’s work. But even “real” human rights awards might endanger the winner, as well as help them, by making them targets, because of their new fame. Personally, I don’t know whether the US government considered the pros and cons of giving the award to The Ladies in White, and so don’t know if it will help them in the end or not. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.
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March 6, 2017 at 14:52
[…] In a post of 2011 I expressed some doubt about the USA State Department giving an award to Cuba dissidents (see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2011/04/24/us-state-department-gives-its-human-rights-defenders-aw…). […]
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