Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

On 28 August Human Rights Watch announced the 2013  recipients of its Alison Des Forges Award for Extraordinary Activism:

• Natalia Taubina, a Russian activist who works to protect victims of police abuse and bring transparency to law enforcement. Taubina runs Public Verdict, which provides free legal aid and rehabilitation support to victims of widespread police torture, corruption, and lack of effective investigations and other unlawful actions in Russia’s law enforcement system.
• Alina Diaz, co-founder and member of Alianza Nacional de Campesinas, which promotes the rights of female farmworkers in the United States.Diaz works to educate policymakers and the public about the dangers farmworker women face.
• Hassan al-Amin, who has worked for three decades to expose human rights violations and promote democracy in Libya as an activist and founder of the independent website Libya al-Mostakbal. During the uprising against Muammar Gaddafi, al-Amin documented abuses against civilians. He served in the transition parliament, then resumed running his website.
• Jacqueline Moudeina,  a lawyer and a leader in the effort to bring to justice the former Chadian dictator Hissene Habre, who is facing trial in Senegal on charges of  political killings, systematic torture, and “ethnic cleansing”, who in 2002 received the MEA.

“These human rights defenders speak out on behalf of some of the world’s most vulnerable people, often in dangerous and difficult circumstances,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “They show that courage and persistence can make a difference even during periods of conflict and violent transition.”

The award is named for Dr. Alison Des Forges, senior adviser at Human Rights Watch for almost two decades, who died in a plane crash in New York on February 12, 2009. Des Forges was the world’s leading expert on Rwanda, the 1994 genocide, and its aftermath.

for more information on the recipients and the upcoming events see: