The 2016 Martin Ennals Award Ceremony, organized annually by the City of Geneva and the Martin Ennals Foundation, will this year take place on 11 October, 6.00 pm, at Uni Dufour, Geneva, as the the opening of the Human Rights Week hosted by the University of Geneva from October 11 to 14 and with the support of the Canton of Geneva.
The laureate will be selected from among three 2016 finalists:
Mr. Ilham Tohti (China) was sentenced to life imprisonment after working for two decades to foster dialogue and understanding between Uyghurs and Han Chinese.
Mrs. Razan Zaitouneh (Syria) was kidnapped after dedicating her life to defending political prisoners and documenting crimes against humanity in Syria.
Zone 9 Bloggers (Ethiopia) have been prosecuted for documenting human rights abuses in their country.
The finalists and laureate are selected by the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award, made up of ten of the world’s leading human rights organizations: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Frontline Defenders, the International Commission of Jurists, EWDE-Germany, the International Service for Human Rights, and HURIDOCS. The detailed programme of the ceremony will follow at the beginning of September.
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
For the conversation in the social media, use the hashtag: #Ennals2016.
You can register already now through: http://www.martinennalsaward.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=296%3Amea-2016-save-the-date&lang=en.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 
July 1, 2016 at 12:49
Great selection by the way!!! Also, have you heard of the Nigerian singer who was recently severely tortured and isolated by government for criticizing the government? not the first time he was tortured, but this last time was worst.. I heard to on BBC world news. To some extent you can say he is getting protection from media, but it’s not really enough..- would he fit the criteria of MEA in that sense?the interesting thing: he continues to sing after the torture! he is quite vulnerable. I can also a Nigerian human rights NGO what they think about nominating him… .. Sorry can’t recall his name…. thought it was an interesting case. what a character! He says: ” now I have more to sing about”.. Faut le faire! – he definitely wins the criteria for COURAGE!xxSimia Simia AhmadiInternational Human Rights ConsultantVice-Chair, Dhow Countries Music Academy, ZanzibarDirector-Founder of KAHESA PaperPaper to Empower the Intellectually Challenged http://www.kahesa.org fb: kahesa paper+254 734001900Nairobi Kenya
July 1, 2016 at 12:49
oh.. he sings for human rights and democracy…i’ll find out more..just wanted to know whether you had heard of him at all.. Simia AhmadiInternational Human Rights ConsultantVice-Chair, Dhow Countries Music Academy, ZanzibarDirector-Founder of KAHESA PaperPaper to Empower the Intellectually Challenged http://www.kahesa.org fb: kahesa paper+254 734001900Nairobi Kenya
September 9, 2016 at 10:02
[…] One of the three Final Nominees of the MEA this year is the group of “Zone 9 Bloggers” https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/07/01/an-early-save-the-date-11-october-2016-martin-ennals-award-… […]
September 20, 2016 at 15:46
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