Archive for the 'awards' Category
September 20, 2017
Having just announced the ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award of Human Rights Defenders for 10 October 2017, I now draw your attention to the possibility to nominate a candidate for the 2018 Martin Ennals Award. The Ennals Award is intended for human rights defenders (HRDs) who are defending the rights of others, while at risk. This could include physical danger, repressive legal processes, or other forms of harassment.
1. The HRD must be currently active (no posthumous nominations).
2. The HRD must be demonstrably at risk.
3. The HRD must work with non-violent means.
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
Source: Nominate a Candidate for the 2018 Martin Ennals Award – Martin Ennals Award
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Tags: call for nominations, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Foundation
September 18, 2017
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders/
The City of Geneva and the Martin Ennals Foundation have announced the program of the 24thCeremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. The ceremony will be held in French and in English at Uni Dufour, Jean-Piaget auditorium (U 600) on Tuesday 10 October 2017, at 6 pm. This ceremony will open the Human Rights Week organized by the University of Geneva.This ceremony is open to the public. Please register to attend the ceremony. The event will be streamed. The key elements in the programme are:
see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/05/16/trans-defenders-karla-avelars-life-is-under-constant-threat/ and
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/06/30/cambodian-adhoc-5-human-rights-defenders-surprisingly-freed-for-the-time-being/
Last year’s film portraits can be seen here.
The 2017 Martin Ennals Award on social media:
– its Facebook event
– on Twitter: @martinennals #Ennals2017
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: 2017 ceremony, ADHOC Five, City of Geneva, human right defenders, human rights awards, Karla Avelar, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, Ville de Geneve
September 17, 2017
The Daughters for Life Foundation is now accepting applications for its 2017 Scholarships Program. The Foundation is looking for outstanding female students, who would like to take their education to the next level. It is offering up to 10 scholarships for the next academic year for students to follow their dreams at universities in North America, South Asia, and the UK. The foundation’s goal is to represent the interests of young women of all nationalities, ethnicities, and religious affiliations across the Middle East. So far, more than 30 young scholars have enrolled in universities and colleges across North America, the United Kingdom, and Bangladesh. Submission deadline: December 16, 2016
Izzeldin Abuelaish started the Daughters for Life organization after his daughters were tragically killed. Since then he’s devoted his life to promoting the higher education of young women in the Middle East and around the world. He has helped nearly 400 girls since 2010 achieve their dreams. He said seeing these remarkable women move to change the world is keeping his daughters memory alive. I reported earlier that even this kind of approach was considered ‘controversial’ by some [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/04/13/human-rights-museum-controversy-izzeldin-abuelaishfor-palestinian-doctor-gallery/]
Source: Daughters for Life Scolarships program 2017
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Tags: Canada, Daughters for Life Foundation, Israeli–Palestinian conflict, Izzeldin Abuelaish, scholarships, students, women, youth
September 3, 2017
While receiving sharply worded emails and social media messages that the Rohingyas in Myanmar do not exist or have been ‘invented by the Saudis’, other more sober contributions put the serious question – whether with hindsight – Aung San Suu Kyi should not give back the many international awards she has received. Aung San Suu Kyi is the recipient of at least 15 international awards (e.g. Nobel Peace Prize, Rafto, Sakharov, AI’s Ambassador of Conscience, Vaclav Havel Price for Creative Dissent). The UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the Promotion of Tolerance and Non-Violence (SIC) seems especially awkward.
Almost a year ago I referred in a blog post [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/09/20/how-awards-can-get-it-wrong-four-controversial-decisions-in-one-week/] to “a serious expression of concern by an ethnic minority: Prensa Latina reported on 19 September that hundreds of Muslim students demonstrated against the Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award 2016 given to Minister of State of Myanmar Aung San Suu Kyi by the Harvard Foundation. According to the website of the Harvard Foundation recent prizes of that foundation were given to education activist Malala Yousafzai, Kofi Annan and Ban Ki-Moon. According to the Mizzima news agency, the young people consider that Aung San Suu Kyi does nothing to handle the persecution of the Rohingya Muslim minority. According to the local press, Suu Kyi herself considered, while receiving the prize, that in her country there is still a long way to go before saying that the people are free and safe.”
….In awarding her a degree from the Australian National University in 2013, then chancellor Gareth Evans called her “an exemplar of quiet courage and determination in the face of oppression and a champion of the peaceful path towards a better and more just world”. But Suu Kyi’s government, swept into power on a landslide election victory in 2015, last week accused international aid workers, including those from UN agencies, of helping Islamic “terrorists” who had attacked 30 police posts on August 27. She presented no evidence. The top UN human rights official, Zeid Raad al-Hussein, described the claim as “irresponsible”.
Now Reuters reports that about 120,000 people – mostly displaced and stateless Rohingya Muslims – in Rakhine camps are not receiving food supplies or healthcare after contractors for the World Food Program suspended operations following the government accusations. Staff have been too afraid to show up for work. “As a result of the disruption of activities in central Rakhine state, many people are not receiving their normal food assistance and primary healthcare services have been severe disrupted,” said Pierre Peron, a spokesman for the UN Office for Humanitarian Affairs.
Suu Kyi’s government refuses to allow UN investigators and the media access to parts of Rakhine where rights monitors fear a campaign of ethnic cleansing is underway.
Suu Kyi was idolised while spending 15 years as a prisoner of Myanmar’s army generals. Now she refuses to speak up for 1.1 million stateless and long persecuted Rohingya. She may not control her country’s armed forces but, since taking high office, Suu Kyi has refused to acknowledge the plight of the Rohingya in any meaningful way. She deflects questions about the persecution of Rohingya, saying only the “rule of law” must apply in Rakhine. She also dismisses the independent UN inquiry as “not suitable for the situation of our country.”
……Some human rights activists who campaigned for years for Suu Kyi’s release when she was a political prisoner now feel a deep sense of betrayal from the woman they formerly saw as a heroine. Perhaps it is time for her to hand back her Noble Peace Prize. (The story The ‘human catastrophe’ that betrays Suu Kyi’s Nobel prize first appeared on The Sydney Morning Herald.)
Front line Defenders reported on 2 August that human rights defender Ko Swe Win was prevented from travelling and detained in connection with defamation charges on 30 July 2017, at Yangon International Airport as he was trying to fly to Bangkok. He was reportedly taken into police custody in relation to a defamation case brought by a follower of extremist Buddhist monk U Wirathu, who told the police he believed Ko Swe Win was attempting to flee the country. Despite the defamation lawsuit filed against him, no travel restrictions were issued against Ko Swe Win. The human rights defender was released on bail on 31 July 2017. See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2013/11/23/burma-continued-prosecution-of-human-rights-defenders-and-peaceful-demonstrators/
Sources:
http://sea-globe.com/myanmar-war-on-terror/
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/ko-swe-win
Arakan and traces of blood on Nobel Prize – Saadet Oruç – Daily Sabah
http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/4896812/the-human-catastrophe-that-betrays-suu-kyis-nobel-prize/?cs=4141
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, OHCHR | 5 Comments »
Tags: Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma, High Commissioner for Human Rights, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, Ko Swe Win, Lindsay Murdoch, Myanmar, peace awards, Rakhine, return awards, Rohingyas, Unesco
August 31, 2017
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe and beyond. The Prize is awarded in memory of Václav Havel, enduring symbol of opposition to despotism. The Prize consists of a sum of €60 000.
The finalists for 2017 are:
- Murat Arslan (Turkey). The nominee, in detention since 2016, is a well-known and reputed judge. President of the now dissolved Association for the Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV), he has always been a supporter of the independence of the judiciary.
- Hungarian Helsinki Committee. A non-governmental human rights organisation founded in 1989 and based in Budapest, it carries out a broad range of activities in the area of human rights with a particular focus on access to justice and the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons.
- Father Georg Sporschill (Austria). A Jesuit who has devoted his life to the care of the most vulnerable, notably children. He has set up an association (Elijah) which carries out numerous projects in Austria, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova and Romania.
Chairing the meeting of the selection panel,
Sir Roger Gale, the most senior Vice-President of the Assembly, said: “
the jury chose the candidates from among a long and well-qualified list of nominees, fully respecting the spirit and the principles of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize”.The winner of the prize is due to be announced on 9 October 2017. The 2016 Prize went to Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad. [
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/10/18/yazidi-survivor-nadia-murad-wins-vaclav-havel-human-rights-prize-2016/]
Source: Václav Havel Human Rights Prize
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Austria, Father Georg Sporschill, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Hungarian Helsinki Committe, Hungary, Murat Arslan, Nadia Murad, PACE, Sir Roger Gale, Turkey, Vaclav Havel, Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
August 31, 2017
You can vote for your favourite candidate to win this Dutch government award for worldwide innovative human rights defenders. Have a look at the 10 nominees below.
Justice and Peace NL has been chosen by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the selection process of the Human Rights Tulip award. The Human Rights Tulip is an annual award presented by the Dutch government to individuals and organisations who take an innovate approach to promoting human rights. The ten nominees are: Ali Idrissa (Niger), Angélica Choc (Guatemala), Azza Soliman (Egypt), Cordelia Foundation (Hungary), Dina Meza (Honduras), Gisha (Israel/Palestinian Territories), Graciela Pérez Rodriguez (Mexico), Lottie Cunningham Wren (Nicaragua), Mirza Shahzad Akbar (Pakistan) and Wang Quanzhang (China). The minister will pick the winner from the top 3 candidates who have gathered the most votes. 
On Friday December 8 the minister will award the winner the bronze Human Rights Tulip statue and a prize worth € 100.000,-. The winner can use the funding to further develop his or her innovative contribution to strengthening human rights – and on such a scale that as many people and places benefit as possible.
For last year’s winner: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/11/06/pakistani-digital-activist-nighat-dad-recipient-of-2016-human-rights-tulip/
The nomination round yielded almost 130 nominations. These 130 were assessed by Justice and Peace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their networks. 10 candidates were selected for the online voting. Public voting opened on Monday August 28 at 12.00 and will close on Wednesday September 6 at 24.00 (Dutch time).
Below you can view the profiles of the 10 candidates:
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Justice and Peace Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, nominations, The Tulip Award, voting
August 20, 2017
On 7 August 2017 RFK Human Rights announced that Venezuelan human rights defender and Alfredo Romero has been named the 2017 laureate of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Romero has been fearless in his resistance to the increasing repression of the Venezuelan government. He has dedicated his life to protect all Venezuelans from arbitrary detention and other human rights violations through his work as Executive Director of Foro Penal Venezolano (FPV), a non-governmental organization that brings together over 200 pro-bono lawyers and 1,700 volunteers. The NGO won in 2015 already an award from the US State Department.[https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2015/07/23/us-state-department-2014-human-rights-defender-award-to-azimjon-askarov-and-foro-penal/]
“I am very grateful for this Award, which I accept in honor of the struggle to achieve freedom for all Venezuelans,” Romero said. “The Award is a tribute to my family at Foro Penal Venezolano, which is united in its enduring commitment, conviction and heart, and above all, I accept it on behalf of the victims of repression by the Venezuelan government”.”
“Even as we celebrate Alfredo’s honor, Venezuelans are suffering under a repressive regime that is increasingly eroding all democratic principles,” Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights President Kerry Kennedy said. “Alfredo’s work is a testament to the optimism and hope that will ultimately triumph over violence and repression.”
Source: | Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
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Tags: Alfredo Romero, Foro Penal Venezolano (FPV), human rights award, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, Kerry Kennedy, RFK Human Rights, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, USA, Venezuela
August 16, 2017
{While authorities did not file charges or even a complaint against the London-based BBC for publishing the article, only Jatupat was arrested. His bail requests were consistently rejected as authorities regarded lèse majesté as a serious charge possibly entailing severe punishment. Domestic and international campaigns over recent months have failed to free him on bail. Prior to the court judgment, Jatupat, who had maintained his innocence for months, agreed to plead guilty after consulting with his family and legal team to get a more lenient sentence.}
“It appears that Jatupat was singled out, from thousands of people who shared the BBC article, and prosecuted for his strong opposition to military rule rather than any harm incurred by the monarchy,” said Brad Adams, Asia Director at Human Rights Watch. “His guilty verdict and jail sentence show yet again how Thailand’s draconian ‘insulting the monarchy’ law has been misused to punish dissenters.”
Source: Activist ‘Pai Dao Din’ jailed for 2-and-a-half years on BBC Thai article lese majeste charge
Posted in awards, Front Line, HRW, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: BBC, Brad Adams, detention, freedom of expression, Front Line (NGO), Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, human right defender, Jatupat Boonpattararaksa, lese majeste, Pai Dao Din, Thailand
August 6, 2017
Human rights defender
Mary Aileen Bacalso in the Philippines published a blog post in
La Croix International of 3 August 2017 entitled “
The imperative of more shepherds for the Lord’s flock“. It describes the case of Redemptorist Father
Rosaleo Romano who disappeared 3 decades ago and makes the point that pastors like him are now needed more than ever.
Victims of enforced disappearances in the Philippines, including Redemptorist Father Rosaleo Romano, are remembered during a memorial in Manila. (Photo by Rob Reyes)
The Philippine human rights community has not forgotten Father Rosaleo Romano more than three decades after his disappearance during the dark years of the dictatorship. A “man of the cloth”, Father Romano, “Rudy” to his friends, one of the staunchest human rights defenders during those years, was forcibly made to disappear by the military…Father Rudy did not live his spirituality in the confines of convent walls. He meaningfully lived it out through his apostolate with poor farmers, with striking factory workers, with the poor whose shanties were demolished in the name of development, and with students struggling for academic freedom. The priests consequently suffered persecution during that most obscure time of the dictatorship of Ferdinand Marcos.
In his white cassock, Father Rudy would confront soldiers with their batons and shields. He would link arms with protesters, and suffered arrest and stayed behind the bars of prisons several times. The persecutions did not cow him from following the footsteps of the “Most Holy Redeemer”. It strengthened his resolve to fully embrace the consequences of his actions. “If I die, you will know who killed me,” he told his parents from the province of Samar. He paid the price for concretizing the church’s teaching of preferential option for the poor. He became, and remains to be, one of the more than 2,000 documented cases of disappearances during the Marcos years. The disappearance of the Redemptorist priest brought thousands of people in the central Philippine province of Cebu out in the streets during those years. The perpetrators’ act of cowardice of abducting a committed pastor resulted in an outrage not only among the organized masses in the country but even among international solidarity groups.
More than three decades have passed. There is no trace of Father Rudy’s whereabouts. In a country battered by burning human rights issues, and with the silence of Filipinos who continue to place their trust in a president who openly attacked human rights defenders, the Catholic Church in the Philippines needs to relive the example of Father Rudy. It is sad that there seems to be a dearth of people with the Redemptorist’s zeal and commitment these days. Have we given justice to Father Rudy’s very ideals that earned for him the status of one of the most well-known desaparecidos during the Marcos era? Have his sacrifices in opting for the poor, the deprived, and the oppressed borne fruits for freedom and democracy? Has his exemplary life multiplied a hundredfold through the proliferation of people who are following his footsteps?
Father Rudy’s name is carved on the “Flame of Courage” built by the Redemptorist congregation in Manila in 1994. With hundreds of names of Filipino desaparecidos, the monument of a mother holding a torch and a child holding a picture of his disappeared father manifests the never-ending hope against hope that one day, the long-awaited reunification of families will be realized.
The dream of a “new heaven and a new earth” is far from being realized in this predominantly Catholic country where the teachings of love and justice are blatantly ignored. The “people of God” need, more than ever, pastors who are willing to offer their lives so that others may live.
[Mary Aileen Bacalso is secretary-general of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearances. https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2013/12/23/filippines-hrd-wins-emilio-mignone-award-for-work-against-enforced-disappearances/]
Source: The imperative of more shepherds for the Lord’s flock – La Croix International
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Tags: cleric, Emilio Mignone Award, Father Rudy, Forced disappearance, Human rights defender, impunity, Mary Aileen Bacalso, Philippines, profile, Redemptorist, Rosaleo Romano
August 3, 2017
On 3 July 2017 the Right Livelihood Foundation made public the list of Grantees of its 2017 Reporting Right Livelihood journalism programme. Journalists will receive grants to shine the light on ‘under-reported‘ stories linked to the work of ‘Alternative Nobel’ Laureates. The grantees of the inaugural Reporting Right Livelihood journalism programme were selected from among 93 applicants from 48 countries. The grants, ranging from €200 to €5,000, cover essential travel, subsistence and communication costs to enable reporting on the selected stories over the next six months. The decision was made by a committee comprised of journalists and media experts from Germany, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK.
This year’s grantees are:
- Ms Aissatou Barry (Guinea), to produce a multimedia report on fighting impunity in Chad, Senegal and Burkina Faso, linked to the work of Laureate Jacqueline Moudeina (€ 4,800)
- Mr Bikash Bhattacharya (India), to report on Indonesia’s logging sector corruption, an issue constantly raised by late Laureate Munir Said Thalib (€4,500)
- Ms Fabiola Ortiz (Brazil), to provide a multimedia report on how Brazilian martial art Capoeira became a powerful tool to promote peace among men, women and children in the Democratic Republic of Congo, linked to the work of Dr Denis Mukwege (€5,000).
- Ms Mervis Elebe (Nigeria) and Mr Ray Mwareya (Zimbabwe) will share a grant to report on the current situation with maternal health in Nigeria and Zimbabwe, linked to Dr Catherine Hamlin’s work on eliminating obstetric fistula in Ethiopia (€ 2,500 each, €5,000 in total).
- Mr Philipp Lichterbeck (Germany) to report on the ’slow genocide’ of a little known Guarani-Kaiowa indigenous group in Brazil, linked to Laureate Survival International‘s work (€ 1,500).
- Mr Roger Anis (Egypt), to produce a photo report on Egypt’s current housing crisis, linked to the legacy of Right Livelihood Award’s inaugural Laureate Hassan Fathy (€4,000).
- In addition, the selection committee made a discretionary allocation of €200 to Ms Zofeen Ebrahim (Pakistan) who applied for a grant of US $57 to cover fuel costs in order to report on Pakistan’s home-based workers rights, linked to the work of Laureate Asma Jahangir.
The announcement comes with quotes from grantees and selection committee members. Such as:
“I was impressed by the variety, the creativity and relevance of proposals which made our decision so challenging and difficult. The projects we chose show a strong commitment to report on under-covered issues addressed by the Right Livelihood Award Laureates through their personal engagement. This shows how important it is to support journalistic coverage of these issues in order to improve the lives of people who suffer because of injustice, poverty, sickness or political pressure,” Adelheid Feilcke, Deutsche Welle, selection committee member
“Partout dans le monde des femmes et des hommes courageux se battent contre les injustices. L’engagement des journalistes est indispensable, pour faire echo à ces combats. Ces bourses vont pouvoir faire avancer les causes défendues et honorer les lauréats du Prix Right Livelihood,” Romaine Jean, Radio Télévision Suisse (RTS), selection committee member
Fo more information: Xenya Cherny-Scanlon, Director of Communications, mobile: +41 76 690 8798, xenya@rightlivelihood.org, www.rightlivelihoodaward.org #RightLivelihood #AlternativeNobel
Source: Reporting Right Livelihood 2017 Grantees AnnouncedThe Right Livelihood Award
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Asma Jahangir, Denis Mukwege, Jacqueline Moudeina, journalists, Media and Human Rights, reporting, Reporting Right Livelihood journalism programme, Right Livelihood Award Foundation, Right Livelihood Awards
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 