Archive for the 'awards' Category
February 9, 2017
Iraqi lawmaker Vian Dakhil at the Lantos Human Rights Prize ceremony, 8 February 2017 – RNS photo
Last week I wrote about an award-winning human rights defender not being able to come and collect her award in the USA [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/02/01/yazidi-human-rights-laureate-may-be-banned-from-coming-to-washington-to-accept-award/]. Vian Dakhil made it to Washington in the end. She had already received a visa to come to Washington to accept an award from the Tom Lantos Foundation when President Donald Trump’s executive order pausing immigration from seven Muslim-majority countries, including Iraq, was issued. After an arduous process involving the State Department and the Iraqi Embassy, she was granted an exemption to the travel ban so she could attend the award ceremony on 8 February. Her sister and translator was able to get a visa after a federal judge temporarily halted the implementation of the executive order. Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: human rights award, human rights of women, Iraq, ISIS, Lantos Human Rights Prize, travel ban, Trump, USA, Vian Dakhil, Yazidi
February 8, 2017
2016 Human Rights Award Laureates: Andrea James and Glenn E. Martin (United States)
The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award invites nominations of human rights defenders who are leading efforts to secure dignity for all people, especially those who have demonstrated an ongoing commitment to bringing justice and human rights to the people who need them the most, despite serious personal risk or sacrifice. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights often forges strategic partnerships with the recipients of the Award and for this reason it is important to nominate someone who could find the support of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights useful. For last year’s award see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/12/14/2016-rfk-human-rights-award-went-to-two-criminal-reform-advocates-in-the-usa/ Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: awards, call for nominations, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, USA
February 4, 2017
Physicians for Human Rights, an organization that for decades has documented war crimes and atrocities, will be awarded the Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, the University of Connecticut announced on 2 February 2017. “Physicians for Human Rights exemplifies the kind of work the Dodd Prize was created to honor,” former U.S. Sen. Christopher J. Dodd, the son of the Nuremberg prosecutor and senator for whom the awarded is named, said in a statement.”My father would recognize in PHR the same spirit that animated the Nuremberg Tribunals, but also would be amazed at PHR’s innovation and courage in seeking justice and accountability for the perpetrators of atrocities,”
Using forensic science, medicine and public health research, Physicians for Human Rights documents crimes against humanity in places across the world, including past issues in Bosnia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, UConn said in announcing the award. The group also trains professionals worldwide to do the similar investigations and prevention, the announcement said. PHR shared the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for work on the International Campaign to Ban Landmines.
PHR will be presented the award, which comes with a $100,000 prize, in November this year.
Source: Physicians For Human Rights To Receive Dodd Prize – Hartford Courant
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: awards, Dodd prize, evidence, forensic, human rights award, Human Rights program of the University of Connecticut, PHR, Physicians for Human Rights, Thomas J. Dodd Prize in International Justice and Human Rights, University of Connecticut, USA
February 2, 2017
Egyptian human rights defender Mozn Hassan, who shared the 2016 Right Livelihood Award with her organisation Nazra for Feminist Studies, will receive her award in Cairo on 25-26 March 2017. Hassan was unable to attend the award ceremony in Stockholm on 25 November 2016 due to a travel ban imposed on her by the Egyptian authorities. Since then, the judiciary has initiated a move to freeze Hassan’s and Nazra’s assets, which five UN experts have condemned.
Monika Griefahn, the Foundation’s Board Chair, said: “In a show of solidarity with Hassan and other Egyptian civil society activists who have been prevented from travelling freely abroad, the Foundation will send a high-level delegation to Cairo to present her with the Right Livelihood Award instead.” The delegation will include European Parliamentarians, fellow Laureates and the Foundation’s Board members.
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/11/10/travel-bans-against-human-rights-defenders-remain-popular-in-the-middle-east/
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/09/22/right-livelihood-awards-2016-to-syrian-egyptian-russian-and-turkish-human-rights-defenders/
This is also a reminder of the nominations deadline for the 2017 Right Livelihood Award which is 1 March 2017! The Right Livelihood Award accepts proposals from everyone through an open nomination process.
Source: February 2017The Right Livelihood Award
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: call for nominations, Egypt, freezing assets, human rights award, Mozn Hassan, Right Livelihood Award, travel ban
February 1, 2017
The idiocy of Trump’s recent executive orders on immigration is probably not better illustrated than by the case of Vian Dakhil (Yazidi MP in Iraq and ‘Isil’s most-wanted woman’). She may be barred from from coming to Washington to accept the Lantos Human Rights Prize.
CREDIT: AFP
Vian Dakhil was set to receive the Lantos Human Rights Prize at the US Capitol in Washington DC for her “courageous defence” of the Yazidi people as they faced mass genocide two years ago at the hands of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil). However, as a carrier of an Iraqi passport she is unlikely to be allowed to enter the country next week despite holding a US visa. “It is not clear yet if I will travel or not,” Mrs Dakhil, 46, said. “The decision was a complete surprise.” The Lantos foundation dubbed her “ISIS’s most-wanted woman”. She used her position in parliament to inform the world of the atrocities being committed against the Yazidi people
Josh Rogin wrote in the Washington Post of 30 that Vian Dakhil was set to receive the Lantos Human Rights Prize at the U.S. Capitol on 8 February 2017. The prize is given by the foundation named after the late Tom Lantos, a Holocaust survivor who championed human rights for decades while serving in the U.S. Congress. Dakhil’s case is a startling example of how the executive order signed by President Trump is having unintended consequences and ensnaring not only those who have no links to terrorism but also those who have risked their lives to fight terrorism in cooperation with the United States. “It adds a deep level of irony that this award is given in the name of my late father, the only Holocaust survivor ever to be elected to Congress,” said Katrina Lantos Swett, the president of the foundation. “He exemplified how America is strengthened and enriched by immigrants and refugees. I assure you he is turning in his grave at this.”
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: human rights award, human rights of women, ISIL, Katrina Lantos Swett, Kurdish Yazidi, Lantos Human Rights Prize, Trump, USA, Vian Dakhil, visa denial, WAR Reach All Women in WAR Anna Politkovskaya, Washington DC, Yazidi
January 30, 2017
There is a lot of attention on current and feared loss of human rights attention in Trump-led USA. It is no reason to overlook positive events that continue. E.g. Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, in partnership with the American Federation of Teachers and the Tribeca Film Institute, has launched on 25 January 2017 the 6th Annual Speak Truth to Power Video Contest. The short-video contest invites middle and high school students from around the country to create a three-minute video examining a human rights issue or violation while profiling human rights defenders fighting to restore justice. The deadline for entries is March 6, 2017. Participants must be in grades 6 through 12. No prior filmmaking experience is required.
“The lesson that we all have a responsibility to stand up and speak out against inequality and injustice is so important. This video contest will engage students in what it means to be a defender of human rights.”, said Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (which is also producing an online webinar to share how teachers can use the contest to help students demonstrate independence, judgment and creativity about key human rights issues).
“Past winners demonstrated the transformative impact this contest has on those who participate,” said John Heffernan, Director of the Speak Truth To Power program. “We are thrilled to be able to expand our reach by partnering with the AFT in key cities throughout the US—inspiring even more students to identify with some of the most courageous people on the planet.”
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2013/10/12/rfk-center-expands-human-rights-video-contest-to-students-from-the-whole-usa/
Last year’s grand prize went to a filmmaker from Farmingdale, NJ whose satire “How to Be an American Muslim” asks the audience to reflect on the challenges of being a Muslim in America today, and highlights the work of human rights defender Dalia Mogahed. (http://www.ted.com/talks/dalia_mogahed_what_do_you_think_when_you_look_at_me)
Additional details can be found at http://www.speaktruthvideo.com. Winning videos will be featured on the Speak Truth To Power website and the grand prize video will be shown at the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival.
Contact: Eric Duncan, eduncan(at)aft.org
Source: Annual Human Rights Short-Video Contest Open to Students and Schools Across America
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Tags: American Federation of Teachers, awards, Dalia Mogahed, Education, Human Rights Defenders, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, short films, Speak Truth to Power, students, Tribeca Film Institute, USA, video clips, video contest
January 30, 2017
Nomination for the 2017 Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) Award can be submitted until 15 February 2017.
The Lawyers for Lawyers Award will be presented for the fourth time in Amsterdam on 19 May 2017. An independent jury, chaired by mrs. Heikelien Verrijn Stuart, will decide which lawyer will receive the award. The prize will consist of a special token as well as a monetary element of € 10.000. This award is presented every two years to a lawyer who promotes the rule of law and human rights in an exceptional way, who has been threatened or obstructed because of his or her work as a lawyer, and who may benefit from the publicity and recognition of the Award.
Anyone can submit a nomination, but a lawyer or group of lawyers cannot nominate themselves. Lawyers from all over the world can be nominated.
Only those nominations submitted via the nomination form on the website will be taken into consideration. The nomination form is available here : Nomination form L4L Award 2017 Lawyers for Lawyers
See for 2015: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2015/05/15/jorge-molano-from-colombia-laureate-of-2015-lawyers-for-lawyers-award/
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Tags: Amsterdam, awards, call for nominations, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, human rights lawyers, international solidarity, L4L, Lawyers for Lawyers, lawyers for lawyers award, protection
January 26, 2017
This year’s Werner Lottje Lecture is dedicated to freedom of speech in Ethiopia, to which two Zone-9 bloggers (Zelalem Kibret und Jomanex Kasaye) have been invited. The Zone-9 bloggers were finalists for the 2016 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (of which the late Werner Lottje was one of the founders). See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2013/11/16/and-a-lot-more-about-werner-lottje-the-great-german-human-rights-defender/
The event “We blog because we care“ – Das Recht auf Meinungsfreiheit in Äthiopien” takes place in Berlin on 15 February 2017 at 17h30 in there building of Bread for the World– Evangelischer Entwicklungsdienst, Caroline-Michaelis-Straße 1, and is co-organised with the German Institute for Human Rights. To attend please contact Alexandra Prieß: alexandra.priess@brot-fuer-die-welt.de.
See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2014/10/18/2nd-werner-lottje-lecture-on-10-november-in-berlin-with-alejandra-ancheita-and-michel-forst/
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: "Zone 9” bloggers, Berlin, bloggers, Bread for the World, Ethiopia, evangelical, freedom of expression, Jomanex Kasaye, MEA nominees 2016, Werner Lottje, Werner Lottje lecture, Zelalem Kibret
January 25, 2017
On 24 January the Stockholm-based NGO Civil Rights Defender announced that human rights defender Edmund Yakani from South Sudan is recipient of the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award 2017.
Edmund Yakani is the Executive Director of human rights organisation Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO), based in South Sudan’s capital Juba. He is among the most tenacious and vocal voices in the country when it comes to defending and promoting human rights, democratic transition and justice. He particularly stands out in his effort to ensure respect for rule of law and justice, and the inclusion of civil society in the ongoing peace talks. “For me, this award symbolises motivation and recognition of the efforts and hard work to protect human rights defenders in South Sudan. This is a call for more efforts to engage in further protection for human rights defenders and their families”, said Edmund Yakani to Civil Rights Defenders.
South Sudan, the youngest country in the world, gained its independence as recent as in July 2011. By many social, economic and political standards, the country is among the poorest in the world. Respect for civil and political rights has never been established to the level its citizens wished for at independence. The situation for human rights worsened following the outbreak of inter-ethnic and armed conflicts in 2013. Since then, human rights defenders and outspoken critics have been increasingly targeted by the government, security forces and other armed actors, and Edmund Yakani has himself been threatened on several occasions due to his work. “State authorities see human rights work as part of a politically motivated agenda against them, and hence human rights defenders are seen as enemies of the state. In addition, the rule of law is compromised to the level that impunity has become a norm in the South Sudanese society”, said Edmund Yakani.
Edmund Yakani
“Edmund Yakani has, on a countless number of occasions, demonstrated his commitment in promoting genuine dialogue and efforts among social and political actors. He is active in calling for a greater inclusion of civil society in the peace talks. His contribution in promoting human rights and its defenders has been of paramount importance, in particular as he is working in the context of weak institutions and ongoing conflict. I am proud to announce him as this year’s recipient of the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award”, said Robert Hårdh, Executive Director of Civil Rights Defenders.
For last year’s award: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/04/08/released-intigam-aliyev-azerbaijan-civil-rights-defender-of-the-year-award/
Source: Civil Rights Defender Of The Year Award 2017 – Edmund Yakani > Gurtong Trust > Editorial
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Tags: awards, Civil Rights Defender of the Year award, Civil Rights Defenders, Civil society, Community Empowerment for Progress Organisation (CEPO), Edmund Yakani, human rights award, Robert Hard, South Sudan
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 