awards | Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

Archive for the 'awards' Category

Public voting for the 2016 Human Rights Tulip has started

August 30, 2016

Public voting for the Dutch human rights award, The Tulip, has opened on 29 August 2016 and lasts until 7 September. Anyone can vote for their favourite nominee at www.humanrightstulip.nl or www.mensenrechtentulp.nl.

Human Rights Tulip

Human Rights Tulip Photo: Aad Meijer/Newsroom BZ

The Human Rights Tulip is an award for innovative human rights defenders. It is intended to support human rights defenders and organisations, publicise their efforts and inspire others. The 10 nominees are:

Mwatana Organization For Human Rights (Yemen),

Mr Pierre Claver Mbonimpa (Burundi),

Ms Nighat Dad (Pakistan),

the El Nadim Center (Egypt),

Centro de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres (Mexico),

the native community of Santa Clara de Uchunya (Peru),

Centro Prodh (Mexico),

Mr Nguyễn Quang A (Vietnam),

Ms Nahid Gabralla (Sudan) and

the Lebanese Association for Democratic Elections (LADE) (Lebanon).

Out of the top 3 nominees chosen by public vote, foreign minister Bert Koenders will select the winner, whom he will present with the award – a bronze tulip-shaped statue – on International Human Rights Day, 10 December.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Justice and Peace Foundation in The Hague together selected the nominees and provide support for the winning individual or organization. The winner receives €100,000 in prize money, enabling them to expand the reach of the work and allow as many people as possible around the world to benefit from the award.

In 2015 the Human Rights Tulip was awarded to IRA Mauritania (Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement in Mauritania). https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/12/12/2015-human-rights-tulip-awarded-to-ira-mauritania/

Source: The 2016 Human Rights Tulip: public voting starts today | News item | Government.nl

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Bert Koenders, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, IRA (Mauretania), Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, nominations, Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, prize, The Tulip Award, vote

Apple tackles iPhone one-tap spyware flaws after MEA Laureate discovers hacking attempt

August 29, 2016

Ahmed Mansoor, the Laureate of the Martin Ennals Award 2015, was the target of a major hacking attempt. Fortunately it received global coverage on 26 and 27 August 2016 and Apple has immediately issued a security update to address the vulnerabilities. [For those with Iphones/Ipads, you may want to update your IOS software to 9.3.5!]

Image copyrightAP – human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor

The flaws in Apple’s iOS operating system were discovered by Mansoor who alerted security researchers to unsolicited text messages he had received on 10 and 11 August. They discovered three previously unknown flaws within Apple’s code that meant spyware could be installed with a single tap. Apple has since released a software update that addresses the problem. The two security firms involved, Citizen Lab and Lookout, said they had held back details of the discovery until the fix had been issued.

The texts promised to reveal “secrets” about people allegedly being tortured in the United Arab Emirates (UAE)’s jails if he tapped the links. Had he done so, Citizen Lab says, his iPhone 6 would have been “jailbroken”, meaning unauthorised software could have been installed. “Once infected, Mansoor’s phone would have become a digital spy in his pocket, capable of employing his iPhone’s camera and microphone to snoop on activity in the vicinity of the device, recording his WhatsApp and Viber calls, logging messages sent in mobile chat apps, and tracking his movements,” said Citizen Lab. The researchers say they believe the spyware involved was created by NSO Group, an Israeli “cyber-war” company.

The spyware would have been installed if Mansoor had tapped on the links. Image copyright CITIZENLAB

For more on Mansoor: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/ahmed-mansoor/

Sources:

http://www.bbc.com/news/technology-37185544

https://citizenlab.org/2016/08/million-dollar-dissident-iphone-zero-day-nso-group-uae/ (from the researchers who identified the vulnerabilities. Good summary followed by full technical analysis)

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-3758671/Apple-boosts-iPhone-security-Mideast-spyware-discovery.html

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 9 Comments »
Tags: Ahmed Mansoor, Apple, BBC, Citizen Lab, digital security, Emirates, hacking, Human Rights Defenders, information technology, jailbroken, Lookout, Martin Ennals Award, MEA laureate 2015, NSO Group, spyware, UAE

Another Chinese human rights lawyer, Wang Yu, makes spontaneous video confession

August 2, 2016

China‘s use of ‘video confessions’ would be almost comical if it was not so serious for the individuals concerned [see e.g. https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/01/21/confessions-abound-on-chinese-television-first-gui-minhai-and-now-peter-dahlin/]. Now it is the turn of Wang Yu, a well-known Chinese human rights lawyer who was released on bail after she purportedly “confessed” to some wrongdoings. Wang Yu, 45, who was arrested by mainland police in July last year on charges of political subversion [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/wang-yu/], appeared in a video expressing “deep remorse” for her actions. In the televised confession, Wang is shown rebuking her profession and accusing “foreign forces” of using her law firm to smear the Chinese government.

The lawyer also said that she will not recognize, endorse or accept the Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize awarded to her in June, the Hong Kong Economic Journal reported [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/06/07/detained-chinese-lawyer-wang-yu-wins-ludovic-trarieux-prize/].

Chan Kit-man, secretary-general of the Hong Kong-based Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, noted that the Wang case is similar to that of another human rights lawyer, Zhao Wei, who was also set free after a videotaped confession.

The Chinese lawyer has handled several politically sensitive lawsuits, including the case of Cao Shunli, who was detained for months for staging sit-ins at the foreign ministry and later died. She also defended Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur economist who was handed a life sentence on separatism-related charges. Tohti is one of 3 final nominees for the MEA 2016. She also provided legal assistance to the families of six schoolgirls who were sexually abused by their teachers in Hainan province and to practitioners of Falun Gong, a spiritual movement banned in China.

(Wang appeared on Phoenix TV on July 31 in an interview apparently conducted at a restaurant in Tianjin. She said she is physically well after recovering from a mammary gland tumor in February and March this year. Wang said arrangements had been made for her to undergo surgery. The action made her realize the “human touch and care” of Chinese authorities.)

Front Line Defenders also issued on 2 August 2016 an Update on Wang Yu’s case: https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/wang-yu>

“In her confession released on 1 August, Wang Yu criticised fellow human rights lawyers, saying that they were motivated by money and fame and blamed overseas activists for using human rights defenders as tools to tarnish the reputation of the Chinese government. Wang Yu’s confession is the most recent in a series of televised confessions of human rights defenders which have been broadcast in an attempt to undermine human rights work in the country. At least two of those who had previously appeared in such videos later said that their confessions were scripted and that they were pressured to participate”. … Wang Yu had been held incommunicado since 9 July 2015 and her husband, Bao Longjun , remains in detention, having been seized on the same day. Their 16 year old son, Bao Zhuoxuan, is under tight surveillance at the home of his grandparents following an unsuccessful attempt to flee China last year with the help of two human rights defender friends of his parents.”

A day later a court in Tianjin Tuesday handed down a guilty verdict for Chinese rights defender Zhai Yanmin, who was given a three-year jail term with a four-year probation period after being found guilty of “state subversion.”

Source: China human rights lawyer freed after video ‘confession’

http://www.voanews.com/content/rights-groups-denounce-court-ruling-against-chinese-activist/3445329.html

http://international.thenewslens.com/article/45644

Posted in awards, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Cao Shunli, Chan Kit-man, China, Chinese Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group, detention, forced confession, Front Line (NGO), human rights lawyers, Ilham Tohti, Ludovic Trarieux Prize, Wang Yu, woman human rights defender, Zhai Yanmin, Zhao Wei

Russian protest artist Pavlensky stripped of Havel Prize over support for violent ‘Partisans’

July 10, 2016

On 5 May 2016 I reported on the Havel Prize winners [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/05/05/2016-havel-prize-of-the-human-rights-foundation-goes-to-atena-farghadani-petr-pavlensky-and-umida-akhmedova/], including the ‘protest artist’ Pyotr Pavlensky. Now that he has been stripped of this award two months later, this should also be reported. The choice may have seemed a bit shaky from the beginning, but the more important is to recognize the decisive action by the award giver, the Human Rights Foundation.

Pyotr Pavlensky

Pavlensky told RFE/RL on July 8 that HRF President Thor Halvorssen had informed him of the formal decision to revoke his prize in an e-mailed letter. The letter, which has been seen by RFE/RL, states that HRF regrets the decision as “unfortunate and unprecedented” but says the prize’s selection criteria disqualify those who have “advocated the use of violence as a valid method to fight government oppression.” Speaking to RFE/RL on July 8, Halvorssen confirmed that the organization had revoked Pavlensky’s prize but said HRF had nothing to add beyond the text of the letter sent to the artist.

Dissident artist Pyotr Pavlensky talked to RFE/RL [Tom Balmforth] about what prompted him to take up political art, and how he sees his political stunts as a rejection of a pervasive “clerical” ideology. He does not take the cancellation lightly and accused the organizers of the Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent of essentially “acknowledging their support for police terror” by withdrawing the award after he pledged to devote the $42,000 in prize money to the legal defense of convicted police killers in Russia’s Far East.

Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, Human Rights Foundation | 1 Comment »
Tags: artist, human rights awards, Human Rights Foundation, non-violence, Petr Pavlensky, Primorsky Partisans, Pyotr Pavlensky, Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, rescind, revoking, RFE/RL, Russia, Vaclav Havel International Prize for Creative Dissent

North-South Prize 2015 of the Council of Europe goes to Greek and Mozambique organizations

July 5, 2016

The North-South Prize is awarded to two candidates who have stood out for their exceptional commitment to promoting North-South solidarity. The 2015 Laureates are:

Lora Pappa

Ms Lora Pappa is the founder of METAdrasi, Action for Migration and Development. Through the creation of METAdrasi, Ms. Pappa aimed to address long-standing gaps in the area of refugee protection and migration management in Greece. METAdrasi’s main focus has been primarily community interpretation and the care for unaccompanied minors. METAdrasi and Ms Pappa personally, have based their work on the highest standards of professionalism and ethics, developing specialist training methods, recruiting dedicated and committed staff, bringing pioneering methods and approaches benefitting refugees and vulnerable groups in multiple ways. Biography

Joaquim Chissano

Chairperson of the Joaquim Chissano Foundation, an organisation that promotes peace, social and economic development and culture in Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano has campaigned for peace in the African continent through his work as an envoy and peace negotiator for the United Nations. He has received the highest awards from many countries and has received several prizes, including the Chatham House in 2006 and the inaugural Mo Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership in 2007. He is the founding member of the Mozambique Liberation Front (FRELIMO) and played a fundamental role in the 1974 negotiations on the independence of Mozambique, between FRELIMO and the Portuguese Government. Biography

Source: Centre Nord-Sud – Prix Nord-Sud

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: awards, Council of Europe, Greece, human rights awards, Joaquim Chissano Foundation, Lora Pappa, METAdrasi, Mozambique, North-South Prize, refugees

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate 1986, dies at the age of 87

July 3, 2016

ASSOCIATED PRESS Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel died on Saturday aged 87.

Activist and writer Elie Wiesel, the World War Two death camp survivor who won the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize for becoming the life-long voice of millions of Holocaust victims, has died, Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem said on Saturday 2 July 2016. Wiesel, a philosopher, speaker, playwright and professor who also campaigned for the tyrannized and forgotten around the world, was 87.

The Romanian-born Wiesel lived by the credo expressed in “Night,” his landmark story of the Holocaust – “to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”

In awarding the Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee praised Wiesel as a “messenger to mankind” and “one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and racism continue to characterize the world.” Elie Wiesel went on to receive another 6 human rights awards, including one named after himself.

Source: Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor And Nobel Laureate, Dead At 87

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: death, Elie Wiesel, holocaust, human rights awards, Human rights defender, in memoriam, Nobel Peace Prize, writer

An early Save the Date: 11 October, 2016, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in Geneva.

July 1, 2016

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.

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 4 Comments »
Tags: "Zone 9” bloggers, ceremony, China, City of Geneva, Ethiopia, human rights award, Ilham Tohti, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, NGOs, Razan Zaitouneh, registration, save the date, Syria, Uyghur

2016 Tang Prizes to Louise Arbour and US sinologist

June 22, 2016

On 21 June 2016 it was announced that Louise Arbour, a Canadian lawyer and former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, was named the winner of the second Tang Prize in rule of law. The Tang Prize is awarded to Arbour “for her enduring contributions to international criminal justice and the protection of human rights, to promoting peace, justice and security at home and abroad, and to working within the law to expand the frontiers of freedom for all,” Arbour, 69, was also the chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and for Rwanda (ICTR) between 1996 and 1999. In 1998, Arbour became the first prosecutor to get a conviction of genocide in an international tribunal, when the ICTR convicted Jean-Paul Akayesu, a mayor in Rwanda, of genocide. Tribunal defined rape as a means of perpetrating genocide — the first time that rape was considered an act of genocide by an international tribunal. The following year, as the chief prosecutor for the ICTY, Arbour again made history by indicting Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, who became the first sitting head of state to be tried for war crimes by an international tribunal.

A Tang Prize award ceremony will be held Sept. 25 in Taipei. The laureate will receive a cash prize of US$1.23 million and a research grant of up to NT$10 million to be used within five years.

The biennial Tang Prize was established in 2012 by Taiwanese entrepreneur Samuel Yin to complement the Nobel Prize and to honor top researchers and leaders in four fields: sustainable development, biopharmaceutical science, sinology and rule of law.

This year the Tang Prize in the category sinology also has a human rights component as the laureate is William Theodore de Bary, Professor Emeritus of Columbia University. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: China, Columbia University, Confucianism, Louise Arbour, rule of law, Samuel Yin, sinology, Taiwan, Tang Prize, William Theodore de Bary

DW Freedom of Speech Award goes to Turkish ′Hürriyet′ journalist Sedat Ergin

June 10, 2016

The Deutsche Welle (DW) Freedom of Speech Award 2016 goes to Turkish ‘Hürriyet’ journalist Sedat Ergin. The DW prize is awarded annually to journalists who stand out in their fight for human rights and free speech. The award ceremony will on 13 June 2016 at the Global Media Forum in Bonn, Germany. Read the rest of this entry »

Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: awards, defamation, Deutsche Welle, DW Freedom of Speech Award, Erdogan, freedom of expression, Global Media Forum in Bonn, Hürriyet, human rights award, Journalist, Peter Limburg, Raif Badawi, Sedat Ergin, Turkey

Ana Mirian Romero, environmental activist from Honduras, wins 2016 Front Line Award

June 10, 2016

It comes too late for murdered human rights defender Berta Caceres [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/tag/berta-caceres/] but perhaps her fellow environmental activist in Honduras, Ana Mirian Romero, will receive the protective publicity she needs by being selected as the winner of the 2016 Front Line Defenders Award. Ana Mirian Romero had her home burned down and was beaten by police for protesting in her native country. Romero has been active in opposing the installation of the Los Encinos hydro-electric dam on indigenous land of the Lenca people in Honduras. She was presented with the award at a ceremony in Dublin’s City Hall this morning, 10 June 2016.

Sources:

Environmental activist from Honduras wins 2016 Front Line…

http://www.telesurtv.net/english/news/We-Dont-Fear-Honduran-Indigenous-Defender-Wins-Global-Prize-20160610-0002.html

Posted in awards, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Ana Mirian Romero, Berta Cáceres, Caceres, environmental issues, Front Line (NGO), Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, Honduras, human rights award, Ireland, land rights defender, Lenca Indigenous People, Mary Lawlor, woman human rights defender

Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

Archive for the 'awards' Category

Public voting for the 2016 Human Rights Tulip has started

Human Rights Tulip Photo: Aad Meijer/Newsroom BZ

Apple tackles iPhone one-tap spyware flaws after MEA Laureate discovers hacking attempt

Image copyrightAP – human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor

The spyware would have been installed if Mansoor had tapped on the links. Image copyright CITIZENLAB

Another Chinese human rights lawyer, Wang Yu, makes spontaneous video confession

Russian protest artist Pavlensky stripped of Havel Prize over support for violent ‘Partisans’

Pyotr Pavlensky

North-South Prize 2015 of the Council of Europe goes to Greek and Mozambique organizations

Elie Wiesel, Nobel Laureate 1986, dies at the age of 87

ASSOCIATED PRESS Holocaust survivor and writer Elie Wiesel died on Saturday aged 87.

An early Save the Date: 11 October, 2016, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in Geneva.

2016 Tang Prizes to Louise Arbour and US sinologist

DW Freedom of Speech Award goes to Turkish ′Hürriyet′ journalist Sedat Ergin

Ana Mirian Romero, environmental activist from Honduras, wins 2016 Front Line Award

Ana Mirian Romero at the ceremony in Dublin’s City Hall with Front Line Director May Lawlor on the left – Image: Sean Defoe

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