Established jointly by the Ministry and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov in 2023 this prize honors the work of reporters and photojournalists who are continuing their vital mission of spreading free, reliable, quality information in crisis and conflict areas. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya was working in Russia for Novaya Gazeta, whose investigations into corruption, attacks on human rights and the war in Chechnya cost the lives of six of its reporters. Despite the threats she received, she never stopped working to inform the public. Despite the risk to his life, AFP reporter and photojournalist Arman Soldin helped inform the entire world about the reality of the Russian aggression in Ukraine through the photos he took on the front lines of the conflict, starting in February 2022.
The second Anna Politkovskaya-Arman Soldin Prize in 2024 has been awarded to Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Palestinian journalist Basel Adra for their whole body of work on the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank and in Palestinian territories.
Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra belong to an Israeli-Palestinian collective that made the documentary, No Other Land, which won an award at the 2024 Berlinale. In it, the Palestinian journalist Basel Adra filmed evictions of Palestinians in the West Bank over five years and meets the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. The film tells the story of their friendship that was built over the years of their collaboration.
The first 2023 Anna Politkovskaya-Arman Soldin Prize for Courage in Journalism, was awarded to the Mexican journalist Marcela Turati for her commitment to reporting on violence related to drug trafficking and the social consequences of the war waged against cartels, despite the risks that have often cost Mexican journalists their lives.
On 17 October 2024, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, Mary Lawlor, presented her latest report in an interactive dialogue with United Nations member States during the 79th session of the United Nations General Assembly in the Third Committee.
In an interactive dialogue presenting her report to the Third Committee of the General Assembly, the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders Mary Lawlor urged States to acknowledge the crucial role of human rights defenders in achieving seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and advancing 2030 Agenda. During the interactive dialogue, Mary Lawlor highlighted human rights defenders’ contributions to various SDGs, including zero hunger (Goal 2), good health and well-being (Goal 3), quality education (Goal 4), gender equality (Goal 5), clean water and sanitation (Goal 6) as well as affordable and clean energy (Goal 7). The report illustrates specific examples of human rights defenders’ work and contributions to each of seventeen Sustainable Development Goals.
During the dialogue, the Special Rapporteur noted that ninety percent of SDG targets are linked to human rights obligations. Given that only seventeen percent of the goals are on track, she emphasised the need for human rights defenders to be supported in their work in making the SDGs a reality. She noted that despite this crucial work of defenders in advancing the SDGs, they face severe barriers and threats including stigmatisation, criminalisation and other violations of fundamental rights.
In her concluding remarks, the Special Rapporteur emphasised that amidst global disagreements, the SDGs represent a rare consensus and urged States to support, partner with and respect HRDs working to support 2030 Agenda. Mary Lawlor in her recommendations, urged States to publicly acknowledge the essential role human rights defenders play in advancing the 2030 Agenda and called for legal frameworks that protect rather than restrict defenders and civil society in their legitimate work in achieving SDGs.
Tajik opposition activist Dilmurod Ergashev was reportedly taken into custody by authorities as he disembarked a plane in Dushanbe after being deported by Germany hours earlier. Sharofiddin Gadoev, leader of the opposition Movement for Reform and Development of Tajikistan, told RFE/RL that Ergashev was met by Tajik security officials, who declined to comment on the situation.
His case has raised concerns among human rights advocates and international observers, given the serious allegations of potential torture and the lack of transparency regarding Ergashev’s condition following his deportation.
Ergashev reportedly attempted to harm himself by slitting his wrists and legs as German police were preparing to escort him to the airport on November 6. The Insider investigative group reported that Ergashev was hospitalized after the incident, but that the deportation proceeded regardless.
Gadoev said Ergashev’s health condition during the deportation was poor, and that since his arrival in Tajikistan, no further information has been available about his whereabouts or well-being.
RFE/RL’s efforts to obtain an official statement from Tajik authorities have been unsuccessful with representatives of the Prosecutor-General’s Office and the Interior Ministry failing to respond to inquiries.
Leila Nazgul Seiitbek, head of the Vienna-based organization Freedom for Eurasia, informed RFE/RL on November 7 that her organization has appealed to the European Court of Human Rights, seeking intervention in Ergashev’s case and advocating for his safe return from Tajikistan.
Seiitbek noted that her organization had called on German authorities to halt the deportation, arguing that Ergashev faces a high risk of torture in Tajikistan. The deportation order was issued by the Administrative Court of the German town of Kleve on October 28, immediately following Ergashev’s detention.
His associates argued that the court disregarded Ergashev’s pending asylum application in another German court, which is still under consideration.
Ergashev is a prominent member of the Group 24 movement.
Group 24 was founded by businessman Umarali Quvatov, who was assassinated in Turkey in 2015. The group has been a vocal critic of the Tajik government and advocates for democratic reforms. Tajik authorities have labeled it “extremist.” In 2024, Ergashev joined the Movement for Reform and Development of Tajikistan movement.
Ergashev had been living in Germany for the past 13 years as his cases wound through German courts.
A Kenyan newspaper reported on 8 November 2024 something unusual with regard to human rights awards: Police officer Jackson Kuria, aka Shakur the cop, was nominated for the african Human Rights Defenders Awards. The outspoken police officer is the first uniformed officer ever nominated for this prestigious award In an interview with TUKO.co.ke, Shakur emphasised that police officers are meant to protect civilians and their rights. Jackson Kuria Kihara, aka @Shakurthecop, publicly opposed the Finance Bill 2024 and protested against it. Cop Shakur is the first uniformed officer nominated for Human Rights Defenders Award.
The newspaper adds: Did Cop Shakur merit the award? This is a huge milestone for the police officer, as he has made history as the first uniformed officer to be considered for the award.
Threats against investigative journalists are widely documented. According to UNESCO’s Observatory of Killed Journalists, 1,718 journalists have been killed since 1993. The Committee to Protect Journalists’ latest prison census found the number of jailed journalists hit a near-record high, with 320 reporters behind bars at the time of the count last December. Yet a lesser-known story is the increasing targeting of the lawyers representing them.
“Behind all those cases against journalists who have become household names — like Evan Gershkovich, Maria Ressa, and José Rubén Zamora — there are the often unseen lawyers representing them and taking remarkable risks to defend them,” Carolina Henriquez-Schmitz, director of TrustLaw, said at Trust Conference 2024. “[Lawyers] themselves are becoming the targets of a whole range of attacks.”
In recent years, threats have escalated. Azerbaijani lawyer Elchin Sadigov, and his client, journalist Avaz Zeynalli, were detained in 2022 while officers searched their homes and offices and seized confidential case files. Vo An Don, a Vietnamese human rights lawyer who represented a dissident blogger was disbarred in 2018 and subsequently sought political asylum in the US. Dmitry Talantov, a lawyer who represented Russian investigative journalist Ivan Safronov in 2021, now himself faces up to 15 years in prison on a number of charges.
“It sends an unequivocal message, not just to the individual lawyer, but to the entire legal profession,” Henriquez-Schmitz said. “If you pursue these cases, we will go after you. The potential chilling effect cannot be understated.”
Human rights lawyer Vo An Don was disbarred and forced to seek political asylum in the US after the Vietnamese government targeted him for representing a dissident blogger. Image: Screenshot, Facebook
The Thomson Reuters Foundation, in partnership with the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights and Media Defence, conducted a first-of-its-kind review of individual cases of harassment or persecution of lawyers defending journalists. The recently published preliminary findings identified over 40 cases of lawyers being targeted in four ways: criminal and other suits; interference with their ability to represent their clients; targeting their ability to practice the profession; and threatened killing, physical harm, forced flight, or exile, and other similar persecution.
“The research has identified cases in Vietnam, Ethiopia, Zimbabwe, Azerbaijan, Iran, Yemen, Tajikistan, Russia, China, and Hong Kong, to name a few. Unsurprisingly, many of these countries also happen to be among the world’s worst jailers of journalists,” Henriquez-Schmitz noted. “The damage greatly reverberates. Without lawyers, journalists are unable to adequately defend themselves against retaliatory charges, and citizens are likely left less informed on matters of public interest.”
José Carlos Zamora, chief communications and impact officer at Exile Content Studio and the son of Guatemalan investigative journalist José Rubén Zamora, joined the Trust Conference panel only a few days after his father’s release to house arrest. Previously, his father had spent more than 800 days in prison on charges of alleged money laundering. The elder Zamora founded elPeriódico, a now-defunct newspaper which specialized in government corruption investigations.
“It’s a great step forward, but it’s not the end of the process,” Zamora said of his father’s transition to house arrest. “These repressive regimes, everywhere from Russia, to the Philippines, to Hong Kong, to Venezuela and Nicaragua, use the same tactics. And you see them copy from each other’s punishments, and one of these tactics is attacking the legal defense. So they go after the lawyers, and the main goal is to leave the journalists defenseless.”
Guatemalan journalist José Rubén Zamora, who founded the elPeriódico site that dug into the country’s political corruption, recently spent more than 800 days in prison on alleged money laundering charges. Image: Shutterstock
In all, 10 lawyers represented Zamora, and all of them were persecuted and eventually forced to abandon the case. Many of them did not appear to have access to the case file, and one lawyer, Christian Ulate, had to leave Guatemala after ongoing harassment and intimidation. The lawyers that took over the case after Ulate, Romeo Montoya García and Mario Castañeda, were detained, and Castañeda was sent to a maximum security prison. Lawyers Juan Francisco Solórzano Foppa and Justino Brito Torres were also arrested.
“At that point, the only defense was the public legal defense. There were some great lawyers in the public legal defense, but unfortunately, they are also part of the system,” Zamora explained. “At one point, none of the lawyers could visit him in prison. So everything was done through us. They could rarely talk. The ones that could go did not want to visit him because it was dangerous for them.”In some countries, human rights attorney Caoilfhionn Gallagher said, even the act of talking to an international lawyer can put local lawyers at risk.
María Consuelo Porras has acted as Guatemala’s attorney general since 2018. In 2022, she was barred from entering the US due to involvement in significant corruption, and in 2023 she was named OCCRP’s Person of the Year in Organized Crime and Corruption, for “brutally persecuting honest prosecutors, journalists, and activists,” the group wrote. “Porras and her kind are the new banal faces of evil.”
“[Porras] became the best tool to persecute opposition, critical voices,” Zamora said. “Because they use this special prosecutor’s office that is focused on organized crime […] it allows them to have you in pre-trial detention. That prosecutor’s office was intended to investigate and prosecute the heads of drug cartels and mob bosses. And now they use it to go after journalists.”
Irish-born attorney Caoilfhionn Gallagher specializes in international human rights and civil liberties at Doughty Street Chambers in London. Her cases often involve working closely with domestic lawyers around the world, in order to hold the state to account on the global stage. In some countries, Gallagher said, even the act of talking to an international lawyer can put local lawyers at risk.
“When I deal with cases involving Iran, for example, or Egypt, even engaging with an international lawyer, being privy to a complaint going to the United Nations, could result in [local lawyers] themselves being charged with a whole range of things, including national security-type offenses,” she noted. One particular example she gives of lawyer oppression is the Philippines, where, in total, 63 lawyers were killed during President Rodrigo Duterte’s six-year term, and 22 journalists. “So this is completely a tactic,” Gallagher warned. “You try to leave nobody able to speak truth to power.”
One of Gallagher’s clients is 76-year-old publisher, writer, and prominent pro-democracy campaigner Jimmy Lai. A British national, Lai has been in solitary confinement in a maximum security Hong Kong prison for almost four years, on charges of breaching national security and colluding with foreign forces. His newspaper, Apple Daily — the most popular Chinese language paper in Hong Kong — supported pro-democracy protests in the region. He now faces life imprisonment.
“Being called an enemy of the people, hit pieces in Chinese state media, formal statements from the Chinese and Hong Kong authorities threatening to prosecute us,” Gallagher said, reflecting on the implications of representing Lai. “But as well as that, we get physical threats, rape threats, and dismemberment threats, and it’s targeted in a way which is designed to try to undermine you doing your job.”“We coordinate pro bono for human rights defenders, and what we realized was that standing next to every defender facing criminalization was a lawyer also at risk.” — Ginna Anderson, associate director of the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights
On a key day in Lai’s case, Gallagher will wake up to notifications that there has been an attempt to hack her bank account, as well as her personal and professional email addresses. “I will also wake up to a whole series of […] threats, including things relating to my kids,” she continued. “I had a really vile message last week about my teenage daughter, by name, and it’s unpleasant.”
Gallagher says that, despite attacks, she will continue to represent reporters. “You’re rattling the right cages,” she said. “It’s designed to try to stop you doing your job, and for me, it makes me think if they care this much about the lawyers for Jimmy Lai based in London, doing work in Geneva, New York, and Dublin, just think about how much they hate my clients. And to be honest, it makes me more determined to stick with it.”
Associate director of the American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights, Ginna Anderson, emphasized the lack of current research into the growing threats against lawyers defending journalists, citing it as a driving force behind their work. “We realized no one was really talking about it, and the data wasn’t being collected,” she explained. “We coordinate pro bono for human rights defenders, and what we realized was that standing next to every defender facing criminalization was a lawyer also at risk and asking for none of those resources for themselves.”
While networks often operate to support journalists who are being subjected to physical threats, cyberattacks, and forced exile, Anderson emphasized the ad hoc nature of the support available to lawyers — in part due to the recent escalation in cases. “There’s not one place we go and coordinate,” she said. “It’s a lot of personal relationships and knowing who has capacity, and quite frankly there’s very little capacity in any of these places to really deal with the scale of the problem.”
“Just like journalists don’t want to be part of the story, lawyers don’t, and many other trends are mirrored,” she continued. “One thing that struck me […] was this perception that safety of journalist networks are so much better connected and resourced than anything to support lawyers. That terrified me because I think we all think that there’s not enough being done for the safety of journalists.”
“Lawyers are often trusted voices, just like some legacy media establishments,” Anderson said. “They’re trusted voices on the rule of law. They’re trusted voices on the Constitution. And when you disparage them and smear them, and in some cases make it criminal for them to talk about these issues, you have silenced one of the most important voices.”
Defending Lawyers Protecting Journalists
As attacks on lawyers rise, the panel reflected on the ways in which those representing journalists can defend themselves. Increasing knowledge of cybersecurity — which may not have previously been a priority for lawyers — is essential, Gallagher said. “In the last number of years working on cases against Saudi Arabia, Iran, and Russia, I’ve been very surprised by [top-ranked multinational law firms] trying to send you something on Google Docs,” she continued. “The media organization and the journalists will have really good protocols, but then when they get into some kind of difficulty, they may instruct an external lawyer who simply doesn’t.”
Law societies and governments also have a responsibility to take such threats more seriously, Gallagher says, reflecting on the case of Pat Finucane, a Northern Irish human rights lawyer who was murdered in his home in 1989. The UK government only announced a public inquiry into his death in 2024, 35 years later. “That is a home example of these issues simply not being taken seriously enough,” she said. “I can tell you basic preventative strategies were simply not implemented here in Britain.”
Another issue is a lack of psychological support for lawyers, Anderson says. “I’ve been surprised how often a conversation about digital security becomes the place where a lawyer may talk about what’s weighing on their mind,” she continued. “[They’re] not saying, ‘I would like to talk about my psychosocial needs’, but they start with a practical need around digital security, and it finds its way into the things that are weighing on them.”
As Zamora reflected on the future for his father, he seemed hopeful. “He’s excited. He’s very happy. He feels like he’s at a spa after spending those 813 days in an isolation cell,” he said. “We are going to continue fighting these processes. They are really spurious charges, and we are going to fight until the end to demonstrate that everything is false.”
While he says that his father’s trial has exposed the worst in humanity, through Guatemala’s political persecution of those standing up for democracy and freedom, Zamora also believes that it has brought out the best in humanity, too. “I feel that’s everybody in this room,” he concluded. “You care about these issues, you are doing the work, and you can continue to do the work to keep these cases alive.”
Emily O’Sullivanis an editorial assistant at GIJN. She has worked as an investigative researcher for BBC Panorama, and an assistant producer for BBC Newsnight. She has an MA in Investigative Journalism from City, University of London.
Since 2021, nominations are open to the public. As a result, not only organisations, but also individuals from all over the world may “nominate their heroes”. The deadline for nominations is 30 November, 2024.
The list of laureates includes famous names as well as relatively unknown individuals. Last year’s laureate is Abzaz Media, one of the last free media outlets in Azerbaijan.
GORDON OSEN on 24 October 2024 in the Star of Kenya published a warm portrait of Rachael Mwikali who, born and bred in Mathare slums, has come face to face with discrimination and abuse.
When you watch Rachael Mwikali do her activism, you may dismiss her as an antagonistic feminist and a rebel without a cause. Not so. At proximity, the globally recognised champion of sexual and reproductive health rights and women is a warm and compassionate personality whose work is fired up by empathy.
She told the Star during an interview on the sidelines of the annual meeting of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights in Banjul, The Gambia, that at the age of 13, a man 10 years older than her sexually abused her. “The saddest part is the community did not protect me. In fact, they blamed me for engaging in sex at a young age,” she said.
“I learnt to speak up for myself and others who may not have the courage.” Her reward, she says, is when the marginalised get justice. At the heart of her campaign is turning women’s perceived vulnerability and weaknesses into strengths.
Through her organisation Coalition for Grassroots Human Rights Defenders, she champions for intersectionality as well. When El Nino ravaged Mathare slums this year, Mwikali started a community kitchen that would make up to 500 hot meals per day.
She is also part of the #EndFemicideKE. Her agitation has seen her count her losses and keep some wins. In 2016, aged 24, Mwikali was named the Lobbyist for Change by a Swedish non-governmental organisation known as We Effect. She also sits on the Amnesty International board, the Royal Denish Embassy Youth Sounding board and the Youth Advisory board of the Kingdom of Netherlands. She is also the chairperson of the Human Rights Defenders Awards in Kenya which recognises activists at the frontline of human rights protection. The awards are given annually by the Defenders Coalition.
Asked about what motivates her and what she considers a win, Mwikali says she dreams of having many more passionate women standing up for their rights, and championing for an equal society
At a time of unprecedented backlash against them, dozens of the most at-risk human rights defenders (HRDs) from all regions of the world will come together with dignitaries and civil society leaders in Dublin for three days from 23-25 October at Front Line Defenders’ flagship event, the Dublin Platform. This is Front Line Defenders’ 12th Platform, bringing together around 100 HRDs from close to 100 different countries.
First held in 2002, previous Dublin Platforms have given HRDs from almost every country the opportunity to share strategies for advocacy and protection, build solidarity with colleagues around the world, and network with high-level decision makers.
“Human rights defenders represent the best of the human spirit. They steadfastly champion the human rights of others, often at great personal risk, to push for fairer, more just societies,” said Alan Glasgow, Executive Director of Front Line Defenders.
“But the challenges they face are enormous. For their courageous work, human rights defenders are often targeted with the worst forms of violence, surveillance, criminalisation and other repression.
The dignitaries addressing this year’s Platform will include: Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Michael O’Flaherty, Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe; and Seán Fleming, Minister of State in Ireland’s Department of Foreign Affairs. https://www.ohchr.org/en/statements-and-speeches/2024/10/human-rights-defenders-are-oxygen-human-rights-ecosystem
Among the HRDs attending the Dublin Platform are LGBTIQ+ rights defenders; Indigenous, land and environmental rights defenders; women human rights defenders; journalists facing threats and persecution; those fighting against corruption and corporate abuse, and those working on a range of other issues.
The HRDs taking part in the Platform face a wide range of risks, from digital surveillance and online harassment, to death threats and violent attacks, to criminalisation and vilification through smear campaigns. Some work in extremely challenging circumstances amid armed conflicts, crackdowns and other large-scale crises. Front Line Defenders documents the wide array of risks faced by HRDs in its Global Analysis, published annually.
The HRDs in attendance will also attend a special tribute at the HRDMemorial monument in Dublin’s Iveagh Gardens, to commemorate the hundreds of their colleagues around the world who are killed every year for their peaceful work. According to the HRD Memorial initiative – which Front Line Defenders coordinates – at least 300 HRDs across 28 countries were killed in 2023
Democratic leader María Corina Machado and exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González won the top human rights award for representing all Venezuelans who are “fighting for the restoration of freedom and democracy.” | Marcelo Perez del Carpio/Getty Images
The European Parliament on Thursday 24 October 2024 awarded the Sakharov Prize to Venezuela’s opposition leaders. Democratic leader María Corina Machado and exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González won the top human rights award for representing all Venezuelans who are “fighting for the restoration of freedom and democracy.”
The Venezuelan opposition leaders were nominated by the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). The far-right Patriots group rallied behind them after their original candidate, tech billionaire Elon Musk, failed to make the shortlist for the prestigious prize.
After Venezuela’s elections in late July, in which incumbent socialist President Nicolás Maduro declared victory for another term, the European Union’s foreign service said it would not recognize the results because the government had failed to release supporting voting records from polling stations.
The authoritarian Maduro’s disputed declaration of victory sparked massive opposition protests and a violent government crackdown that left more than two dozen people dead and nearly 200 injured.
Later, presidential candidate González — who fled to Madrid during the crackdown — was recognized by the European Parliament as the country’s legitimate leader.
Two other finalists made the shortlist. One was Gubad Ibadoghlu, a jailed Azerbaijani dissident and critic of the fossil fuel industry nominated by the Greens. The other finalist was a joint nomination of Israeli and Palestinian peace organizations Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun. The groups, who announced a partnership in 2022, were nominated by the Socialists and the Renew group.
Every year, people from around the world take part in Amnesty International’s Write for Rights campaign. It’s a really easy way to make a big difference by doing something “little”. It doesn’t take much time – all you need to do is write a letter, send a post or sign a petition.
Since Write for Rights started in 2001, millions of people have changed the lives of those whose human rights have been taken away. In fact, over the past 20 years more than 56 million actions have been taken, while over 100 people featured in our campaign have seen a positive outcome in their case. For this years toolkit see:
This year’s campaign will feature nine individuals and groups from all around the world. From a TikToker in Angola to a women’s rights defender in Saudi Arabia, these inspiring people are connected because their human rights have been violated.
For results from the recent past: Meet three incredible people whose lives have been changed for the better and find out what people power means to them.
After huge public campaigning, artist and anti-war activist Aleksandra (Sasha) Skochilenko was freed in a historic prisoner swap in August 2024. The deal was brokered between Russia and Belarus on the one hand and Germany, Norway, Poland, Slovenia and the USA on the other.
Aleksandra Skochilenko on the day of sentencing, November 16, 2023.
Rita Karasartova is a human rights defender and expert in civic governance from Kyrgyzstan. For over a decade she dedicated her life to providing independent legal advice, helping people whose rights had been violated. Charged with attempting to “violently overthrow the government”, which carries a maximum sentence of 15 years’ imprisonment, Rita and 21 other defendants were acquitted on 14 June 2024.
In August 2017, Myanmar’s military unleashed a deadly crackdown on Rohingya Muslims – an ethnic minority who have faced decades of severe state-sponsored discrimination in Myanmar. Over 620,000 Rohingya fled to Bangladesh after security forces unleashed a campaign of violence, killing an unknown number of Rohingya; raping Rohingya women and girls; laying landmines; and burning entire Rohingya villages.
Fearing for their lives, then 17-year-old Maung Sawyeddollah and his family walked 15 days to Bangladesh, where they reached Cox’s Bazar refugee camps. Fuelled by his desire to become a lawyer, Sawyeddollah wanted to seek justice for the suffering around him.
Alongside his studies, he started a campaign calling for Facebook’s owner, Meta, to take responsibility for the way its algorithms amplified anti-Rohingya incitement on the Facebook platform, fuelling the Myanmar military’s violence.
In 2023 Sawyeddollah was facing serious security risks in the refugee camps. Together with partners Victim Advocates International and Dev.tv, Amnesty International put together resources to help ensure Sawyeddollah’s safety. Through Amnesty’s Global Relief Team he was provided with urgent financial assistance to support his security needs throughout the year. In August 2024, Sawyeddollah was granted a student visa and moved to the USA to study. He landed in New York City on 19 August 2024, and he is now an international student at New York University.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 