reports that on 22 October 2013, human rights lawyer André Michel in Haiti was arbitrarily held in police custody after police attempted to carry out a search on his vehicle. He was eventually released the next morning but remains at risk of arrest. André Michel is involved, as legal representative of the complainant, in a case of corruption and embezzlement of public funds allegedly implicating members of the President’s family. Read the rest of this entry »
Archive for the 'MEA' Category
Haiti: Judicial harassment against human rights lawyers continues
October 28, 2013NOMINATIONS MARTIN ENNALS AWARD 2014 UNTIL 9 DECEMBER
October 22, 2013Nominations for the 2014 MARTIN ENNALS AWARD FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS (MEA) can now be submitted electronically at http://www.martinennalsaward.org. Deadline: 9 December 2013.
The Award is granted annually to an individual, or exceptionally an organisation, in recognition of their commitment and ongoing efforts in the defence and promotion of human rights. Nominees must be currently involved in work for the promotion and protection of human rights. Special account is taken of those who are at risk and have demonstrated an active record of combating human rights violations by courageous and innovative means. The MEA aims to encourage individuals or organisations, particularly those who are working in conditions hostile to fundamental human rights and who are in need of protection.
The present value of the annual Award is 20’000 Swiss Francs, to be used for further work in the field of human rights. The following organisations participate in the Jury that selects the award: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Front Line, Human Rights First, International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organisation Against Torture, International Commission of Jurists, International Service for Human Rights, Protestant Agency for Diakonia and Development (Germany) and HURIDOCS.
The Ceremony is hosted by the City of Geneva in late 2013. They provide each of the final three nominees with project funds of 11’650 CHF and a 5’000 CHF travel grant.
Haiti HRD Mario Joseph uses his appearance in the MEA ceremony well
October 14, 2013
Mario Joseph, Haiti – Final Nominee MEA 2013
An unintended consequence of the MEA ceremony on 8 October was that Mario Joseph – one of the 3 Final Nominees for this award – used his speech to make clear how disturbed he was by the UN’s refusal to assume its responsibility for the cholera epidemic caused by UN troops in Haiti. Mrs Pillay – the UN High commissioner for human rights – in her speech replied to the challenge by repeating an earlier position that had mostly gone unnoticed: “I have used my voice both inside the United Nations and outside to call for the right — for an investigation by the United Nations, by the country concerned, and I still stand by the call that victims of — of those who suffered as a result of that cholera be provided with compensation”. Associated Press reported this on 8 October but left out the context by just stating: ‘Pillay said at an awards ceremony for human rights activists in Geneva… streamed live on the Internet.’ So, now you know!
via UN human rights official urges compensation for Haiti cholera victims – Washington Post.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2013 CEREMONY OF THE MEA ALREADY ON VIMEO
October 10, 201324 hours after the event, those who missed the 2013 ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders can already see the highlights on Vimeo. Gives absolutely good impression of the impressive evening.
Related articles
- BREAKING NEWS: LAUREATE MEA 2013 JUST ANNOUNCED: JOINT MOBILE GROUP, Russia (thoolen.wordpress.com)
BREAKING NEWS: LAUREATE MEA 2013 JUST ANNOUNCED: JOINT MOBILE GROUP, Russia
October 8, 2013 The Joint Mobile Group was selected by the International Human Rights Community (See Jury Below) as the Laureate 2013 of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. Read the rest of this entry »
Simia Ahmadi; defending the defenders
October 7, 2013This blog tends to prioritize news on human rights defenders who are in trouble. This makes one overlook perhaps too often the contribution made by those who are working for the cause in other ways. To rectify I want to pay tribute to another woman who has contributed enormously to the creation and growth of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders: Simia Ahmadi. After 20 years she is leaving the Board of the Foundation on 7 October, just before the 20th ceremony tomorrow.
In 1992 Simia was a young, upcoming human rights worker who had just finished an internship with the UN. To her great regret she never met Martin Ennals in person. Her main motivation was that an award could be effective and volunteered to help it being set up. After successful initial fundraising she was the part-time Secretariat in the first year.
(Simia, left of first Laureate Harry Wu in 1994, Geneva)
After that, she worked several years for the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH). Thereafter she was Programme Coordinator of the Legal and Human Rights Centre in Tanzania and from 2006-2009 she served as FIDH’s Representative to the UN in Geneva. After her move to Kenya in 2010, she served as the Chief of Party of the Public International Law and Policy Group in Kenya. Now she devoting her considerable energy to Kahesa, of which she is the Director-Founder and undertakes consultancy work such as evaluations KAHESA is a social enterprise that produces decorative and environmentally-sound paper through the employment of mentally-challenged Kenyans. Check out her www.kahesa.com and Facebook page: Kahesa paper
For being at the cradle of the MEA and making sure that the there is no grave for long time she deserve the deepest thanks from all especially Human Rights Defenders around the world.
Leah Levin; a human rights defender of the first rank
October 7, 2013This blog tends to prioritize news on human rights defenders who are in trouble. This makes one overlook perhaps too often the contribution made by those who are working for the cause in other ways. To rectify I want to pay tribute to a woman who made an enormous contribution to the creation and development of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders: Leah Levin. After 20 years she is leaving the Board of the Foundation today, 7 October, just before the ceremony on October.
Leah was there from the start; from the now ancient looking logo of the first years
to the current one:
When the MEA came into being in 1992, a year after Martin died, Leah was already an ‘old hand’ and a well-known name in the international human rights movement. She was one of Martin’s closest friends and felt very strongly motivated by the idea of making sure his legacy was honored and made useful.
(one of the last pictures where Leah and Martin are seen together – 1979 Bellagio)
But Leah is more than the MEA. She has a OBE and is Hon. Doctor of the University of Essex. She served on the Boards of United Nations Association, Anti-Slavery and International Alert. Was Director of JUSTICE from 1982-1992 and is currently on Boards of Redress, Readers International and The International Journal of Human Rights. She is the author of UNESCO’s ‘Human Rights : Questions and Answers’, one the world’s widely disseminated books on human rights.
Twenty years of active Board membership in any enterprise is impressive; doing it on a voluntary basis without always getting the recognition deserved is outright admirable. We all owe her a lot.
20th MEA ceremony broadcast live on 8 October 18h00
October 5, 2013The 20th Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders will take place on Tuesday 8 October and can be followed live on www.martinennalsaward.org as from 18h00 Central European (Geneva) time. The moment of the announcement of the laureate will be approximately 18:30.
As a reminder, the 3 Final Nominees are: Read the rest of this entry »
SAVE THE DATE: MARTIN ENNALS AWARD CEREMONY IN GENEVA ON 8 OCTOBER
September 8, 2013
2013 Martin Ennals Award ceremony
October 8th, 2013, 6 pm
Please subscribe online: http://www.martinennalsaward.org
The Martin Ennals Foundation and the City of Geneva announce the 20th ceremony of Martin Ennals Award for human rights defenders. This event is integrated within Human Rights Week, a four-day event organized at the University of Geneva. This ceremony is open to the public. All who are interested in human rights are welcome to come and pay tribute to these men and women who are engaged in the defense of human rights, often risking their lives. It is crucial that the public knows the work of these individuals, not only in Geneva but also at the international level, in order to ensure that they can benefit from a certain degree of protection.
The following 3 nominees were carefully selected by the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award, made up of ten of the world’s leading human rights organisations:
- Ms Mona Seif (Egypt) who is one of the core founders of the ”No To Military Trials for Civilians”, a grassroots initiative that aims to stop military trials for civilians in Egypt.
- The Joint Mobile Group (Russia) seeks accountability for human rights abuses in Chechnya, notably enforced disappearances, torture in custody, and extra-judicial executions.
- Mr Mario Joseph (Haïti) has been referred to as Haiti’s most prominent human rights lawyer, and has worked on some of the most important cases including the one against former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.
Ms Navanethem Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, will present the award to one of these nominees. The ceremony will be held in French and in English at Uni-Dufour, Jean-Piaget auditorium, U-600 at 6 pm. A live broadcast will be given in the Charles-Rouiller auditorium, U-300, located in the same building and it should also be streamed on the internet.
SAVE THE DATE: MEA 2013 CEREMONY ON 8 OCTOBER IN GENEVA
June 29, 2013The City of Geneva and the Martin Ennals Foundation announce the 2013 edition of Martin Ennals Award, which will take place on Tuesday 8 October 2013 at 18h00 at the Uni-Dufour, Geneva. The Laureate will be announced Read the rest of this entry »
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 