hansthoolen Says:
March 12, 2010 at 1:53 pm | Reply edit
A short introduction
There is nowadays so much happening around the theme of human rights defenders (shorthand HRDs) that on the one hand there is no need to have yet another source of information, while on the other I feel that I am in such a privileged position that not sharing some of the information that comes my way would be a disservice to the human rights movement. A worldwide movement that has been my ‘home’ for most of my life. It started with the anti-apartheid movement and the Netherlands Lawyers Committee for Human Rights (NJCM) in the 70s and via the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights (SIM) and HURIDOCS, it ended with 15 years in the United Nations, mostly the High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and one year at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). After early retirement and a move to Greece, there was more time to specialise in human rights defenders, through the MEA (Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders – http://www.martinennalsaward.org) and THF (True Heroes Foundation, films for HRDs – http://www.trueheroesfilms.org) and do teaching and traning, mostly through the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in Lund. So, now you have some idea of my background and I can start thinking about more substantive matters for future blogs, best Hans Thoolen
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 