SAVE THE DATE for the 31st Martin Ennals Award Ceremony: 26 November 2025 at 18:30 CET. (Doors open at 18:00 CET).
I will certainly be there as Chair of the Jury of he MEA but [SPOILERS ALERT] it will be the last time I attend in this function. After more than 10 years, it is time someone else takes over. The Ceremony, as usual, is co-hosted by the City of Geneva, and will take place at the Salle communale de Plainpalais in Geneva. Happy to see that the participation of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights is expected.
Please note that entry to the venue is on a first first-come, first-served basis.
The event will also be livestreamed on the MEA’s media platforms.
The Human Rights Funders Network announces a WEBINAR: “Uncalculated Risks: How funders can address threats to human rights defenders in development” to be held on 14 January 2020.
Sheryl Mendez of Freedom House, Katie Skartvedt and Greg Regaignon of Wellspring Philanthropic Fund, and Mark Fodor and Gretchen Gordon of the Coalition for Rights in Development, discuss how funders can use the report, Uncalculated Risks: Threats and attacks against human rights defenders and the role of development financiers, as a tool in their work.See: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/07/30/uncalculated-risks-attacks-on-human-rights-defenders-in-name-of-development/.More information (including a time and registration link) will be available soon!
The ICJ is organizing its first fundraising Gala concert on Monday 14 October at 7:30pm in the Palais Eynard, 4 rue de la Croix Rouge, Geneva. The event will support the ICJ and its fight for the defense of the Rule of Law in the world and marks the end of the series of events we organized for our 60th anniversary in the city of human rights. The theme of our Gala will be: “Geneva, the Defense of the Rule of Law: What can I do?”
After a welcome from the Mayor of Geneva and an introduction from Me Pierre de Preux, former Bâtonnier of the Geneva Bar, ICJ Commissioners including Sir Nicolas Bratza (former President of the European Court of Human Rights), Dame Silvia Cartwright (former Judge and Governor General of New Zealand), Professor Bob Goldman (ICJ President and former President of the Inter-american Commission on Human Rights) and Ms Roberta Clarke (ICJ Executive Chair, UN Women’s Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific) will give concrete answers to this question. The evening is also to enjoy a Concert of the ‘Soloists of the Menuhin Academy’ and the cocktail after that.
The Rafto Conference with a keynote address by the Rafto Laureate will take place 2 November at 11:00-14:00 at Universitetsaulaen, Bergen and the award ceremony the next day 3 November at 18:00 also in Bergen.
On Wednesday 13 February 2019, at 18:00 the Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenderswill take place at the Salle communale de Plainpalais, Geneva. The City of Geneva and the Martin Ennals Foundation invite you to attend and register now on the Martin Ennals Award’s website. The ceremony is organized with the support of the Republic and Canton of Geneva.
Eren Keskin (Turkey) is a lawyer who has been fighting for the rights of women, Kurds and the LGBTI community for over thirty years. She has been sentenced to 12 years in prison in March 2018, but is free while her case is under appeal.
Abdul Aziz Muhamat (Sudan) has been detained by Australia for 5 years in a detention centre for asylum seekers on Manus Island in Papua New Guinea. He is a strong advocate for the rights of asylum seekers. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/12/04/mea-nominee-aziz-abdul-muhamat-suffers-under-australias-endless-detention-policy/]
Marino Cordoba (Colombia) is an activist fighting for the political recognition and rights of the Afro-Colombian community, many of whom have been dispossessed of their land for the benefit of mining and forestry companies.
The laureate will be selected from among these three 2019 finalists:
The jury: 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, FIDH, World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), Front Line Defenders, the International Commission of Jurists, Brot für die Welt, the International Service for Human Rights and HURIDOCS.
Screening of documentaries on the finalists and reception
Short documentaries on the life of these finalists will be screened for the first time, giving a glimpse of their fight and the particularly difficult conditions in which they work. The evening will conclude with a reception hosted by the City of Geneva, allowing the 2019 finalists, the Geneva community of human rights and the public to exchange in an informal setting. Last year’s film portrait of the laureate can be seen here.
“The Laureates’ trailblazing work for accountability, democracy and the regeneration of degraded land gives tremendous hope and deserves the world’s highest attention. At a time of alarming environmental decline and failing political leadership, they show the way forward into a very different future,” comments Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation. For more on the award see: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/right-livelihood-award
The Award presentation will take place on 23 November at the Vasa Museum in Stockholm, followed by public events and high-level meetings in Geneva, Zurich and Berlin.
The Laureates of this year’s Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the ‘Alternative Nobel Prize’, will be announced on Monday, 24 September. The announcement will take place in Stockholm at 09:00 (CEST) at the International Press Centre at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs, Fredsgatan 6, and streamed live via rightlivelihoodaward.org.
HRF and Nelson Mandela Foundation Will Produce OFF in Johannesburg this March
On 26 March, 2018, the Human Rights Foundation (HRF) will bring the Oslo Freedom Forum experience and community together for the first-ever Oslo Freedom Forum in Johannesburg (OFFinJoburg). In 2017, HRF established a collaboration with the Nelson Mandela Foundation to bring the Oslo Freedom Forum to South Africa in 2018, the 100th anniversary of Mandela’s birth. OFFinJoburg will be held in Bryanston, Johannesburg, and live-streamed. You can register for the event here.
Speakers at OFFinJoburg will include Zimbabwean civil rights activist and #ThisFlag movement leader Evan Mawarire, former Maldivian president Mohamed Nasheed, Moroccan-born French free expression advocate and journalist Zineb El Rhazoui, Arab Spring writer and journalist Iyad el-Baghdadi, Chinese-Canadian actress and human rights activist Anastasia Lin, Angolan investigative journalist Rafael Marques de Morais, and Eritrean information activist and refugee rescuer Meron Estefanos, among others.
The 2018 Oslo Freedom Forum (OFF) marks the 10th anniversary of the annual gathering of human rights defenders with creative entrepreneurs, courageous reporters, technologists, and artists, united by their commitment to making today’s world more peaceful, prosperous, and free.
The 2018 Oslo Freedom Forum will feature powerful stories of courage, struggle, perseverance, and resilience in the face of tyranny. It celebrates the real-life heroes who have become an essential global human rights community that has broken barriers between nations and united activists in the struggle for freedom.
The Oslo Freedom Forum is open only to registered participants. Events will be live-streamed at oslofreedomforum.com and you can follow along on social media for on-the-ground coverage.
Protection International announced its next e-learning course starting on 19 February 2018. There are limited places available and the deadline for registration is 26 January 2018(contact: e-learning@protectioninternational.org).
The topic is: SECURITY AND PROTECTION MANAGEMENT FOR HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AND SOCIAL ORGANISATIONS
The course will help human rights defenders to:
Acquire tools and skills to assess risks and improve their security and protection
Contribute to the security and protection of those whose rights HRDs are defending
To improve HRDs security and protection strategies when protecting human rights defenders
The training is done by human rights protection experts with extensive experience. 3. 5 hours per week (60 hours over 12 weeks). Tailored feedback on assignments given as well as direct tutorship.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 