Posts Tagged ‘awards’
October 30, 2013
Today it was announced that the Bremen Solidarity Award for the year 2013 has been awarded by the German Province of Bremen to the Saharawis activist and President of the Collective of Saharawis Human Rights Defenders (CODESA), Ms. Aminatou Haidar.
The committee overseeing the selection of the winner explained that Aminatou Haidar has been chosen for her record of defending the Saharawis’ human rights desert, praising the great efforts being made by CODESA’s President in order that the Sahrawis benefit from their natural resources, as human rights cannot be separated from political and civil rights. “Aminatou Haidar has frequently and boldly defended the rights of the Saharawis by peaceful mean. She still struggling to find a just solution to the question of Western Sahara by the same means,” added the committee. The Bremen Solidarity Award has, since 1988, been presented to people who campaign for freedom, democracy and human rights and who fight against colonialism and racism.
via Activist Aminatou Haidar awarded Bremen Solidarity Award | Sahara Press Service.
Posted in human rights | 1 Comment »
Tags: Aminatou Haidar, awards, Bremen, Bremen Solidarity Award, Collective of Saharawis Human Rights Defenders, freedom, Germany, Human right, human rights, human rights award, non-violence, Province of Bremen, Sahrawi people, western Sahara, woman human rights defender
October 26, 2013
On 26 October 2013, the Geneva-based Alkarama human rights organisation announced that Yemeni journalist Abdulelah Haidar Shaye will receive the 2013 Alkarama Award for human rights defenders. The Director of Alkarama’s Legal Department, Rachid Mesli, said that Shaye was awarded the prize because he personifies the struggle against human rights abuses in Yemen and for his courageous investigative reporting in this regard. Since last year, the Alkarama Award for Human Rights Defenders is presented every year to a human rights defender or organization in recognition of their contribution to the protection and the promotion of human rights in the Arab world.
via Saba Net – Yemen news agency.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Abdulelah Haidar Shaye, Alkarama, Arab world, awards, Geneva, Human right, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights awards, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Journalist, Rachid Mesli, reporting, Shaye, Yemen
October 24, 2013
The Pan African Human Rights Defenders Network, one of the regional partners of the MEA, on 22 October, awarded 5 activists with its Africa Human Rights Defenders Award. The winners of this first edition are:
- Imam Baba Leigh from the Gambia (released on 11 May from jail as reported in this blog)
- Paulete Oyane Onda from Gabon,
- Livingstone Sewanyana from Uganda,
- Yara Sallam from Egypt and
- Maria Lucia Inacio da Silveira from Angola.
via Imam Baba Leigh, 4 other Human Rights Defenders Awarded – Foroyaa Newspaper.
Posted in human rights | 2 Comments »
Tags: Africa, Africa Human Rights Defenders, African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights, Angola, awards, Egypt, Gabon, Gambia, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights awards, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, Imam Baba Leigh, Livingstone Sewanyana, Maria Lucia Inacio da Silveira, Pan-African Human Rights Defenders Network, Paulete Oyane Onda, The Pan African Human Rights Defenders Network, Uganda, Yara Sallam
October 22, 2013
Nominations 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.
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Tags: AI, awards, call for nominations, Diakonie, FIDH, Frontline Defenders, Geneva, HRF, HRW, Human right, human rights, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, human rights violations, HURIDOCS, ICJ, ISHR, Martin Ennals, Martin Ennals Award, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, nominations, OMCT
October 17, 2013
As founder and medical director of Panzi Hospital in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Dr. Denis Mukwege and his staff have treated over 30,000 survivors of sexual violence. The hospital not only addresses the immediate medical needs of survivors, but also provides legal and psycho-social services. Dr. Mukwege has received numerous awards for his tireless advocacy against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and for his courageous efforts to provide essential services to survivors of rape.
Human Rights First will honor Dr. Mukwege with its 2013 Human Rights Award, an honor dedicated to human rights defenders on the frontlines of the struggle for freedom. Physicians for Human Rights collaborates with Dr. Mukwege and the staff of Panzi Hospital to bolster local networks of collaboration among the health and legal communities in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo to end impunity for sexual violence and support meaningful access to justice for survivors of these crimes.
Posted in HRF, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: awards, Bukavu, Democratic Republic of Congo, Denis Mukwege, HIV, human rights, human rights awards, Human rights defender, Human Rights First, human rights of women, medical profession, Mukwege, Panzi Hospital, Physicians for Human Rights, rape, reception, sexual violence, washington
October 17, 2013
The Tulip Award for Human Rights Defenders of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands has this year added a new element: an on-line poll to help select the winner. Anyone can go to http://www.government.nl/ministries/bz/news/2013/10/09/online-poll-for-human-rights-prize.html and choose which of the 44 nominees deserves the prize most. It closes on Friday 18 October Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights | 1 Comment »
Tags: Advocacy Organizations, awards, Frans Timmermans, human rights, Human Rights and Liberties, human rights award, Human rights defender, Human Rights Defenders, international protection, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Netherlands, on-line, The Tulip Award, Tulip award
October 14, 2013
The Economist of this week (11 October) carries an interesting piece on peace under the title “Peace comes dropping slow”. It argues that MALALA YOUSAFZAI would have been an appropriate recipient of the Nobel peace prize, but that her admirers should be not be too disappointed that the award went instead to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. For the Western world, and indeed for many of her fellow Muslims, Malala is an extraordinary example of disinterested courage in the face of theocrats who practise tyranny by claiming a monopoly on religion and religious law. She was already famous at the age of 11 as the writer of a blog for the BBC Urdu service, giving an impression of life under the rule of the Taliban in her native Swat Valley.
She has been showered with accolades, as this blog has also shown including last week the European Union’s Sakharov prize. However, the Economist piece says that “people who really wish Malala and her cause well should be more relieved than let down. The Nobel Prize has not always brought blessings to its recipients. Mistakes made by Barack Obama as America’s commander-in-chief will be judged even more harshly because he was granted the award in 2009 as a kind of down-payment before his presidency had really got going. Mikhail Gorbachev will probably go down in history as a peace-maker, but the award (in 1990) did nothing to enhance his domestic standing which was in freefall at the time. And whatever history has to say about Henry Kissinger and North Vietnam’s Le Duc Tho, garlanded in 1973, it will hardly describe them as doves of peace“[De Klerk and Arafat are not mentioned!]
In Northern Ireland, the article states the peace prize had in some respects a “kiss of death” [mentioning David Trimble, John Hume, Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan Maguire] ….”Does 16-year-old Malala really need that? She too comes from a part of the world where international accolades can cause jealousy and cynicism as well as admiration. So she may be better off without the big prize. In any case, Malala will continue to pile up various honours and distinctions; and as with Ms Maguire, there is probably a good chance that she will use her fame to say things that disturb and provoke people, even those who are lining up to admire her.“
The Nobel peace prize: Peace comes dropping slow | The Economist.
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Tags: awards, Barack Obama, European Union, human rights awards, Kissinger, Le Duc Tho, Malala, Malala Yousafzai, Mikhail Gorbachev, Nobel Peace Prize, Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, peace prize, The Economist, woman human rights defender
October 14, 2013
That there can be a risk in accepting (monetary) awards is demonstrated again by the case of Massoumeh Dehghan, retired teacher and wife of imprisoned human rights lawyer Abdolfattah Soltani in Iran. She told the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran that her one-year prison sentence for accepting her husband’s human rights award has been upheld (suspended for five years, and five years’ ban on foreign travel). Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: Abdolfattah Soltani, awards, backlash, Germany, human rights, human rights award, human rights awards, human rights lawyer, International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran, Iran, judicial harassment, Massoumeh Dehghan, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Nuremberg, Nuremberg Human Rights Award
October 10, 2013
(Malala Yousafzai during ceremony for the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award 2013 – (c) AFP/Peter Muhly)
On 5 October I reported that Malala got the RAW award – after receiving quite a few others (as seen above in the picture). Since yesterday she is also laureate of the European Parliament’s Sacharov award, beating Edward Snowden and dissidents from Belarus. In the meantime the rumors are that she also gets the Nobel Peace Prize.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Amnesty International, awards, Belarus, Edward Snowden, European Parliament, human rights awards, Malala, Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize, Sacharov, Sakharov Prize
October 1, 2013
The Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought is given by the European Parliament annually since 1988. Previous recipients include Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi. Among the nominees for this year are Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban last year,…and – this was to be expected since the controversy broke – the US whistleblower Edward Snowden. He was nominated on Monday by the Green group in the European Parliament. His nomination is in recognition of his “enormous service” to human rights and to the European citizens, the Green group said. The winner of the 50,000-Euro prize will be announced on October 10 and is awarded in Strasbourg on November 20. [On August 30, Snowden received the biennial Whistle Blower Award 2013 in Germany, in recognition of his “bold efforts” to expose the monitoring of communications data by his former employer.}
Euro MPs nominate Snowden for rights prize – Europe – Al Jazeera English.
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Tags: Al-Jazeera, Aung San, awards, Edward Snowden, electronic surveillance, European Parliament, Green group, human rights awards, Human Rights Defenders, Malala Yousafzai, MEP, Nelson Mandela, right to privacy, Sakharov Prize, Taliban
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 