The City of Geneva and the Martin Ennals Foundation have set the day of the 2014 ceremony for 7 October 2014, 6 pm, at Uni-Dufour, Geneva, during the opening day of the Human Rights Week hosted by the University of Geneva. Save this date in your agenda and register as from now online at: http://www.martinennalsaward.org/.
The laureate will be selected among the three Final Nominees of the 2014 edition:
Ms Cao Shunli (China), who lost her life on March 14th, 2014, had vigorously advocated since 2008 for access to information, freedom of speech and freedom of assembly, encouraging strengthened domestic implementation of international mechanisms.
Mr Adilur Rahman Khan (Bangladesh) has worked since the 1990’s on a wide range of humain rights issues, such as illegal detention, enforced disapearances, extra-judicial killing, and elections monitoring with his non-governmental organization, Odhikar.
Ms Alejandra Ancheita (Mexico) founder and Executive Director of ProDESC, has worked for more than 15 years with migrants, workers, and indigenous communities to protect their land and labour rights vis a vis transnational mining and energy companies.
The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award is made up of ten of the world’s leading human rights organizations: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, International Federation for Human Rights, World Organisation Against Torture, Frontline Defenders, the International Commission of Jurists, EWDE-Germany, the International Service for Human Rights, and HURIDOCS.
The foundation “Cartooning for Peace” went to Syria-Palestinian Hani Abbas and Egyptian Doaa Eladl for their work. Former Secretary General Kofi Annan handed them the international award for press cartoonists in Geneva, as part of World Press Day. French cartoonist Plantu gave Euronews his views on the significance of using cartoons as a form of expression: “We’re trying to show the level of resistance that exists today, from the perspective of the very people that allow us to understand the word “resistance”, the cartoonists that ultimately become the foot soldiers of democracy. In other words, they’re railing against different powers, not just the power of their editors but also against political and religious power.”
From Lake Geneva, euronews correspondent Wolfgang Spindler said: “Political cartoons can be subversive, provocative and amusing – they make us smile, they give us pause for thought. But we very often forget that the cartoonists behind them sometimes have to risk their lives daily for the sake of their work.” via: http://www.euronews.com/2014/05/05/drawing-for-peace
The cartoon exhibition on the banks of Lake Geneva runs until the beginning of July and then moves to Sarajevo.
3 May 2014 Cartooning for Peace award, Geneva (c) THF
In case you noticed, my post of yesterday about the Cartooning for Peace Award came a day late; sorry. The award ceremony took place on Saturday 3 May, International Day for Press Freedom. To make up for the error here are the winners (Palestinian-Syrian Hani Abbasi, and Egyptian Doaa Eladl), in company of inter alia Kofi Annan and municipal councillor Guillaume Barazzone. The exhibit remains to be visited along the Quai Wilson in Geneva until 3 July 2014. Also present were the well-known cartoonists Chappatte, Plantu et Liza Donnelly. More information and links in my post of yesterday:
Today, 3 May 2014, the Foundation Cartooning for Peace in Geneva hands out the 2nd International Prize for the best press cartoon (le Prix international du dessin de presse à Genève), followed by the exhibit “La guerre dans tous ses états”
This recent bi-annual award, given by Foundation in cooperation with the City of Geneva, will handed over by Kofi Annan, Honorary President of Cartooning for Peace. It rewards the creator for his or her courage, talent and engagement in favour of peace and human rights.
The work of the laureates form part of an exhibit of some hundred cartoons which are displayed in big format on the Quai Wilson for one month: from 3 May to 3 June.
The International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights [FIFDH] was inaugurated in 2003. This year’s session runs from 7 to 16 March, 2014. On purpose it coincides with the UN Human Rights Council. This simultaneous event helps to make the Festival a Platform for discussion and debates on a wide variety of topics concerning human rights. As a genuine Forum on Human Rights, the Festival informs and firmly denounces violations of civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights wherever they occur. In the heart of Geneva, the “international hub for human rights”, the FIFDH offers debates as well as unscreened films and solidarity actions. The link to the full programme is: http://www.fifdh.org/2014/index.php?rubID=101&lan=en Read the rest of this entry »
24 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.
The 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.
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.
The 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 