For a lovely 8 mn summary of the 2012 Martin Ennals Award ceremony of 2 October please go the the website: Welcome to Martin Ennals Awards – MEA.
Posts Tagged ‘City of Geneva’
Posters MEA ceremony up in Geneva
September 18, 2012
courtesy Nat Daudrich
Thanks to the partnership with the City of Geneva hundreds of posters are lining the streets of Geneva in anticipation of the ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) on 2 October in the splendid Victoria Hall. The laureate will be announced that evening but all three nominees will be honored and films on their work shown. The nominees are: Luon Sovath (Cambodia), Nasrin Sotoudeh (Iran) and the Bahrain Centre for Human Rights.
On-line registration for the 2012 Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award now open
September 3, 2012The Ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) on 2 October 2012 at 6 p.m. at the Victoria Hall, Geneva. The ceremony will be followed by a reception at 7h15 p.m.
The Laureate will be announced and awarded by Ms. Navanethem Pillay, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, with the presence of Ms. Micheline Calmy Rey, newly-appointed Chair of the Martin Ennals Foundation,
Register online for the ceremony: http://www.martinennalsaward.org/ <http://www.martinennalsaward.org/>
The three nominees for the 2012 award are: Venerable Luon Sovath, Cambodian monk, Nasrin Sotoudeh, Iranian lawyer and the Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR). They all courageously stand for the rights of other despite continuous harassment and threats. The nominees were carefully selected by ten human rights organizations which make up the Martin Ennals Award Jury: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Human Rights First, the International Federation for Human Rights, the World Organisation Against Torture, Frontline, the International Commission of Jurists, German Diakonie, the International Service for Human Rights and HURIDOCS.
Upon handing over the Martin Ennals Foundation to Mrs Micheline Calmy Rey
April 24, 2012
It took almost 20 years but I finally have been able to step down as Chair of the Martin Ennals Foundation. Yesterday the Board accepted my resignation and selected Micheline Calmy Rey as my successor (now that is upgrading!). In an hour from now she will be announced as such at the press conference in Geneva which is being streamed on http://www.martinennalsaward.org.
My departure has been carefully crafted since November last year but we have been most fortunate that in the meantime Micheline Calmy Rey left her government position and accepted the challenge to lead the MEA to its destiny as the most influential human rights award in the world. I realize that this is not a modest thing to say but I think that facts speak for themselves:
The MEA has a Jury composed of the world’s leading international human rights organisations, a unique cooperation among sometimes competing NGOs. The Laureates over the last twenty years have been outstanding examples and have all claimed that the recognition of the award has helped them in continuing their work.
The growth of the impact of the award has a lot to do, not only with its longevity, but also with the joining of forces by other entities, in the first place the City of Geneva which is now the main organiser of the ceremony at Victoria Hall.
I am sure that the foundation will be able to pursue the increased use of multimedia techniques for protecting the HRDs. As this is often a question of resources, I will continue to advise the MEA in particular with regard to fundraising and publicity.
So, I am not really retiring; there are simply too many Human Rights Defenders out there who need support. This year’s nominees, who will be introduced to you in a few hours, illustrate the need for international recognition and protection.
Geneva, 24 April 2012
Related articles
- Announcement of nominees MEA 2012 streamed on internet: 24 April (thoolen.wordpress.com)
- MEA Jury to meet on 7 March in Geneva to select the nominees for 2012 (thoolen.wordpress.com)
MEA Jury to meet on 7 March in Geneva to select the nominees for 2012
March 2, 2012On Wednesday 7 March, I have honor to preside over the Jury meeting of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA). The Jury is composed of ten leading international human rights NGOs and comes together in Geneva in the Palais Eynard (put at our disposal by our main partner the City of Geneva) to select from a shortlist of 10 candidates the 3 nominees. The names of the nominees will be made public on 24 April 2012 at a press conference in Geneva. All three nominees will be invited to the MEA ceremony on 2 October in Geneva, where they will be honored and a film on their work shown. The Jury meets again on 2 october to select the final Laureate of 2012 whose name will be announced at the ceremony.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 