Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards

The Council of Europe’s Democratic Governance Department has been working for some time to put into practice the recent Committee of Ministers Guidelines for civil participation in political decision-making . Now it is again turning to supporters of participatory democracy and to anyone with fresh ideas to help find a unifying visual symbol, an original design for a logo or emblem.

The logo should highlight, in a symbolic way, the importance of public/civil participation in decision-making at all levels of government. It should be very simple and expressive, while appealing to both sides in the democratic decision-making process – the public authorities and civil society. The logo is meant to appear on all that will be done by the partners – news items, video clips, reports, meeting programmes, etc. Ideally, people will gradually start associating it with our joint work on civil participation.

We are looking for a small graphic symbol, preferably without text. The logo of the No Hate campaign of the Council of Europe could serve – very approximately – for orientation.

Three winning entries will be selected by the group of partners involved in promoting civil participation. Modest prizes (but eternal glory) will be awarded to the winners. Please send your entries in a free format (a scanned drawing would also do) before 1 August 2018, together with your personal details including a mobile phone number, to the following e-mail: ellsworth.camilleri@coe.int

Background information: definitions according to the Guidelines for civil participation in political decision making

…“civil society at large”: the ensemble of individuals and organised, less organised and informal groups through which they contribute to society or express their views and opinions, including when raising issues regarding human rights violations, corruption and other misconduct or expressing critical comments. Such organised or less organised groups may include professional and grass-roots organisations, universities and research centres, religious and non-denominational organisations and human rights defenders;..

https://www.coe.int/en/web/ingo/-/original-ideas-for-a-logo-needed