On 4 April, 2025 the Miami Herald reported that Haiti-based human rights lawyer Mario Josep died in a car accident.
In a country where justice is often elusive, Mario Joseph was a fearless crusader who didn’t care whether his opponent was the Haitian government or the international community as he defended political prisoners and poor victims of human rights abuses in his Caribbean homeland. Joseph died Monday night from injuries sustained in a car accident last week as he pulled into his house. His death was confirmed by his longtime friend Brian Concannon and the Boston-based nonprofit Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. He was 62. Concannon said in a statement. “The global human rights movement has lost an inspirational leader when the notion of human rights itself is under broad attack.”
Since 1996 Joseph had served as the attorney for the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux, or Bureau of International Lawyers, in Port-au-Prince. The organization represented victims of human rights violations, trained Haitian law students and worked with U.S. law schools clinics, while also closely collaborating with the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. His high-profile cases included championing the rights of 5,000 victims of waterborne-cholera who blamed the United Nations for its introduction into Haiti after the 2010 earthquake.
Among Jospeh’s many accolades over the years was the Judith Lee Stronach Human Rights Award from the Center for Justice & Accountability in San Francisco, the Alexander Human Rights Award from Santa Clara University, and honorary doctorates from the University of San Francisco and Indiana University School of Law. He was also a finalist for the 2013 Martin Ennals Human Rights Defenders Award.
Human Rights First announced on 24 January 2025 that climate rights activist and lawyer Dang Dinh Bach, jailed in Vietnam since June 2021, is the winner of the 2024 Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty. The Baldwin Medal will be presented at an event in the United States later this year to someone on Bach’s behalf, unless he is freed from prison and able to travel to receive the award in person.
Bach is the co-founder and former Executive Director of the Law and Policy of Sustainable Development Research Center (LPSD), a public interest law firm advising communities on cases of environmental harm, including industrial pollution, involuntary displacement due to hydropower construction, and pollution from coal plants.
Taken from his home in June 2021, he was held in pretrial detention for seven months, with limited contact with his family or his lawyers, and the LPSD was shut down by authorities following his arrest. The UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found Bach’s imprisonment to be arbitrary and in “violation of international law,” and called for his immediate release. United Nations Special Procedures experts have noted reports of his being attacked and beaten in prison.
“I’d like to express honor and gratitude for this recognition of Bach’s life and work,” said Tran Phuong Thao, his wife. “The Baldwin Award represents the critical importance of human rights and rule of law in building a just and sustainable world – values my husband has fought for both outside and inside of prison. It is through solidarity and support from the international community that the movement he has helped to build continues to grow and inspire others.”Press
The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders honors individuals and organizations who have shown exceptional commitment to defending human rights, despite the risks involved. The Martin Ennals Award aims to support the tireless struggles of these activists.[For more on the award and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/043F9D13-640A-412C-90E8-99952CA56DCE]
To qualify for the Award 2025, the nominees must:
Be currently active in the promotion and protection of human rights
Not employ or advocate violence
Not be self-nominated
Be in need of protection
We encourage nominations of activists under 30 years of age to reflect the growing number of young persons joining the human rights movements in their countries. Post-humous nominations are not eligible. The deadline for nominations is open ended for now. Nominees must also read and acknowledge the Martin Ennals Foundation Ethical Guidelines.
Nominate your human rights champion now by filling out the nomination form (available in ENGLISH, FRENCH) and send it to info@martinennalsaward.org.
The Martin Ennals Award is a unique collaboration between ten of the world’s leading human rights organizations, who form the independent Jury that selects winners of the Award. In the first half of each year, a nomination cycle takes place over several months, at the end of which the winners of the Martin Ennals Award — or Laureates — are selected by the Jury. The names of the Laureates will be publicly announced to the public shortly before the ceremony. Mark your calendar for the Award Ceremony 2025 which will take place in the third trimester of the year in Geneva.
Learn more about the nomination process and our ethical guidelines here:
Each year the Rafto award goes to a person or an organization who stands up for human rights and democracy. Please make a nomination. Annual deadline is 1 February.
Each year we announce the recipient of the Rafto Prize in the end of September at a press conference at the Rafto House in Bergen. The announcement is live streamed on our website and on Facebook.
Questions?
For questions regarding nominations, please contact the Secretary of the Committee, Liv Unni Stuhaug, livunni.stuhaug@rafto.no
Front Line Defenders is currently accepting nominations for the 2025 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk:
The annual Front Line Defenders Award was established in 2005 to honour the work of HRDs who are courageously making outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, at great personal risk to themselves. The Award focuses national and international attention on the HRDs work, providing them with a greater national and international platform to speak about and advocate for their work.
For each region of the world (Africa; Americas; Asia-Pacific; Europe & Central Asia; and Middle East & North Africa) there will be one winner selected and Front Line Defenders will recognise all five as the 2025 Front Line Defenders Award Laureates. For more on this award and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/2E90A0F4-6DFE-497B-8C08-56F4E831B47D.
The nomination process is open for anyone to submit a nomination of a human rights defender, collective, organisation or community working on any human rights issue and facing significant risk due to their work or operating in an environment that itself is characterised as insecure. The purpose of the Award is to give visibility to HRDs who are not normally acknowledged or recognised at the international level. At the same time, the Award should not bring additional risk for which the HRD is not prepared. In addition to the Award, winners will receive:
a modest financial prize aimed at improving the HRD’s protection;
collaboration with Front Line Defenders for media work in recognition of the Award;
advocacy by Front Line Defenders related to the Award and the work of the winners;
an event co-organised by the HRD, local partners and Front Line Defenders to give visibility to the Award in the winners’ countries (as determined and guided by the winners);
the Global Laureates will attend a ceremony in Dublin at a date to be determined;
ongoing security consultation with Front Line Defenders.
If you would like to nominate a HRD for the 2025 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, please follow this link to the secure online nomination form:
As the person, group or organisation making the nomination, you will be consulted by Front Line Defenders to verify the information submitted and possibly for additional information. Please complete all parts of the nomination form to the best of your ability. 2025 Front Line Defenders Award – Nomination Form
Please submit nominations via the online form. If there are any problems using the form, or if you have any questions, please contact: award@frontlinedefenders.org
Deadline for nominations: 10 January 2025
Please note:
Incomplete nominations will not be considered. Please complete the nomination form in full and provide all of the information requested.
Nominations can be submitted by organisations or individuals.
Individual nominees may not play a prominent role in a political party and must be currently active in human rights work (the Front Line Defenders Award is not intended to recognise a historical or posthumous contribution).
Nominees should be active human rights defenders.
Self-nomination is not permitted.
The number of nominations a HRD or organisation receives is not considered when evaluating the nominees.
All nominations must be accompanied by 2 references.
The 2024 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award (ADHRA) will be awarded to Odhikar in recognition of “the civil and political rights advocacy they have carried out and expanded in Bangladesh for three decades, despite challenges such as harassment, imprisonment, and surveillance,” TFD said in a press release.
It is hoped that the award will “encourage their work and those in the same field” so they “realize their efforts and perseverance have not gone unnoticed,” said the TFD, a nonprofit organization funded by Taiwan’s government.
Founded in 1994, the group has “deepened democracy and human rights in Bangladesh” through research, advocacy, and training, as well as government oversight efforts, the foundation said.
Odhikar, which means “rights” in Bengali, was founded by human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, who currently serves as the group’s secretary.
According to its website, Odhikar’s principal objectives include raising awareness of human rights and its various abuses, and promoting a vibrant democratic system through election monitoring in Bangladesh.
The Bengali group has issued annual reports since 1996 that document human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, involuntary disappearances and other violations, the TFD said.
The TFD also highlighted Odhikar’s role in urging the Bengali government to ratify the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court in 2010, which subsequently led the country to contribute to investigations into the persecution of the Rohingya people.
TFD’s award ceremony will be held in Taipei on Dec. 10, the foundation said, adding that the award winner would receive a trophy and a grant of US$100,000.
Two outstanding human rights defenders who have made it their life mission to protect human rights in Afghanistan and in Tajikistan will receive the Martin Ennals Award 2024 on November 21th, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award.
The Jury of ten of the world’s leading human rights NGOs – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, HURIDOCS, Bread for the World, Human Rights First, World Organisation Against Torture, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), and Front Line Defenders – has selected, after much deliberation, the two human rights defenders whom it strongly believes deserve to be recognized and honored in 2024, on the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award. [see also: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/043F9D13-640A-412C-90E8-99952CA56DCE]
The two 2024 Laureates, Zholia Parsi (Afghanistan) and Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov (Tadjikistan) have shown exceptional courage and determination to bring human rights at the forefront despite evolving in deeply repressive environments.
“We are very proud to honor these two exceptional Laureates. They have paid too big a price for justice and equality to be respected in Afghanistan and Tajikistan and the international community must support their efforts instead of battling geostrategic interests in the region“. – Hans Thoolen, Chair of the Martin Ennals Award Jury
The two Laureates 2024:
Zholia Parsi: is a teacher from Kabul, Afghanistan. Having lost her career and seeing her daughters deprived of their education with Taliban takeover in August 2021, she founded the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women (SMAW) to protest the return of policies and practices against women rights and fundamental freedoms. She displayed remarkable leadership and resilience in organizing numerous public protests despite the risks involved. The grassroots movement that is the SMAW quickly grew momentum in Kabul and other provinces, now counting 180 members and having mobilized communities to resist the Taliban’s policies and practices. She was arrested in the street by armed Taliban in September 2023, and detained along with her son. She was released after three months of torture and ill-treatment under their custody, which further strengthened her resolve to resist Taliban oppression and repression.
Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov: is a Pamiri human rights lawyer from the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), Tajikistan. He is serving a 16 year-long prison sentence after what is widely considered an unfair trial in retaliation for his human rights work. As Director of the Lawyers’ Association of Pamir (LAP), he led strategic advocacy efforts in the GBAO, a region marked by its ethnic minority and historical tensions with the central government, including by lobbying for the incorporation of international human rights standards into domestic law and practice, and by providing legal support to residents of the GBAO. Through the human rights initiatives Commission 44 and Group 6, he played a key role in investigating the death of youth leader Gulbiddin Ziyobekov in November 2021, and the violent repression of subsequent mass protest in the regional capital Khorog. The investigation resulted in critical evidence of an unlawful killing, possibly an extrajudicial execution of the young man, and the unlawful use of force of security forces against protesters, resulting in two deaths, seventeen injured and hundreds detained. He was arrested on 28 May 2022 together with two other members of Commission 44 amid a widespread crackdown on local informal leadership and residents of the GBAO.
The Martin Ennals Award (MEA): 30 years alongside human rights defenders
The Martin Ennals Award (MEA) was given for the first time in 1994 to recognize, promote and protect human rights defenders at risk or from under-reported contexts. Over the years, the MEA has offered defenders a platform to issues that are of global concern and the means to steer the movement for human rights and larger freedoms. The MEA culminates every year in a public ceremony in Geneva, co-hosted with the City of Geneva (Ville de Genève). The 2024 MEA Ceremony will take place on November 21th, 2024 at the Salle communale de Plainpalais. The Ceremony, which is also livestreamed, draws many local and international human rights supporters to an inspiring event which celebrates the achievements and commitment of exceptional human rights defenders. “Geneva has a long tradition of hosting international diplomacy and promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms. The City of Geneva is proud to co-host the Martin Ennals Award and shed light, on this 30th anniversary, on the impressive resilience of two human rights defenders and the hope they bring for peace and equality” concludes Alfonso Gomez, Administrative Counselor of the City of Geneva.
Established jointly by the Ministry and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov in 2023 this prize honors the work of reporters and photojournalists who are continuing their vital mission of spreading free, reliable, quality information in crisis and conflict areas. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya was working in Russia for Novaya Gazeta, whose investigations into corruption, attacks on human rights and the war in Chechnya cost the lives of six of its reporters. Despite the threats she received, she never stopped working to inform the public. Despite the risk to his life, AFP reporter and photojournalist Arman Soldin helped inform the entire world about the reality of the Russian aggression in Ukraine through the photos he took on the front lines of the conflict, starting in February 2022.
The second Anna Politkovskaya-Arman Soldin Prize in 2024 has been awarded to Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Palestinian journalist Basel Adra for their whole body of work on the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank and in Palestinian territories.
Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra belong to an Israeli-Palestinian collective that made the documentary, No Other Land, which won an award at the 2024 Berlinale. In it, the Palestinian journalist Basel Adra filmed evictions of Palestinians in the West Bank over five years and meets the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. The film tells the story of their friendship that was built over the years of their collaboration.
The first 2023 Anna Politkovskaya-Arman Soldin Prize for Courage in Journalism, was awarded to the Mexican journalist Marcela Turati for her commitment to reporting on violence related to drug trafficking and the social consequences of the war waged against cartels, despite the risks that have often cost Mexican journalists their lives.
Since 2021, nominations are open to the public. As a result, not only organisations, but also individuals from all over the world may “nominate their heroes”. The deadline for nominations is 30 November, 2024.
The list of laureates includes famous names as well as relatively unknown individuals. Last year’s laureate is Abzaz Media, one of the last free media outlets in Azerbaijan.
Democratic leader María Corina Machado and exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González won the top human rights award for representing all Venezuelans who are “fighting for the restoration of freedom and democracy.” | Marcelo Perez del Carpio/Getty Images
The European Parliament on Thursday 24 October 2024 awarded the Sakharov Prize to Venezuela’s opposition leaders. Democratic leader María Corina Machado and exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González won the top human rights award for representing all Venezuelans who are “fighting for the restoration of freedom and democracy.”
The Venezuelan opposition leaders were nominated by the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). The far-right Patriots group rallied behind them after their original candidate, tech billionaire Elon Musk, failed to make the shortlist for the prestigious prize.
After Venezuela’s elections in late July, in which incumbent socialist President Nicolás Maduro declared victory for another term, the European Union’s foreign service said it would not recognize the results because the government had failed to release supporting voting records from polling stations.
The authoritarian Maduro’s disputed declaration of victory sparked massive opposition protests and a violent government crackdown that left more than two dozen people dead and nearly 200 injured.
Later, presidential candidate González — who fled to Madrid during the crackdown — was recognized by the European Parliament as the country’s legitimate leader.
Two other finalists made the shortlist. One was Gubad Ibadoghlu, a jailed Azerbaijani dissident and critic of the fossil fuel industry nominated by the Greens. The other finalist was a joint nomination of Israeli and Palestinian peace organizations Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun. The groups, who announced a partnership in 2022, were nominated by the Socialists and the Renew group.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 