Posts Tagged ‘human rights award’
March 13, 2018
The Geuzen Medal (Geuzenpenning) for 2018 is awarded to Girls Not Brides: The Global Partnership to End Child Marriage. This was announced 12 January 2018, by the Geuzenpenning Foundation in the Netherlands. Today 13 March was the ceremony where Princess Mabel van Oranje, Chair of Girls Not Brides, and Executive Director Lakshmi Sundaram, were presented with the medal. For more on the Geuzen Medal (which started in 1987) see http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/geuzenpenning
[More than 700 million women alive today were married before the age of 18. Each year, 15 million girls are married and their youth comes to an abrupt end. This is unacceptable, according to Girls Not Brides; an organisation which has been working to end child marriage since 2011. Girls Not Brides is a worldwide partnership. Approximately a thousand organisations in over 95 countries work together with one common goal: to stop child marriage within a generation. Girls Not Brides member organisations work across sectors including health, education, human rights and humanitarian response.]
Girls Not Brides started in 2011 and was co-founded by Princess Mabel van Oranje and The Elders. 
There is no simple solution to ending child marriage. Girls Not Brides has therefore developed the Theory of Change. Four interlinked strategies play a key role: make girls resilient and empower them, mobilise families and communities; provide support and services to unmarried and married girls; and create and implement good laws and policies.
Since its inception, the Girls Not Brides global partnership and its members have tirelessly worked to ensure that child marriage is on the global agenda and that it remains there. Many national, regional and local governments are now much more aware of the damaging impact that child marriage has, and are providing support to girls to give them a different future. Furthermore, many countries have taken steps to tighten their laws against child marriage; some of them have also started campaigns against this practice. The goal is now to stop child marriage by 2030, as included in the UN Sustainable Development Goals. However, there is still a lot of work to be done. Until every girl has the right to choose for herself when, whether and with whom they will marry, the work to stop child marriage will never be over.
https://www.girlsnotbrides.org/press-release-girls-not-brides-receives-nationale-postcode-loterij-award/
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Tags: child marriage, digest of human rights awards, Geuzen medal, Geuzenpenning, Girls not Brides, human rights award, international campaign, Lakshmi Sundaram, Netherlands, Princess Mabel van Oranje, rights of children, The Elders
February 20, 2018
Anson Chan, a longtime Hong Kong dignitary and fierce advocate of human rights and the rule of law, was awarded the O’Connor Justice Prize in Arizona. Hope more in this and other international human rights awards, see: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/o-connor-justice-prize.
“I am deeply honored to be awarded the 2018 O’Connor Justice Prize and to join the company of three most distinguished predecessors,” said Chan, the fourth recipient of the award. “The values embodied within the spirit of this prize, namely advancement of the rule of law, justice and human rights, are particularly close to my heart, and it is a privilege to be associated with an award that celebrates Justice O’Connor’s extraordinary legacy.”
Known as “Hong Kong’s conscience” for her decades of devotion to social justice and democracy, Chan recounted how she and O’Connor had blazed similar trails that broke through gender barriers. While O’Connor was the first woman to serve as a state Senate majority leader and first to join the U.S. Supreme Court, Chan was the first woman to be appointed head of a Hong Kong government department, first female policy secretary and the first woman — as well as the first ethnic Chinese citizen — to be appointed head of the civil service.
Chan expressed concerns about Hong Kong’s independence, describing increasing oversight by the Chinese government. She pointed to the changes that have taken place in the two decades since the transfer of sovereignty from British rule in 1997, a transition that Chan helped oversee in her role as chief secretary for administration.
The O’Connor Justice Prize advisory board with the 2018 O’Connor Justice Prize recipient, the Honorable Anson Chan (center).
Chan’s words drew a response the next day from the Hong Kong government. In a release, the government said, “Statements made arbitrarily to undermine the rule of law and our well-recognized reputation in this regard is not conducive to Hong Kong’s progress.”
https://asunow.asu.edu/20180219-‘hong-kong’s-conscience’-anson-chan-accepts-o’connor-justice-prize-warns-china’s
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Tags: Anson Chan, Arizona, China, civil servant, digest of human rights awards, Hong Kong, human rights award, O’Connor Justice Prize, woman human rights defender
February 6, 2018
Do you know any brave person or organisation who works in a visionary and exemplary manner to solve global problems? Take the chance to propose a candidate for the 2018 Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize” The Right Livelihood Award is not an award for the world’s political, scientific or economic élite, but an award for the people and their work and struggles for a better future. [http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/right-livelihood-award] Everyone is welcome to propose candidates for the Right Livelihood Award and four recipients are chosen each year by an international jury after extensive research work. The deadline is 1 March 2018.
See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/10/04/2017-right-livelihood-lau…
Read more about the nomination process here. If you want to propose a candidate (preferably in English), please follow these guidelines.
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Tags: call for nominations, digest of human rights awards, human rights award, laureates, Right Livelihood Awards
February 1, 2018
In 1984, Robert F. Kennedy’s eldest child, Kathleen Kennedy Townsend, saw a need to celebrate and support activists whose work reflected his conviction that one person can make a difference and that each of us should try. That year, Kathleen founded the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award to honor courageous human rights defenders who spoke truth to power. In the years since, RFK Human Rights has forged strategic partnerships with its laureates, whose work advances human rights causes all over the world. In combining resources and collaborating on ideas and strategies with RFK Human Rights, the laureates have been able to amplify their transformative work and broaden awareness of their causes to a worldwide audience. The deadline for nominations is 31 March, 2018. For more information on this and other awards: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-award.
See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/10/24/ceremony-for-alfredo-romero-recipient-of-the-2017-robert-f-kennedy-human-rights-award-on-16-november/
Information regarding the nomination process can be found here.
For more information, please email nominations@rfkhumanrights.org.
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Tags: call for nominations, digest of human rights awards, human rights award, RFK Human Rights, Robert Kennedy Human Rights award
January 26, 2018
Ayşenur Parıldak, a 27-year-old reporter from Turkey’s now-closed Zaman newspaper who has been behind bars for 13 months, was named the recipient of the first Shahnoush Award by the Oslo-based Vigdis Freedom Foundation (VFF). [for more on this and other awards: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/shahnoush-award]
“I was subjected to violence and sexual abuse. I was interrogated day and night for eight days. They [police officers] were questioning me while they were under the influence of alcohol […] I am afraid of being forgotten here,” Parıldak said in a letter to the Cumhuriyet newspaper in October 2016.
“The Shahnoush Award will be given every year to a female prisoner of conscience whose courage has not been internationally acknowledged. By doing so, Vigdis brings attention to the suffering of women who languish behind bars for speaking out and whose human rights have been violated. They are not forgotten; they are not alone. Hope is sometimes the difference between life and death. May the [Shahnoush] Award give hope to those who need it most.” said Marina Nemat, a board member of VFF.
Parıldak, also a law student at Ankara University’s faculty of law, was detained while taking exams on Aug. 11, 2016. She was released by the court on May 2, 2017 but was later rearrested by the same court before being freed since a prosecutor objected to the initial ruling. During her trial, she told judges that she had thought of committing suicide several times while in prison. Behind bars since last year, Parıldak faces 15 years in jail under Turkey’s broad anti-terror laws based on her tweets and alleged use of the ByLock mobile app. Turkish authorities believe ByLock indicates links to the Gülen movement, which the government accuses of masterminding the abortive coup last year. The movement denies all involvement.
https://turkeypurge.com/jailed-journalist-aysenur-parildak-given-courage-award-by-norwegian-rights-group
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Tags: Ayşenur Parıldak, digest of human rights awards, human rights award, human rights lawyer, journalists, Norway, prisoner of conscience, Shahnoush Award, students, Turkey, Vigdis Freedom Foundation (VFF), woman human rights defender, women human rights defenders, Zaman newspaper
January 25, 2018
Amnesty International’s German branch has awarded its human rights prize to Egypt’s Nadeem Center. For the past 20 years, the center has documented torture carried out by security forces and treated victims at its clinic (the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture).
“We want to support all the courageous women and men who put their lives on the line in the struggle against torture, violence and despotism in Egypt,” said Markus Beeko, the Secretary General of Amnesty International in Germany, in a statement. For more information on this and other awards: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/a-i-germanys-human-rights-award.
See also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/11/10/helen-hunt-joins-list-of-celebrities-that-show-insensitivity-on-human-rights/
Posted in AI, awards, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: AI Germany, anti -torture, digest of human rights awards, Egypt, human rights award, Nadeem Centre, the Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, victims of torture
December 18, 2017
How sensitive human rights awards can be is shown again in the case of Taiwan’s Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award. The award (see: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/asia-democracy-and-human-rights-award) is technically independent but closely related to the Government, which probably explains why the part concerning the “1MDB” corruption scandal in Malaysia was deleted from Maria Chin Abdullah’s acceptance speech.
[Parts of Bersih 2.0 chairman Maria Chin Abdullah’s acceptance speech when accepting the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award in Taiwan last week were censored by organisers. A copy of the speech made available by the electoral reforms coalition today showed the censored portion was on state investment fund 1MDB and the allegations of corruption plaguing Prime Minister Najib Razak’s administration. The section of the speech, titled “Unfettered corruption”, was removed “due to diplomatic sensitivity”, the coalition said.]
Bersih 2.0 received the Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award on 10 December 2017. The event was attended by Taiwan President Tsai Ing-wen, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy chairman Su Jia-chyuan, the foundation’s president Hsu Szu-chien and civil society leaders. Bersih 2.0 received earlier the Gwangju award: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/04/26/malaysian-bersih-2-0-walk-for-democracy-wins-gwangju-human-rights-award/
Maria in her speech also touched on the lack of freedom of expression, attacks against human rights defenders, and the government’s use of laws such as the Security Offences (Special Measures) Act 2015 (Sosma). She charged that hate politics was part of a strategy to vilify rights activists. “The politics of hate, religious intolerance and exclusion, which adversely affect the freedom and human rights, are used against human rights defenders. Yet, impunity against wrong doers is not addressed,” she said, adding that change was still a long road ahead. “Malaysians’ voices are loud and clear – racial hostility, generated hatred, intolerance, violence and poverty have no place in our nation…Our clarion call: They can jail us. They can beat us up. But, they can never break our spirit”.
http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/nation/2017/12/18/human-rights-award-taiwan-censors-bersih-chiefs-speech/
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Tags: Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award, Bersih 2.0, censorship, digest of human rights awards, Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, human rights award, Malaysia, Maria Chin Abdullah, Taiwan, Taiwan Foundation for Democracy
November 10, 2017
The 2017 Human Rights Tulip has been awarded to Mexican human rights defender Graciela Pérez Rodriguez. Foreign minister Halbe Zijlstra will present her with the prize on Friday 8 December in The Hague, two days ahead of Human Rights Day. The Human Rights Tulip is an annual prize awarded by the Dutch government to human rights defenders who take an innovative approach to promoting human rights. The prize consists of a bronze sculpture and €100,000, which is intended to enable recipients to further develop their work. See: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/tulip-award
Graciela Pérez Rodriguez defends the rights of family members of disappeared persons in Mexico. Through her work she attempts to break through the taboos surrounding this issue. The human rights defender is herself searching for her disappeared daughter, brother and three nephews. Graciela Pérez Rodriguez, a non-professional who has immersed herself in forensic science, is a founding member of the Forensic Citizen Science project. This national collective of disappeared persons’ family members in various Mexican states helped establish the Mexican National Citizen Registry of Disappeared Persons and a DNA database run by and for citizens, which facilitates the identification of victims’ remains at a late stage.
‘Despite the difficult circumstances in which she works, Graciela remains committed to searching for disappeared persons in Mexico,’ Mr Zijlstra said. ‘Human rights defenders like Graciela are indispensable in the fight for a better world. It takes pressure from the inside to achieve real change.’ Disappearances are a serious problem in Mexico. Between January and August this year over 2,400 people were reported missing. In mid-October the Mexican Congress passed a new law to combat disappearances, which provides for longer prison sentences and a committee tasked with finding disappeared persons. The Dutch government sees this law as an important step forward in dealing with this problem.
see also https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/mexico/
https://www.government.nl/latest/news/2017/11/09/graciela-perez-rodriguez-to-receive-2017-human-rights-tulip
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Tags: disappearances, Graciela Pérez Rodriguez, Halbe Zijlstra, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Mexico, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, Tulip award, woman human rights defender
November 10, 2017
Father Patrick Desbois, a Roman Catholic clergyman, whose work has uncovered millions of previously unknown victims of the Nazi genocide was awarded the Lantos Foundation’s Human Rights Prize. The Lantos Human Rights Prize is an annual award given by the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice, an organization founded by Tom and Annette Lantos, who were both Holocaust survivors. For more on the award see: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/lantos-human-rights-prize.
Father Patrick Desbois, who teaches at Georgetown University’s Program for Jewish Civilization, was recognized during a reception on Capitol Hill as a “vital voice standing up for the values of decency, dignity, freedom, and justice.” His scholarly reportage on the Holocaust has focused on the Jews who were killed by mass shootings by Nazi units in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Poland, Moldova and Romania between 1941 and 1944. In 2004, Desbois founded Yahad-In Unum, a French organization whose sole mission was to locate the mass graves of Jewish victims from Nazi paramilitary death squads. These regiments were responsible for the mass killings of Jews, often by shooting and primarily in the former Soviet Union.
His first book, “Holocaust by Bullets: A Priest’s Journey to Uncover the Truth behind the Murder of 1.5 Million Jews,” was based on that work and the culmination of its discoveries. Desbois has another book — a memoir on his life as an anti-genocide activist and Holocaust scholar — due for publication in 2018.
Other than uncovering unknown truths about the Nazi’s killing operation, Desbois has also been working on collecting evidence of the Islamic State’s massacre of the Yazidi people in parts of Iraq and Syria. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/02/09/collecting-human-rights-prize-yazidi-lawmaker-calls-trumps-travel-ban-unfair/]
Source: French priest who uncovered Nazi killing sites awarded Lantos rights prize | The Times of Israel
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: clergy, digest of human rights awards, France, genocide, holocaust, Holocaust by Bullets (book), human rights award, Lantos Human Rights Prize, Patrick Desbois, USA, Yahad-In Unum, Yazidi
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 