Posts Tagged ‘human rights award’
November 1, 2017
Liberal International (LI) – the global federation of liberal parties – is giving its Prize for Freedom to Senator Leila de Lima, whom the organization described as a “political prisoner” and a critic of authoritarian President Rodrigo Duterte. In its news release of Tuesday, 30 October 2017, the LI said “Politicians from around the world voted to award Liberal International’s highest human rights honor – the Prize for Freedom – to imprisoned Philippines political prisoner, Senator Leila de Lima,” it said. “Senator De Lima, a vocal and ardent critic [of] the Philippines authoritarian president Rodrigo Duterte’s so-called ‘war of drugs’, has been held in pre-trial detention on politically motivated charges since February 2017” .
De Lima is presently detained at the Philippine National Police’s (PNP), Quezon City over allegations that she was involved in the illegal drug trade inside that national penitentiary during her stint as Justice secretary. De Lima has repeatedly denied the charges against her, saying she is a victim of political persecution.
For more info on this award and another 18 awards with ‘freedom’ in their name: http://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/
Source: De Lima gets human rights award | News | GMA News Online
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, THF | Leave a Comment »
Tags: detention, digest of human rights awards, Duterte, human rights award, Leila de Lima, Liberal International, Philippines, Prize for Freedom (LI), trumped up charges, woman human rights defender
October 27, 2017
Only a week ago I mentioned the curiously collective award given to the South-Korean people [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/10/18/korean-people-win-friedrich-ebert-human-rights-award-for-candlelight-rallies/], and now the European Parliament has awarded its Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought to Venezuela‘s opposition-dominated National Assembly, as well as to political prisoners in the country.
Source: Sakharov prize awarded to Venezuela opposition | News
Posted in awards, EU, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, THF | 4 Comments »
Tags: Andrei Sakharov, digest of human rights awards, European Parliament, human rights award, MEP, opposition, Parliament, political prisoners, Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Venezuela
October 10, 2017
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, the highest accolade in the international human rights moment, has just announced that Mohamed Zaree, a human rights lawyer from Egypt, has been selected as the 2017 Laureate. The announcement was made on 10 October at 18h30, during the annual ceremony in Geneva. You can still follow it through live streaming at this very moment: via: https://www.facebook.com/villegeneve.ch/.
Mohamed Zaree is a human rights activist and legal scholar whose work focuses on human rights advocacy around freedom of expression and association. He is also known for his role as the Egypt Country Director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), which works throughout the Arabic speaking world. He assumed this role after government pressure on CIHRS prompted them to relocate their headquarters to Tunis in 2014.
The Egyptian government has been escalating its pressure on the human rights movement. Human rights NGOs and defenders are confronted with a growing wave of threats, harassment, and intimidation, legal and otherwise. Despite this, Zaree continues to lead CIHRS’ research, human rights education, and national advocacy initiatives in Egypt and is shaping the media debate on human rights issues. During this critical period for civil society, he is also leading the Forum of Independent Egyptian Human Rights NGOs, a network aiming to unify human rights groups in advocacy. Zaree’s initiatives have helped NGOs to develop common approaches to human rights issues in Egypt. Within the context of the renewed crackdown on Egyptian human rights organizations, he has become a leading figure in Egypt’s human rights movement. Zaree is currently facing investigation under the “Foreign Funding Case” and is at high risk of prosecution and life imprisonment. The “Foreign Funding Case” highly restricts NGO activities. Despite this, Zaree continues to engage the authorities in dialogue wherever possible, arguing that respect for human rights will increase stability in Egypt. Zaree has been under a travel ban since May 2016.
Martin Ennals Foundation Chair Dick Oosting stated: “Severe restriction of civil society’s space to express itself is what led Mohamed Zaree to advocate for human rights and fight for the freedom of association. He is still paying the price for his courageous acts, and we urge his government to lift the travel ban.”
The unique composition of the Jury of the MEA [a coöperation by 10 global human rights organizations, see www.martinennalsaward.org for more detail] makes this award the most important prize in the human rights world. It is supported by the City of Geneva.
The two other finalists also received Martin Ennals prizes:
Karla Avelar (El Salvador)
FreeThe5KH (Cambodia)
For more on the award see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/09/18/ceremony-of-the-24th-martin-ennals-award-coming-up-on-10-october. and
http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/martin-ennals-award-for-human-rights-defenders
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | 3 Comments »
Tags: announcement, Cairo Institute for Human Rights, City of Geneva, digest of human rights awards, Egypt, foreign funding, human rights award, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, MEA laureate 2017, Mohamed Zaree
September 20, 2017
Having just announced the ceremony of the Martin Ennals Award of Human Rights Defenders for 10 October 2017, I now draw your attention to the possibility to nominate a candidate for the 2018 Martin Ennals Award. The Ennals Award is intended for human rights defenders (HRDs) who are defending the rights of others, while at risk. This could include physical danger, repressive legal processes, or other forms of harassment.
1. The HRD must be currently active (no posthumous nominations).
2. The HRD must be demonstrably at risk.
3. The HRD must work with non-violent means.
Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
Source: Nominate a Candidate for the 2018 Martin Ennals Award – Martin Ennals Award
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: call for nominations, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, Martin Ennals Foundation
August 31, 2017
The Václav Havel Human Rights Prize is awarded each year by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation to reward outstanding civil society action in the defence of human rights in Europe and beyond. The Prize is awarded in memory of Václav Havel, enduring symbol of opposition to despotism. The Prize consists of a sum of €60 000.
The finalists for 2017 are:
- Murat Arslan (Turkey). The nominee, in detention since 2016, is a well-known and reputed judge. President of the now dissolved Association for the Union of Judges and Prosecutors (YARSAV), he has always been a supporter of the independence of the judiciary.
- Hungarian Helsinki Committee. A non-governmental human rights organisation founded in 1989 and based in Budapest, it carries out a broad range of activities in the area of human rights with a particular focus on access to justice and the rights of asylum seekers, refugees and stateless persons.
- Father Georg Sporschill (Austria). A Jesuit who has devoted his life to the care of the most vulnerable, notably children. He has set up an association (Elijah) which carries out numerous projects in Austria, Bulgaria, Republic of Moldova and Romania.
Chairing the meeting of the selection panel,
Sir Roger Gale, the most senior Vice-President of the Assembly, said: “
the jury chose the candidates from among a long and well-qualified list of nominees, fully respecting the spirit and the principles of the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize”.The winner of the prize is due to be announced on 9 October 2017. The 2016 Prize went to Yazidi human rights activist Nadia Murad. [
https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/10/18/yazidi-survivor-nadia-murad-wins-vaclav-havel-human-rights-prize-2016/]
Source: Václav Havel Human Rights Prize
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Austria, Father Georg Sporschill, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Hungarian Helsinki Committe, Hungary, Murat Arslan, Nadia Murad, PACE, Sir Roger Gale, Turkey, Vaclav Havel, Vaclav Havel Human Rights Prize of the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly
August 31, 2017
You can vote for your favourite candidate to win this Dutch government award for worldwide innovative human rights defenders. Have a look at the 10 nominees below.
Justice and Peace NL has been chosen by the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs to facilitate the selection process of the Human Rights Tulip award. The Human Rights Tulip is an annual award presented by the Dutch government to individuals and organisations who take an innovate approach to promoting human rights. The ten nominees are: Ali Idrissa (Niger), Angélica Choc (Guatemala), Azza Soliman (Egypt), Cordelia Foundation (Hungary), Dina Meza (Honduras), Gisha (Israel/Palestinian Territories), Graciela Pérez Rodriguez (Mexico), Lottie Cunningham Wren (Nicaragua), Mirza Shahzad Akbar (Pakistan) and Wang Quanzhang (China). The minister will pick the winner from the top 3 candidates who have gathered the most votes. 
On Friday December 8 the minister will award the winner the bronze Human Rights Tulip statue and a prize worth € 100.000,-. The winner can use the funding to further develop his or her innovative contribution to strengthening human rights – and on such a scale that as many people and places benefit as possible.
For last year’s winner: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/11/06/pakistani-digital-activist-nighat-dad-recipient-of-2016-human-rights-tulip/
The nomination round yielded almost 130 nominations. These 130 were assessed by Justice and Peace, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and their networks. 10 candidates were selected for the online voting. Public voting opened on Monday August 28 at 12.00 and will close on Wednesday September 6 at 24.00 (Dutch time).
Below you can view the profiles of the 10 candidates:
Read the rest of this entry »
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Tags: human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, Justice and Peace Netherlands, Ministry of Foreign Affairs Netherlands, nominations, The Tulip Award, voting
August 20, 2017
On 7 August 2017 RFK Human Rights announced that Venezuelan human rights defender and Alfredo Romero has been named the 2017 laureate of the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Romero has been fearless in his resistance to the increasing repression of the Venezuelan government. He has dedicated his life to protect all Venezuelans from arbitrary detention and other human rights violations through his work as Executive Director of Foro Penal Venezolano (FPV), a non-governmental organization that brings together over 200 pro-bono lawyers and 1,700 volunteers. The NGO won in 2015 already an award from the US State Department.[https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2015/07/23/us-state-department-2014-human-rights-defender-award-to-azimjon-askarov-and-foro-penal/]
“I am very grateful for this Award, which I accept in honor of the struggle to achieve freedom for all Venezuelans,” Romero said. “The Award is a tribute to my family at Foro Penal Venezolano, which is united in its enduring commitment, conviction and heart, and above all, I accept it on behalf of the victims of repression by the Venezuelan government”.”
“Even as we celebrate Alfredo’s honor, Venezuelans are suffering under a repressive regime that is increasingly eroding all democratic principles,” Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights President Kerry Kennedy said. “Alfredo’s work is a testament to the optimism and hope that will ultimately triumph over violence and repression.”
Source: | Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Alfredo Romero, Foro Penal Venezolano (FPV), human rights award, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, Kerry Kennedy, RFK Human Rights, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award, USA, Venezuela
July 12, 2017
AFP reported on 10 July from Khartoum that a court found that the journalist Amal Habani, winner of Amnesty International’s Ginetta Sagan Award, was ordered to pay 10,000 Sudanese pounds ($1,430) or face a jail term of four months. The court found her guilty in a case filed by a security officer who accused her of preventing him from doing his job during the March trial of three rights activists. “This is injustice. I was covering a trial of human rights activists when the security officer beat me,” Habani told AFP by telephone from the court on Monday. “When I complained against him, he filed a case against me. I will not pay the fine but rather go to jail.”
Her lawyer Ahmed Elshukri said he will file an appeal against the court’s order. Habani, who writes for online Sudanese newspaper Al-Taghyeer, said the incident with the security officer occurred when she was taking pictures on her mobile phone outside a court during the March trial.
An even more serous case is that of Dr. Mudawi Ibrahim Adam [https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/profile/dr-mudawi-ibrahim-adam] an internationally recognised human rights defender who was the winner of the inaugural 2005 Front Line Defenders Award for human rights defenders. Ibrahim Adam Mudawi and his colleague Idris Eldoma Hafiz face six serious charges such as “undermining the constitutional system” and “waging war against the state”. Rights groups have denounced the allegations as trumped up and linked to their human rights advocacy. The trial is underway in the capital Khartoum. “Human rights work is not a crime, so Dr Mudawi and Hafiz must be immediately and unconditionally released,” said Muthoni Wanyeki, Amnesty International’s regional director. “Their arrest and continued incarceration is a miscarriage of justice, plain and simple.” Mudawi has continuously been harassed for his human rights work in Darfur and across Sudan for more than a decade. See also: https://www.defenddefenders.org/2017/07/sudan-human-rights-defenders-detained-face-death-penalty/
Sudan regularly ranks near the bottom of international press freedom rankings. International NGOs have accused Sudan’s powerful National Intelligence and Security Service (NISS) of detaining human rights workers, opposition politicians and journalists.
Sources:
http://www.enca.com/africa/sudanese-human-rights-defenders-face-death-sentence
Sudan court fines award-winning journalist
for the Ginetta Sagan award see: https://www.amnestyusa.org/press-releases/amnesty-international-usa-honors-sudanese-journalist-amal-habani-with-annual-award-for-womens-human-rights-defenders/
Posted in AI, awards, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Amal Habani, freedom of expression, Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, Ginette Sagan award, human rights award, Idris Eldoma Hafiz, Journalist, Mudawi, Mudawi Ibrahim Adam, Muthoni Wanyeki, Sudan
May 28, 2017
Saturday, 27 May 2017 jailed UAE lawyer Mohammed al-Roken was announced as the winner of the Ludovic Trarieux Award. This award is given by the Luxembourg-instigated European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE), and is named after Trarieux, who in 1898 founded France’s Human Rights League. The annual award, worth 20,000 euros, recognises lawyers who have sought to defend human rights, often at great risk to themselves. [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/06/07/detained-chinese-lawyer-wang-yu-wins-ludovic-trarieux-prize/]
The Emirates lawyer was sentenced to 10 years in jail in 2013. Mohammed al-Roken was among 69 people jailed on charges of conspiring to overthrow the government following a mass trial criticised by rights groups. A former head of the UAE Jurists’ Association, Roken, 54, was arrested in July 2012, after taking on the defence of several government opponents, including seven islamists. According to Amnesty the trial “was marred by allegations of torture which were blatantly ignored, the rights of defence were flaunted, and independent observers were banned from the court room“. For more on the Emirates and human rights: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/united-arab-emirates/
In awarding the Jury said Roken had devoted two decades to defending fundamental freedoms. The jury lamented that Roken’s trial had gone ahead behind closed doors and demanded his immediate release.
Source: Jailed UAE lawyer awarded major human rights prize | Daily Mail Online
http://www.ludovictrarieux.org/uk-index.htm
Posted in AI, awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: AI, awards, Emirates, fair trial, human rights award, human rights lawyers, Ludovic Trarieux Prize, Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize, Mohammed al-Roken, UAE
May 26, 2017
Emil Kurbedinov said ‘Winning an acquittal for my clients is almost impossible – but what I can do is show them that, despite the risks, I will not abandon them’
Emil Kurbedinov was at the ceremony in Dublin’s City Hall this morning to receive the Human Rights Defender At Risk award for 2017. According to Front Line Defenders, which has its global headquarters in Blackrock in Dublin, defending human rights activists and political prisoners in Crimea is some of the most dangerous work that any lawyer can undertake. Despite those risks, Mr Kurbedinov has spent years providing emergency legal response for the Crimean Tartar minority, which it maintains has been persecuted by Russian authorities.
In January of this year, Mr Kurbedinov was detained by representatives of Crimea’s Centre for Counteracting Extremism while on his way to represent a client whose house had been raided by police. A district court later sentenced him to ten days in detention on a charge of “propagandising for extremist organisations“.
The Executive Director, Andrew Anderson, said: “In the midst of a global crackdown on human rights defenders, the five finalists demonstrate the will to persist in the face of severe, often life-threatening risks.”
Source: Lawyer wins human rights award for helping Tartars
Posted in awards, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: Andrew Anderson, awards, Crimea, Emil Kurbedinov, Front Line (NGO), Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, human rights award, human rights lawyer, Ireland, minorities, Russia, Tartars
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 