Posts Tagged ‘human rights award’
June 9, 2016
Today, 9 June 2016, Egypt‘s wrongfully detained scholars and students received the 2016 Courage to Think Defender Award during the SAR Global Congress in Montreal, Canada. This is in recognition for their commitment to exercising the right to think, share and question ideas despite tremendous risks. SAR selected student representatives to accept the award in order to recognize their efforts to conduct research and advocacy on behalf of threatened scholars and students around the world. “The students are vital to raising awareness around cases of imprisoned scholars and students like these, and to promoting academic freedom globally and locally,” said Clare Robinson, Advocacy Director at SAR.
Over the past several years, SAR has observed an overwhelming crackdown on Egypt’s higher education community, including the reported use of violence, wrongful prosecutions and imprisonment, professional retaliation and travel restrictions against scholars and students across the country. According to data obtained by the Egyptian NGO, Association for Free Thought and Expression, over 2,000 university students and professors have been detained by security forces since July 2013.
SAR has presented the award only twice before, in 2011 to Aryeh Neier for his long career dedicated to free inquiry and expression including as the chair of the American Civil Liberties Union, Human Rights Watch and the Open Society Foundations, and in 2015 to Dean Habib Kazdaghli of Manouba University in Tunisia for defending his university from extremist pressures after the Arab Spring, including in the face of prosecution and death threats.
[Scholars at Risk: Scholars at Risk (SAR) is an international network of higher education institutions and individuals working to protect threatened scholars, promote academic freedom and prevent attacks on higher education communities around the world since 2000. SAR protects scholars suffering grave threats to their lives, liberty and well-being by arranging positions of sanctuary for those forced to flee, and advocating for scholars facing prosecution, imprisonment or other restrictions through the Scholars-in-Prison Project. SAR’s Academic Freedom Monitoring Project identifies and reports attacks on higher education to protect vulnerable scholars and students, hold perpetrators accountable and prevent future violations. Institutions or individuals interested in learning more about SAR and its activities should visit http://www.scholarsatrisk.org or email scholarsatrisk@nyu.edu]
see also: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2015/06/23/scholars-at-risk-publishes-first-academic-freedom-monitoring-report-free2think/
Posted in awards, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Academic freedom, Courage to Think Defender Award, Egypt, Habib Kazdaghli, human rights award, Montreal, SAR, scholars, Scholars at Risk, students
May 30, 2016
Nine former Sakharov prize laureates from different countries met in Brussels on 24 May 2016 to discuss how to adapt to the challenges facing human rights defenders in the digital era. The event was organised by the European Parliament (EP) in the framework of Sakharov prize network activities engaging former prize laureates and Members of EP to draw attention to human rights violations and to support former laureates and their causes.
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Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Ali Ferzat, digest of human rights awards, EU, European Parliament, European Parliament President Martin Schulz, human rights award, laureates, Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, Sakharov prize network, Vitaliy Ponomarev, Zhanna Litvina
May 11, 2016
has announced that the finalists for its 2016 award are human rights defenders from Azerbaijan, Burma/Myanmar, Colombia, Honduras, Palestine, and Tanzania. For more information on the annual Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk: http://www.brandsaviors.com/thedigest/award/front-line-defenders-award.
The 6 finalists for 2016 are Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Ana Mirian Romero, Azerbaijan, Burma, Colombia, digest of human rights awards, Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, Guo Feixiong, Honduras, human rights award, Ingrid Vergara Chavez, Khalid Bagirov, Maanda Ngoitiko, Mohammed Khatib, Myanmar, Palestine, Phyoe Phyoe Aung, Tanzania
May 7, 2016
Every year, the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award celebrates individuals and groups who speak out for justice. The 2016, award will be shared between world-renowned musician Angélique Kidjo from Benin and three African youth activist groups: Y’en a marre from Senegal, Le Balai Citoyen from Burkina Faso and LUCHA from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
Angélique Kidjo. Credit: Pierre Marie Ziimmerman.
Grammy-winning artist Kidjo fled her homeland Benin in the 1980s after being pressured to perform for the country’s repressive regime. In a 40-year-career spawning 12 albums, she has been a prominent campaigner for freedom of expression and for the education of girls in Africa, as well as against female genital mutilation.
LUCHA, DRC. Credit: Private.
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Posted in Amnesty international, awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Africa, Ambassador of Conscience Award, Angélique Kidjo, Art for Amnesty, Benin, burkina fasso, Democratic Republic of Congo, digest of human rights awards, Fred Bauma, human rights award, Le Balai Citoyen, LUCHA (NGO DRC), Senegal, Y’en a marre, youth
May 4, 2016
Today – in order to celebrate the World Press Freedom Day on the 3rd of May – it was announced that the 2016 International Editorial Cartoons Prize is awarded to the Kenyan caricaturist, Gado, and the Malaysian cartoonist, Lunar. Some of their cartoons are shown below:
“Gado and Zunar remind us how fragile this liberty remains in Africa and in Asia as well as in other regions of the world. Through their commitment towards open and transparent societies, Gado and Zunar, who have received threats in their countries of origin and can no longer practice their profession, confront us with our responsibility to preserve freedom of expression and act in order to support the combat of those who cannot express themselves through their art”, declared Mr Kofi Annan, he Honorary President of the Swiss Foundation.
The cartoonist Patrick Chappatte, jury member, added: “For having had the courage to draw the king naked, Gado and Zunar are faced with a power machine that seeks to silence them. What this Prize seeks to do is just the opposite: to amplify their voices, which are those of democracy and justice.”
This prize, awarded every two years in Geneva, rewards a cartoonist for his/her courage, talent and commitment to the values of peace, tolerance as well as for his/her fight for freedom of expression. The event goes with an exhibition presented along the quai Wilson in Geneva until June 4th, 2016. For more information, click here!
For 2014 event see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2014/05/05/cartooning-for-peace-award-handed-over-by-kofi-annan-in-geneva/
For the biographies: Gado and Zunar.
Source: Cartoonists Gado (Kenya) and Zunar (Malaysia), recipients of the 2016 Cartooning for Peace Prize – Cartooning for Peace
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Cartooning for Peace, Cartooning for Peace Award, cartoons, City of Geneva, exhibit, freedom of expression, Gado, human rights award, images, Kenya, Kofi Annan, Malaysia, Patrick Chappatte, World Press Freedom Day (3 May), Zunar
April 26, 2016
Participants shout slogans during a rally organised by pro-democracy group Bersih 2.0 near Dataran Merdeka in Kuala Lumpur, August 30, 2015. — Reuters pic
Bersih 2.0 (also called the Walk for Democracy) has won South Korea’s 2016 Gwangju Prize for Human Rights for its efforts in pushing for electoral reform in Malaysia. The Bersih 2.0 steering committee, in a statement, said it was proud for being acknowledged for its work through the Gwangju award. “This acknowledgement is the result of the fight of the people of Malaysia who had gathered peacefully as many as four times in the city centre to seek a clean and fair electoral system in the country…The people have also proved their patriotic spirit when they walked the streets to defend the constitution, freedom to gather, voice an opinion and seek information,” it said. “We would like to take this opportunity to thank all non governmental organisations overseas who have supported Bersih 2.0 all these years.”
The committee said Bersih 2.0 was nominated by Indonesian activist Mugiyanto from the International NGO forum on Indonesian Development (INFID) and Malaysian activist Yap Swee Seng. The award ceremony will take place on May 18 at the Memorial Foundation in South Korea.
Source: Bersih 2.0 wins South Korean human rights award | Malaysia | Malay Mail Online
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bersih_2.0_rally
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Bersih 2.0, elections, freedom to demonstrate, Gwangju Prize for Human Rights, human rights award, Korea, Malaysia, Mugiyanto, Walk for Democracy, Yap Swee Seng
April 25, 2016
Marguerite Barankitse from Maison Shalom and REMA Hospital in Burundi was named as the inaugural Laureate of the $1 million Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity. At a ceremony held in Yerevan on 24 April 2016, Barankitse was recognized for the extraordinary impact she has had in saving thousands of lives and caring for orphans and refugees during the years of civil war in Burundi. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 3 Comments »
Tags: 100 LIVES, Armenian Genocide, Aurora Prize, awards, Burundi, Clooney, ethnic cleansing, genocide, human rights award, Hutu, Marguerite Barankitse, medical profession, Ruben Vardanyan, Tutsi, Vartan Gregorian, Yerevan
April 19, 2016
Six environmental activists from around the world received the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize at a ceremony in San Francisco on 18 April 2016. This prize does not always go to human rights defenders in the traditional sense of the word, but several well-known ones are among the recipients such as the recently killed Berta Carceres [https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/03/07/exceptional-response-from-ngo-world-on-killing-of-berta-caceres/]. This year’s winners are: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 1 Comment »
Tags: Berta Carceres, Cambodia, Destiny Watford, digest of human rights awards, Edward Loure, environmental activists, Goldman Environmental Award, Goldman Environmental Prize, human rights award, Human Rights Defenders, land rights defender, Leng Ouch, Luis Jorge Rivera-Herrera, Maxima Acuna, Peru, Puerto Rico, Slovakia, Tanzania, USA, Zuzana Caputova
April 8, 2016
Azerbaijan’s Supreme Court has commuted a seven-and-a-half-year prison sentence against prominent human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev, paving the way for his release after nearly a year in prison
On 7 April 2016 Azerbaijan human rights lawyer Intigam Aliyev was awarded the Civil Rights Defender of the Year Award in Stockholm by the NGO Civil Rights Defender. Released in March (see: https://thoolen.wordpress.com/2016/03/28/human-rights-defender-intigam-aliyev-freed-in-azerbaijan-today/) his son Najmin Kamil came to accept the award and said, “My father dedicated his tireless and selfless work to the promotion and protection of human rights, and sacrificed his freedom for the freedom of others – just because it is important for him to stand strong for what he believes in, no matter the circumstances”.
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Posted in awards, Civil Rights Defenders (NGO), human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Azerbaijan, Civil Rights Defender of the Year award, Civil Rights Defenders, human rights award, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, Intigam Aliyev
March 3, 2016
False modesty should not prevent one from announcing a truly excellent piece written by Janneke Allers. She is the winer of the bi-annual Thoolen NJCM Dissertation Prize 2015 (sixth edition) with her dissertation ‘Cuts in the light of fundamental social rights. To what extent do treaties constrain the space for regressive measures?’
Three dissertations made the final cut and were assessed on the following criteria: the originality of the chosen human-rights based theme, the development thereof; the academic level; the degree of innovative insight; and accessibility.
The results were: Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in awards | 1 Comment »
Tags: dissertation, Hans Thoolen, human rights award, Janneke Allers, legal restrictions, NJCM, social rights, Thoolen NJCM prijs, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, university level education
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 