Posts Tagged ‘in memoriam’
December 12, 2016
Willie Kimani, the Kenyan human rights lawyer who was murdered this year [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/07/03/body-of-disappeared-human-rights-lawyer-kimani-client-found-kenya-impunity/], was honoured with an award for his bravery in defending the poor and oppressed in Kenya. While receiving the award, Kimani’s widow Hannah Kimani said she had never imagined that his standing up for justice would eventually amount to his death. “No amount of words can explain who Willy was. He was one of a kind… with this award, it shows that his work was not in vain,” she said.
Executive Director Samwel Mohochi of the Kenyan chapter of the International Commission of Jurists said “We give it to him as recognition for the ultimate price he paid in performing his work as human rights defender and as a reminder to the risks that face all other human rights defenders”…“This will renew our commitment to all human rights defenders. It is an appreciation of the work he did”.
Source: Slain lawyer Willie Kimani honoured with yearly title
https://www.capitalfm.co.ke/news/2016/12/murdered-lawyer-willie-kimani-named-jurist-of-the-year/
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/case/case-history-willie-kimani
Posted in awards, Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ICJ | 1 Comment »
Tags: human rights award, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, in memoriam, International Commission of Jurists, Jurist of the Year (Kenya), Kenya, killed, Samwel Mohochi, social economic and cultural rights, Willie Kimani
December 7, 2016
Jacobus was a human rights defender from Namibia who proudly defended and promoted the rights of of lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans and intersex people via Pan Africa ILGA. ISHR reported this in their ISHR Monitor of December 2016.
Source: Farewell to Jacobus Witbooi | ISHR
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders, ISHR | Leave a Comment »
Tags: in memoriam, ISHR, Jacobus Witbooi, LGBTI, LGBTI Human Rights Defenders, malaria, Namibia, profile
December 2, 2016
A coalition of 20 national and international human rights organisations jointly coordinated the project. Contributors included human rights groups from Colombia, Honduras and the Philippines, which Front Line Defenders said are ranked among three of the deadliest countries in the world for human rights defenders. The organisation said other countries included among the worst in terms of killing and physical attacks against human rights defenders included North Korea, China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Zimbabwe.
Andrew Anderson, executive director of Front Line Defenders, said the memorial sent a message the human rights community was stronger than any one person. “It will not be deterred, and its leaders will not be forgotten,” he said. “This is not random violence. This is the calculated elimination of those who speak out to defend the rights of the most vulnerable. Autocrats and powerful economic interests think that if they kill an activist, they kill a movement. The goal of the HRD Memorial is to prove them wrong.”
http://www.irishtimes.com/news/social-affairs/new-online-memorial-honours-human-rights-defenders-1.2881256
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/celebrating-those-who-were-killed-defending-human-rights
Posted in Front Line, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: Andrew Anderson, Front Line (NGO), Human Rights Defenders, impunity, in memoriam, Ireland, killings, monuments, murder, on-line, remember
September 21, 2016
Posted in films, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: death, Front Line (NGO), Gladys Lanza, Honduras, Human Rights Defenders, human rights of women, in memoriam, video clip, woman human rights defender, You Tube
July 3, 2016
Activist and writer Elie Wiesel, the World War Two death camp survivor who won the 1986 Nobel Peace Prize for becoming the life-long voice of millions of Holocaust victims, has died, Israel’s Holocaust memorial Yad Vashem said on Saturday 2 July 2016. Wiesel, a philosopher, speaker, playwright and professor who also campaigned for the tyrannized and forgotten around the world, was 87.
The Romanian-born Wiesel lived by the credo expressed in “Night,” his landmark story of the Holocaust – “to forget the dead would be akin to killing them a second time.”
In awarding the Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee praised Wiesel as a “messenger to mankind” and “one of the most important spiritual leaders and guides in an age when violence, repression and racism continue to characterize the world.” Elie Wiesel went on to receive another 6 human rights awards, including one named after himself.
Source: Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor And Nobel Laureate, Dead At 87
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: death, Elie Wiesel, holocaust, human rights awards, Human rights defender, in memoriam, Nobel Peace Prize, writer
May 30, 2016
Being a leading politician and human rights defender does not always go together well. Patricia Murphy (“Patt”) Derian was one of the exceptions. She passed away on 20 May 2016 at the age of 86. She was an American civil rights and human rights activist, who served under President Carter from 1977 to 1981.
After Jimmy Carter won the election, he nominated Derian to be Coordinator for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs and elevated the post to that of Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs effective August 17, 1977, and Derian served in that capacity for the remainder of the Carter administration. In this post she worked to improve policy coordination on humanitarian issues such as human rights, refugees, and prisoners of war.
Derian was a vocal critic of Jeane Kirkpatrick and of the so-called Kirkpatrick Doctrine during the 1980s, which advocated U.S. support of anticommunist governments around the world, including authoritarian dictatorships, if they went along with Washington’s aims —believing they could be led into democracy by example. Kirkpatrick wrote, “Traditional authoritarian governments are less repressive than revolutionary autocracies.” Derian objected to Kirkpatrick’s characterization of some governments as only “moderately repressive,” arguing that this line of thinking allowed the U.S. to support “a little bit of torture” or “moderate” prison sentences for political dissenters. Derian pointed out that, when it comes to human rights, in terms of morality, credibility and effectiveness, “you always have to play it straight.” Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | 2 Comments »
Tags: argentina, diplomatic action, Foreign Policy of the USA, in memoriam, Jimmy Carter, Kirkpatrick Doctrine, obituary, Patt Derian, Philippines, South Korea, USA
May 18, 2016
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Abdul Aziz, Human rights defender, in memoriam, islamic fundamentalists, Khurram Zaki, killing, Mubashir Naqvi, murder, Pakistan, religious extremism
May 18, 2016
American Jewish World Service (AJWS) reported that on Friday, 6 May 2016, Salvadoran human rights defender, Angélica Miriam Quintanilla Hernández, was killed. Angélica, a sex worker activist, leader and AJWS grantee, was assassinated just two blocks from her office in El Salvador. Read the rest of this entry »
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: American Jewish World Service (AJWS), Angélica Miriam Quintanilla Hernández, El Salvador, in memoriam, killing, murder, profiles, sex workers, woman human rights defender
May 14, 2016
On 12 May 2016 Democracy Now remembered Michael Ratner, a human rights lawyer who fought for Justice from Attica to Guantánamo, and who died on 11 May 2016 at the age of 72. For over four decades, he defended, investigated and spoke up for victims of human rights abuses across the world. Ratner served as the longtime president of the Center for Constitutional Rights. In 2002, the center brought the first case against the George W. Bush administration for the indefinite detention of prisoners at Guantánamo. The Supreme Court eventually sided with the center in a landmark 2008 decision when it struck down the law that stripped Guantánamo prisoners of their habeas corpus rights. Ratner began working on Guantánamo in the 1990s, when he fought the first Bush administration’s use of the military base to house Haitian refugees. In 2008 he was the recipient of the William J. Butler Medal for Human Rights and in 2007 he was awarded the Puffin/Nation Prize for Creative Citizenship.
Posted in human rights, Human Rights Defenders | Leave a Comment »
Tags: Center for Constitutional Rights, Guantanamo, Human rights defender, human rights lawyer, in memoriam, Michael Ratner, USA, William J. Butler Medal for Human Rights
April 27, 2016
While waiting for the breaking news of who will be the Final Nominees of the 2016 Martin Ennals Award (in 2 hours) I received the sad news that the first winner of the MEA in 1994, Chinese human rights defender Harry Wu has died at the age of 79.
Harry Wu at the official award dinner in March 1994
His short bio and a film on his work can be viewed at: http://www.martinennalsaward.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=87&Itemid=120&lang=en
Posted in awards, human rights, Human Rights Defenders, MEA | Leave a Comment »
Tags: China, death, Harry Wu, Human rights defender, in memoriam, lao gai, Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, MEA, MEA 1994, video
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 