A candidate should be active in the struggle for the ideals and principles underlying the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
A candidate’s struggle for human rights should represent a non-violent perspective.
A candidate may be a person or an organization, and two or more candidates may share the prize.
Deadline for nominations: 1 February 2022. Nominations received after 1 February will be taken into consideration for the Rafto Prize the following year.
For questions regarding nominations, please contact the Secretary of the Committee, Liv Unni Stuhaug, e-mail: livunni.stuhaug@rafto.no
The 36th Rafto Prize 2021 is awarded to the Human Rights Data Analysis Group (HRDAG) for their work in uncovering large-scale human rights violations. By using statistics and data science, HRDAG document human rights violations that might otherwise go undetected. Their approach has enabled courts to bring perpetrators to justice and given closure to affected victims and their families. For more on th4 RAFTO award and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/A5043D5E-68F5-43DF-B84D-C9EF21976B18
Statisticians for Human Rights: HRDAG seek to uphold credible information as a foundation of human rights advocacy and justice and by doing so, they represent a new generation of human rights defenders that advances the enforcement of human rights globally.
HRDAG promotes accountability for human rights abuse. Evidence is crucial in demanding accountability and justice. Systematic documentation of human rights violations exposes the scope of transgressions. This is central to putting an end to impunity for perpetrators, and vital for the protection and empowerment of the courageous human rights activists at the frontline.
HRDAG’s rigorous methods and analyses also ensure that every death is counted, and a minimum standard of human dignity is respected. The HRDAG team consists of a small group of dedicated experts in computer science, software development, mathematical and applied statistics, and demography. In their work, HRDAG partner with human rights defenders, experts, and organizations worldwide.
Holding perpetrators to account
Based on the idea that “truth leads to accountability”, HRDAG provides thorough documentation of torture, forced disappearances, kidnappings, war crimes and extrajudicial killings. Perpetrators of human rights abuses often do everything they can to hide their crimes from the public, while victims and their families seek answers and justice.
For example, in collaboration with Amnesty International, HRDAG has documented that 25 % of the deaths in Syrian prisons were unreported. Their researchers have been expert witnesses in the trial of General José Efraín Ríos Montt in Guatemala, who was convicted as the chief perpetrator of genocide against the Maya Ixil indigenous people. They have provided evidence of unusually high death tolls among political prisoners under the rule of former President Hissène Habré in Chad, as well as evidence of ethnic cleansing carried out by Serbian forces and former President Slobodan Milošević in Kosovo.
HRDAG has recently launched a project on underreporting police violence in the United States, where their analysis show that one third of all victims murdered by strangers, are killed by the police.
A new approach
The novelty of HRDAG’s approach lies in their efforts to invent and extend scientific methods from other fields, such as mathematical statistics, machine learning, software engineering, and computer science. They apply these methods to the area of human rights to detect patterns of violence and provide statistical estimates traditional approaches have not been able to deliver. They bring the power of quantitative analysis to the pursuit of justice and accountability. In doing so, they establish scientifically defensible historical records of human rights crimes.
Credible information is key
In an era of misinformation and polarization, credible information is more crucial than ever. The Rafto Prize 2021 aims to highlight the importance of HRDAG and other human right defenders’ work in seeking and upholding the truth as a foundation of human rights advocacy and justice.
The Rafto Prize 2021 is a recognition of HRDAG’s pioneering approach and dedicated commitment to detecting and deterring human rights violators by providing reliable scientific documentation.
The prize sends a firm message to human rights violators, both state and non-state perpetrators, that violations will not go unnoticed.
These are the dates for the 2021 Rafto Prize Events. They are live-streamed. You can watch them on RAFTO’s website and on Facebook.
The Rafto Prize Announcement (online )
Thursday 23 September at 10:00 AM (CEST)
Watch the press conference where the Head of the Rafto Prize Commitee announces the recipient of the Rafto Prize 2021! The live-stream starts at 09:30, and will include interviews and commentaries by experts and Rafto staff.
The Rafto Conference (online) Saturday 13 November at 11:00-14:00
Join our online conference with keynote speech by Rafto Laureate 2021. The conference will shed light on and discuss human rights challenges related to this year’s Rafto Prize. Free of charge and open for everyone to attend. Speakers and program TBA
The Award Ceremony (online) Sunday 14 November at 18:00-19:15
Live broadcasted from Den Nationale Scene, Bergen, we are celebrating this year’s Rafto Laureate with an award ceremony and a concert. Free of charge. Artists and perfomances TBA
Torchlight procession, Den Nationale Scene in Bergen. Sunday 14 November at 19:30
After the Award Ceremony there will be a torchlight procession, that will start outside of Den Nationale Scene, Bergen. Physical attendance only.
A candidate should be active in the struggle for the ideals and principles underlying the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
A candidate’s struggle for human rights should represent a non-violent perspective.
A candidate may be a person or an organization, and two or more candidates may share the prize.
Anyone with an interest in and knowledge about human rights is welcome to nominate candidates. Candidates nominated by themselves or by their staff or by honorary officers will not be taken into consideration.
How do I nominate?
Fill in the form below by clicking the blue “make a nomination”-button and attach required documents.
Deadline for nominations: 1 February. Nominations received after 1 February will be taken into consideration for the Rafto Prize the following year.
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.
JONAS ALASKA// With his down-to-earth, personal and honest portrayals, it’s no wonder Jonas Alaska is a critic’s favourite. Already with his debut album, he was triple-nominated for the Norwegian Grammy.
NORA GUNDERSEN & ODA VOLTERSVIK // Nora Gundersen and concert pianist Oda Voltersvik will perform at Den Nationale Scene in November! They have both played as solo artists and chamber musicians both in Norway and abroad.
DØSSI // Ingrid Døssland, known as DØSSI, is a producer and singer/songwriter. With her dreamy voice, DØSSI draws you in to her own world of feelings and melancholy.
FRODE GRYTTEN // Frode Grytten has, throughout an extensive and critically acclaimed career, distinguished himself as one of Norway’s foremost writers.
SHARQANT // Sharquant is a band consisting of three musicians with backgrounds from Syria and Iraq. The band was established in 2018, in Bergen. Their music consists of a blend of different parts of the Arab culture, and their music transports the audience to the Mediterranean region.
Guri Solberg is the host of the Rafto Prize Award Ceremony!
ECRF documents, reports and raises awareness about the grave human rights violations in Egypt and beyond, and provides legal support to victims of human rights abuses. Almost ten years since the Arab Spring, it is more pressing than ever to focus on the alarming state of basic human rights in the Middle East. ECRF was founded by Mohamed Lotfy and Ahmed Abdallah in the wake of the coup d’état in 2013. In a relatively short time ECRF has grown to a team of more than 50 lawyers and researchers as well as about 1000 volunteers. The aim of their work is to provide non-partisan support to human rights defenders. Despite working under extremely harsh conditions, the ECRF uses the parts of Egypt’s judiciary, which are still functioning, to defend human rights for political prisoners, prosecuted human rights activists and protestors and victims of disappearances and torture. In this state of fear, the work of ECRF stands out as a beacon of hope for human rights.
Enforced Disappearances
The ECRF works at ground level across Egypt, using peaceful and legal means. The organization conducts extensive documentation, monitoring and analysis of human rights violations. To do this, ECRF’s lawyers and researchers meet with victims, collect testimonies and analyse documents and court verdicts. ECRF has emergency hotlines where relatives and friends can report on arbitrary arrests, and receives on daily basis cases of enforced disappearance. The campaign “Stop Enforced Disappearances” documented 2723 cases over a five-year period. Through the documentation of cases, campaigning and legal aid, the ECRF has contributed to several reappearances. They use the documentation in court defences, as a basis for reports, policy papers, for advocacy, press statements and in social media campaigns to raise awareness around human rights issues. [see also: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/11/28/egyptian-human-rights-defender-ibrahim-ezz-eldin-reappears-after-167-days/]
Egypt’s state of fear
After a political crisis in 2013, the Egyptian army took control again and General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has since ruled as president. Under his leadership, the worrying human rights situation in Egypt has deteriorated to a degree not seen before.
Government security forces frequently conduct mass arrests and enforced disappearances, and critical voices are detained incommunicado for long periods of time. Thousands of political opponents, including children, have been arrested in sweeping campaigns. The prisoners are often held in overcrowded prisons in poor conditions, without access to satisfactory medical care.
The regime has dramatically narrowed the space for civil society and dissent by imposinga number of restrictions on the population such as travel bans, targeting human rights defenders and a range of repressive measures. In August 2019, President el-Sisi approved a law that severely restricts NGOs’ independence. His government uses the “war on terrorism” as a disguise to conceal their abuses. In April 2017, the government declared a state of emergency, which gave the security forces unchecked powers. In 2019 the government passed constitutional amendments that consolidated the authoritarian rule, once again undermining the rule of law.
AFP reported on 23 February 2020 that Thich Quang Do, a dissident Buddhist monk who has effectively been under house arrest since 2003 has died at the age of 93. Head of the banned Unified Buddhist Church of Vietnam, the vocal patriarch was born in 1928 in Thai Binh province and spent most of his life advocating for religious freedom and human rights in communist-run Vietnam. His staunch activism landed him under what was effectively house arrest in 2003 in Ho Chi Minh City, where he was under constant surveillance. Do died on Saturday night 22 February at Tu Hieu pagoda, UBCV announced on Sunday morning. According to his will signed on April 2019, Do requested a “simple funeral, not more than three days.” “After the cremation, my ashes will be scattered at sea,” said the statement quoting his will.
Do has long been a thorn on the side for communist-run Vietnam, and he has been nominated multiple times for the Nobel Peace Prize for his vocal advocacy for democracy. In 2001, he wrote an “Appeal for Democracy” and also called on northern and southern dissidents to drop their cultural differences and unite in 2005. He received Norway’s Rafto human rights award the following year for “his personal courage and perseverance through three decades of peaceful opposition against the communist regime in Vietnam.” He also won a Hellmann/Hammett grant in 2001 and the Homo Homini award in 2002.
The UBVC has been banned since the early 1980s, when it refused to join the state-sanctioned Vietnam Buddhist Church.
The Bergen-based Rafto Foundation encourages everyone with an interest in or knowledge of human rights to make a nomination for the 2020 Rafto Prize. Read more about the formal criteria and how to nominate online at Rafto.no. (see link below). Deadline for nominations is 1st February. For more on this and similar awards go to: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/rafto-prize .
Rouba Mhaissen, Defending the human rights of people living as refugees
The Rafto Prize 2019 is awarded to Rouba Mhaissen, director of Sawa for Development and Aid (SDAID), for defending human rights from the local to the global level for people living as refugees. Rouba Mhaissen has contributed locally to improving the lives of people living as refugees in Lebanon in ways that protect their dignity and right to self-determination. At national and global levels, Mhaissen stands out as a relentless and powerful defender of the human rights of refugees. For more on this and other awards for human rights defenders see: http://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/rafto-prize. For last year’s award: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/09/27/polish-ombudsman-adam-bodnar-winner-of-2018-rafto-award/
The Rafto Conference with a keynote address by the Rafto Laureate will take place 2 November at 11:00-14:00 at Universitetsaulaen, Bergen and the award ceremony the next day 3 November at 18:00 also in Bergen.
Dr. Rouba Mhaissen (31) is a Syrian-Lebanese economist, activist, community mobilizer and development practitioner who works on forced migration and the Syrian refugee crisis. She is the founder and director of Sawa for Development and Aid, and an outspoken defender of the rights of people living as refugees. Her relentless demands for human rights for all refugees have been heard in international fora. Through her advocacy for Syrian refugees in Lebanon, Mhaissen underlines the importance of treating refugees and other migrants with dignity and as people with the right to form their own lives and destinies: Since the beginning of the Syrian civil war in 2011, the Lebanese government has maintained open borders for Syrian refugees. The early arrivers were allowed to work in certain sectors of the economy, despite being exposed to expensive fees for work-permits, marginalization, and limited freedom of movement. But as the civil war endures, the refugees’ situation has become precarious. The demographic, political, and economic balance in Lebanon is fragile as a third of the local population lives below the poverty line and one out of four are refugees. Lebanese authorities routinely blame the country’s hardship on the refugees, and the economic crisis has further increased the suspicions of refugees.
In this increasingly volatile situation, the Lebanese government has begun emphasizing return-policies toward Syrians living in Lebanon, through a combination of restrictive policies and rampant discrimination. Unlawful evictions, harassment, intimidation, and attacks on refugees leave many with no choice but to return. Upon their arrival in Syria, many have faced arbitrary arrests, interrogations and torture. For Syrian refugees, both residing in Lebanon or returning to Syria represent impossible “choices”.
The Rafto Prize 2019 is a call to protect human rights for all, irrespective of our legal status. .. The current international neglect of the human rights situation for people living as refugees must stop: In the short-term this means financial support, in the long term assisting resettlement and facilitating return or local integration.
The Rafto Conference with a keynote address by the Rafto Laureate will take place 2 November at 11:00-14:00 at Universitetsaulaen, Bergen and the award ceremony the next day 3 November at 18:00 also in Bergen.
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 