share information on human rights defenders, with special focus on human rights awards and laureates
Many organizations have bid farewell to Ludmila Alexeeva, the doyenne of Russia’s human rights movement, who died on December 8 in Moscow. Here the In Memoriam by Human Rights Watch:
She will forever be a towering figure for human rights activists everywhere: a clear, moral voice for freedom and dignity. Ludmila gave her energy and her soul to many cases and issues, from the persecution of ordinary people, to civilian carnage in the war in Chechnya, to the Kremlin’s crackdown on civil society that gathered speed as Vladimir Putin’s presidency wore on. She spoke simply, but powerfully. While she was always kind and compassionate, she was not to be trifled with. She refused to sacrifice her dignity to Soviet power and refused to allow the current autocratic Kremlin to dictate terms to her.
In an interview in 2011 with Human Rights Watch, Ludmila described her work as “…Pressing the government to solve the problems at hand. If there is a heavy price to pay for this, then I’ll pay it. It’s more important than lying and obeying out of fear.” In the 1960s Ludmila was part of the Soviet dissident movement. In 1976, she co-founded the Moscow Helsinki Group, and fought for the freedom of imprisoned dissidents. The Soviet government did not long tolerate the Moscow Helsinki Group, arresting and exiling many of its members. In 1977, the Soviet government forced Ludmila into exile, to the United States. In 1993 Ludmila moved back to Russia, and in 1996 became chair of the Moscow Helsinki Group, presiding over the group’s re-invigoration and expansion.
Well into her 80’s Ludmila was unstoppable, observing trials, participating in peaceful public assemblies – even getting detained at one, on New Year’s Eve, while dressed in a snow queen costume. She traveled widely, within Russia and beyond, to promote fundamental freedoms, continuing to inspire new generations of human rights defenders at home. …
She was a formative part of Human Rights Watch’s creation: in 1978, a group of writers, publishers and activists formed to galvanize support in the US and Europe for the Moscow Helsinki Group and Soviet dissidents. That group was Helsinki Watch, which later grew into Human Rights Watch. We send our deepest condolences to Ludmila’s family and colleagues. We will miss you terribly, Ludmila Mikhailovna. Ludmila’s funeral will be held in Moscow on December 11, just after the world marks International Human Rights Day.
Quite remarkable is that according to CryptoCoin Russian President Vladimir Putin also paid tribute, according to his spokesperson, to the work of the late human rights activist Lyudmila Alexeyeva. “The President appreciates the contribution made by Lyudmila Alexeyeva for the development of civil society in Russia,” said Putin’s Confidant, Dmitry Peskov, the Agency Interfax according to. He respects your positions on many issues of the country. Putin had also sent a personal letter of Condolences to the family of Kremlin critic”. [http://www.ccdiscovery.com/vanessa-ponce-de-leon-to-be-crowned-miss-world-2018]
https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/12/09/tribute-ludmila-mikhailovna-alexeeva#
Katherine Newman in the Chicago Citizen proudly profiles the young woman from Chicago Eva Lewis who – as only HRD from the USA almost represented “the United States At Human Rights Defenders World Summit” [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/07/24/announcement-of-the-human-rights-defenders-world-summit-in-paris-october-2018/].
A young activist, Eva Lewis, who grew up on the south side of Chicago recently traveled to Paris to participate in the Human Rights Defenders World Summit 2018. Lewis spoke on the Americas panel, alongside activists from Latin America, and discussed youth-led movements in the United States as well as the state of black and brown people in the country. “What the Summit aims to do is bring together representatives from each country to talk about the state of human rights defenders and to brainstorm ways that we can elevate our fight for human rights and create a direct action plan that can be implemented to protect human rights defenders internationally,” said Lewis.
Lewis was one representative in a diverse group of 150 human rights defenders from around the world that came to Paris for the three-day Summit. “I was on the Americas panel and I was the only US representative and also the youngest delegate at the Summit and I was the only English speaker on my panel. Everyone on the panel talked about their own fight for human rights and how it pertains to their country and the people that they were there to represent,” said Lewis.
“I set my self up to fulfill a specific agenda which was to bring human rights of black and brown folks in the U.S. to an international platform because we don’t talk about human rights violations against black and brown people in the US as a human rights issue. This was the first time anyone had that conversation at the Summit and I was happy to be able to be the one to present that conversation.”
Nineteen-year-old Lewis is an award-winning student, activist, and artist. She is also known for founding the I Project, a non-profit organization aiming to create equitable communities in Chicago.
“I really liked hearing about how people structure their organizations so what I think I gained the most from the Summit is good information about how to make the infrastructure of my own organization more sustainable. The I Project is relatively new and we’ve only had a fiscal sponsorship for about a year and we are not sustainable at all and I’m comfortable admitting that because the journey is important and part of the process,” said Lewis.
http://thechicagocitizen.com/news/2018/nov/14/young-chicagoan-represents-united-states-human-rig/
Human Rights Defender Nadia Ait Zai from Algeria works for the rights of women. This is another of the profiles recently published by European External Action Service (EEAS) in the context of the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/10/04/chia-wei-chi-first-in-series-of-videos-by-european-external-action-service/].
This is Human Rights Defender Saja Michael from Lebanon who works on gender issues. This is another of the profiles recently published by European External Action Service (EEAS) in the context of the 70th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/10/04/chia-wei-chi-first-in-series-of-videos-by-european-external-action-service/].
![Quynh, one of Vietnam's most prominent dissidents, was serving a 10-year-sentence for anti-state propaganda [AP]](https://www.aljazeera.com/mritems/imagecache/mbdxxlarge/mritems/Images/2018/10/17/c9052b243211403eae85961057714cab_18.jpg "Dissident Vietnamese blogger 'Mother Mushroom' released")
Vietnam has released dissident blogger Nguyen Ngoc Nhu Quynh, also known as “Mother Mushroom“. [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2017/07/06/the-kind-of-blogging-that-got-mother-mushroom-10-years-imprisonment-in-vietnam/]. Quynh, 39, was freed from jail and put on a plane to the United States where her mother and children live. She boarded a flight to Houston around noon Wednesday 17 October 2018, said Martin Gemzell, Asia program director for Civil Rights Defenders, a group based in Sweden.
Quynh, one of Vietnam’s most well-known activists, whose recognisable pen name “Me Nam” comes from her daughter’s nickname “mushroom”, was jailed in June 2017. She is an outspoken critic of Vietnam’s one-party state and gained notoriety with her writing about the environment, politics and deaths in police custody. Quynh came to prominence when she received the Civil Rights Defender of the Year award in 2015 and also the (USA) International Woman of Courage Award in 2017.
“The overly broad, ill-defined scope of this law makes it all too easy to quash any kind of dissenting views and to arbitrarily detain individuals who dare to criticize government policies,” former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein said in 2016.
While the Vietnamese authorities have not given a reason for the release of Quynh, it coincided with a visit to Vietnam by US Secretary of Defence Jim Mattis. Quynh is the second Vietnamese dissident released this year. A prominent human rights lawyer, Nguyen Van Dai, was released from prison in June and went to Germany.
https://www.wral.com/mother-mushroom-vietnamese-activist-is-said-to-be-released/17922631/
In December 2017, a video was released of Ahed slapping a soldier in the front yard of her house just hours after her cousin had been shot in the head and put in critical condition by Israeli soldiers who fired at him during a non-violent demonstration. The next day, Ahed and her mother were pulled from their beds in the middle of the night by Israeli soldiers, separated, and imprisoned. Ahed was imprisoned for eight months, and released in July 2018.
17-year old Ahed was greeted by former striker Emilio Butragueno, who presented the teenager with a personalised football jersey. The jersey had ‘Ahed’ printed across the back, and the number 9, which is commonly assigned to strikers who take the front lines of the field and score most of the goals.
(In 2012, her father Bassem Tamimi, was declared a prisoner of conscience by Amnesty International)
In response to the honor by Real Madrid, Emmanuel Nahshon, the Israeli foreign minister spokesman, tweeted in Spanish, “A shame! Real Madrid receives a terrorist who incites hatred and violence. What has that to do with the values of the football?!?!”
Spanish Football Team ‘Real Madrid’ Honors Teenaged Palestinian Activist Ahed Tamimi
On 21 September 2018 the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (FIDH/ OMCT) petitioned the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to seek the release of Iranian human rights lawyer Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh. Ms. Nasrin Sotoudeh, a prominent defender and 2012 laureate of the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize, was arrested on June 13, 2018 at her home in Tehran. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2018/08/30/human-rights-defender-nasrin-sotoudeh-on-hunger-strike-in-iran/ ].. On September 16, 2018, Ms. Sotoudeh was informed that she would be denied her family visitation rights if she and her female visitors – including her daughter – did not wear a full hijab. Ms Sotoudeh has refused the condition and was denied the right to see her daughter on September 17, 2018.The semi-official ISNA news agency reported on Thursday 27 September that another human rights defender, Narges Mohammadi, has been granted a three-day leave from prison to visit her ailing father.
However, the recent terror attack in Iran may be expected to prompt the Guards to compensate by cracking down on domestic detractors and perceived opponents of their mission of defending and principles of the Islamic revolution. Certainly, some prominent figures within the Iranian activist and expatriate communities have been quick to raise alarms about the likelihood of this outcome. For instance, the Center for Human Rights in Iran quoted the Iranian human rights activist and Nobel Peace laureate Shirin Ebadi as saying of last Saturday’s attack, “Such actions lead to the justification of state violence and the arrest of many opponents in the name of fighting terrorism.” Meanwhile activists echoed the sentiment, saying, “Terrorism and violence in any form should be condemned in the strongest terms [but] such acts of violence should not become an excuse for state violence to suppress peaceful opposition.”
Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards 