This blog is supposed to be an about Human Rights Defenders, not about self promotion. I know!
However, this very long interview is both and therefore belongs here.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
On 4 April, 2025 the Miami Herald reported that Haiti-based human rights lawyer Mario Josep died in a car accident.
In a country where justice is often elusive, Mario Joseph was a fearless crusader who didn’t care whether his opponent was the Haitian government or the international community as he defended political prisoners and poor victims of human rights abuses in his Caribbean homeland. Joseph died Monday night from injuries sustained in a car accident last week as he pulled into his house. His death was confirmed by his longtime friend Brian Concannon and the Boston-based nonprofit Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti. He was 62. Concannon said in a statement. “The global human rights movement has lost an inspirational leader when the notion of human rights itself is under broad attack.”
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/3bb30bee-dd32-4668-9079-89dd464e5eff
https://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation-world/world/americas/haiti/article303281216.html
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
For more on this and similar awards, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/97238E26-A05A-4A7C-8A98-0D267FDDAD59
Right Livelihood Award – Nominations 2025
https://rightlivelihoodawardfoundation.submittable.com/submit
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
Right Livelihood is looking for a full-time Head of Research. The role will be based at one of our offices in Stockholm or Geneva and will lead the selection and research of new Laureates for the Right Livelihood Award.
About Right Livelihood
For over 40 years, Right Livelihood has honoured courageous people solving global problems, creating a community of change-makers committed to peace, justice, and sustainability. By recognising the actions of brave visionaries and building a continuous relationship with these change-makers, Right Livelihood boosts urgent and transformational societal change. With offices in Stockholm and Geneva, Right Livelihood has 20 staff and an annual budget of EUR 4 million. Every year, an international jury chooses the new Laureates: to date, 198 Laureates from 77 countries have been awarded for their impactful contributions. Read more about our approach.
Purpose of the role
You will oversee all aspects of the research and selection of new Laureates for the Right Livelihood Award, taking a leading role in implementing our strategic outlook, as well as developing and managing the research team. In this position, you will be collaborating with colleagues in the entire Right Livelihood team and communicating with nominees for the Award as well as external experts and other contacts. It is expected that you stay on top of global developments related to the work. It is your responsibility to ensure high quality in the research and present accurate, comprehensive, and timely research findings about the candidates.
The Head of Research will report to the Deputy Director and lead the work of the research team, which currently has two staff members.
Main responsibilities
Required experience and qualifications
Terms of employment
This position will be located preferably at our head office in Stockholm or at our Geneva office. Regular international travel is expected in this role. This is a permanent full-time position with a probationary period.
Right Livelihood is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive workplace. We therefore strongly encourage applications from all backgrounds, identities and abilities to help us create a diverse, balanced and inclusive working environment.
Starting date
By agreement, preferably April 2025.
How to apply
We use a competency-based process for this recruitment. Therefore, you will not be asked to attach a letter of motivation to your application. Instead, we will ask you to complete the online application form accessed through the link below, attach your CV and submit a work sample. Instructions for the work sample are outlined here and in the application form.
If you have further questions about the position or the application process, please contact us at jobs@rightlivelihood.org.
The deadline for applications is February 12, 2025 (EOD).
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders honors individuals and organizations who have shown exceptional commitment to defending human rights, despite the risks involved. The Martin Ennals Award aims to support the tireless struggles of these activists.[For more on the award and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/043F9D13-640A-412C-90E8-99952CA56DCE]
To qualify for the Award 2025, the nominees must:
We encourage nominations of activists under 30 years of age to reflect the growing number of young persons joining the human rights movements in their countries. Post-humous nominations are not eligible. The deadline for nominations is open ended for now. Nominees must also read and acknowledge the Martin Ennals Foundation Ethical Guidelines.
Nominate your human rights champion now by filling out the nomination form
(available in ENGLISH, FRENCH) and send it to info@martinennalsaward.org.
The Martin Ennals Award is a unique collaboration between ten of the world’s leading human rights organizations, who form the independent Jury that selects winners of the Award. In the first half of each year, a nomination cycle takes place over several months, at the end of which the winners of the Martin Ennals Award — or Laureates — are selected by the Jury. The names of the Laureates will be publicly announced to the public shortly before the ceremony. Mark your calendar for the Award Ceremony 2025 which will take place in the third trimester of the year in Geneva.
Learn more about the nomination process and our ethical guidelines here:
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
See https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/A5043D5E-68F5-43DF-B84D-C9EF21976B18
Each year the Rafto award goes to a person or an organization who stands up for human rights and democracy. Please make a nomination. Annual deadline is 1 February.
Deadline for nominations: 1 February.
Nominations received after 1 February will be taken into consideration for the Rafto Prize the following year.
Nominations for the Rafto Prize are received and evaluated by the Prize Committee. Recipient(s) is selected by the Board of Directors.
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.
For questions regarding nominations, please contact the Secretary of the Committee, Liv Unni Stuhaug, livunni.stuhaug@rafto.no
https://www.rafto.no/en/rafto-prize/nominasjoner
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
The governments of Laos and Cambodia have stirred controversy after announcing awards for a casino magnate blacklisted by the U.S. for criminal activity and a scion of the country’s first family known for flaunting their wealth.
Residents told RFA that they fear awarding the two men will legitimize their bad behavior and lead to further problems for both countries.
On Dec. 6, Viengsavanh Siphandone, the governor of Laos’ Luang Namtha province, bestowed a national award on Zhao Wei, the head of the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone, which lies along the Mekong River in Bokeo province.
The governor presented Zhao, the Chinese founder of the Hong Kong-registered Kings Romans Group, with the “Third Class Development Medal” at an award ceremony inside his economic zone for donating materials and funds worth 1.3 billion kip (US$60,000) to the Luang Namtha police headquarters.
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The award drew criticism from members of the public, who told RFA Lao that the government had no business celebrating an entrepreneur who is known for supporting criminal enterprises.
“Zhao Wei … opens loopholes for [gangs involved in] human trafficking and money scams,” one resident of the capital Vientiane said, speaking on condition of anonymity citing fear of reprisal. “He is not only notorious locally for his involvement in transnational crimes, but internationally as well.”
Kings Roman Group operates the Kings Romans Casino in the Golden Triangle SEZ, which Zhao is said to hold de facto control of, and which caters mainly to Chinese tourists.
In 2018, the U.S. Treasury Department declared the Zhao Wei network a “transnational criminal organization,” or TCO, and imposed sanctions on Zhao and three other individuals and three companies across Laos, Thailand and Hong Kong.
“Based in Laos within the Golden Triangle Special Economic Zone (GTSEZ), the Zhao Wei TCO exploits this region by engaging in drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering, bribery, and wildlife trafficking, much of which is facilitated through the Kings Romans Casino located within the GTSEZ,” said a Treasury Department statement announcing the sanctions.
Legitimizing criminal activities
On Aug. 9 and 12, Lao and Chinese police raided and arrested more than 2,000 people on charges of committing crimes in the SEZ, where thousands have been lured through trafficking networks and forced to work as online scammers.
Many of the women lured to the SEZ have also been forced to become sex workers.
An official who took part in the rescue of three victims from the SEZ earlier this year told RFA he is worried that the award will legitimize Zhao’s activities and lead to more human trafficking there.
“By deciding to award Zhao Wei the medal, the government has opened more opportunities for him to trick women into prostitution,” he said.
This is the second time the Lao government has bestowed an award on Zhao. In 2022, the Bokeo Military Command presented him with a medal courage, saying it recognized his contributions to national defense and public security within the Golden Triangle SEZ.
The Lao government says it is cracking down on the cyber-scamming industry, which a United States Institute of Peace report earlier this year said could be worth as much as 40% of the country’s formal economy.
The think tank estimated that criminal gangs could be holding as many as 85,000 workers in slave-like conditions in compounds such as those in the Golden Triangle SEZ.
Hun family scion receives medal of honor
In Cambodia, King Norodom Sihamoni conferred the Royal Order of Monisaraphon to Hun Panhaboth — the grandson of Senate President Hun Sen’s elder brother — per the request of the Interior Ministry and Prime Minister Hun Manet, according to a royal decree dated Oct. 9.
The award is generally given to Cambodians who contribute to or support the fields of education, arts, literacy, science or social affairs.
Hun Panhaboth is the son of Hun Chanthou, who is the daughter of Hun Sen’s late elder brother Hun Neng. According to a report by Global Witness, Hun Chanthou and Hun Neng’s four other children own around 40 major companies.
Hun Panhaboth is known in Cambodia for flaunting his wealth both at home and abroad, and even for boasting about his illegal activities, such as selling weapons to private citizens, on his Facebook and Instagram pages.
He owns luxury vehicles including a McLaren worth nearly US$1 million, a Bentley and an Audi worth more than US$200,000 each, and a private Airbus 72 helicopter. He is known to have given his girlfriend gifts worth nearly US$100,000 for her birthday and shuttled her on a private plane from Australia to Cambodia.
Hun Panhaboth‘s lavish lifestyle has also been widely reported in the foreign press, including by Thai newspaper MRG Online, which claimed that he has used his family ties to procure contracts for large development projects.
After facing criticism in the media, Hun Panhaboth assumed the role of a philanthropist, distributing gifts to the poor and posting the acts on social media.
Philanthropy dwarfed by negative impact
Sok Ey San, spokesperson for the ruling Cambodian People’s Party, told RFA that the government only confers the medal of honor on those who have “shown great achievements and contributions to the nation and the people,” although he refused to elaborate on what achievements or contributions Hun Panhaboth had made.
Sok Ey San also dismissed concerns about Hun Panhaboth writing posts to Facebook about selling firearms, saying he was “a minor [at the time] and not mature enough to think seriously.”
“He just posted that for fun — nobody thinks what he did on Facebook was serious,“ he told RFA.
Youth group leaders RFA Khmer spoke with said they believe the government awarded Hun Panhaboth the national medal of honor for his acts of philanthropy, but suggested that they were dwarfed by those that have had a negative impact on society.
Mat Vanny, chairman of the board of the South Korea-based Democratic Movement for National Unification, said that given Hun Panhaboth’s involvement in illegal activity and his penchant for flaunting his wealth, he is unqualified to receive such an honor.
He added that the conferment will “devalue the award,” as well as the reputations of the government and king who gave it to him.
Em Bunnarith, president of the Australia-based Global Cambodian Youth Network, said that in a country with a dynastic and corrupt leadership, such as Cambodia, decisions to award a medal of honor don’t go through proper assessment.
“What the government has done will make our youth feel hopeless,” he said. “It means that if they have no connections … they will have no opportunity to contribute to the nation.”
Regardless of what Hun Panhaboth has done, Em Bunnarith said, the Hun family will likely elevate his position within the armed forces to help protect the family name.
Translated by Ounkeo Souksavanh and Sovannarith Keo. Edited by Joshua Lipes and Malcolm Foster.
This content originally appeared on Radio Free Asia and was authored by RFA Lao and RFA Khmer.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
On 4 December 2024, Aytan Farhadova in OC media reported that human rights defender Rufat Safarov was detained in Azerbaijan a week before he was set to be awarded the Human Rights Defender of the Year award by US State Secretary Antony Blinken. That day, Safarov’s lawyer, Elchin Sadigov, posted on Facebook that Safarov was accused of hooliganism and fraud resulting in major damage.
Sadigov later posted a message written by Safarov, in which he explained that he was planning to visit the US two days after receiving his visa in order to accept the Global Human Rights Defender Award from Blinken. [not totally clear which award is referred to – ed]
‘So I was awarded as a strong human rights defender of the year. Because the United States initially nominated me, I express my deep gratitude to [Mark] Libby, the US Ambassador in Azerbaijan, and Mr Blinken, US Secretary of State, who supported my candidacy.’
State Department’s Deputy Spokesperson, Vedant Patel, during a press briefing on Tuesday, said: We’re deeply concerned by reports that human rights defender Rufat Safarov has been detained in Azerbaijan’, Patel said, adding that they were ‘closely monitoring the case.’
Frank Schwabe, the head of the German delegation of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), criticised Safaravo’s arrest, saying that PACE will ‘respond to this in January’.
Safarov, a former prosecutor’s office official who spoke out against human rights abuses by the government, was sentenced to nine years in prison on charges of bribery, fraud, and human rights violations in 2016. He was released from prison alongside almost 400 others after Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev issued an amnesty to mark Novruz in 2019.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
27 November 2024, from UN Human Rights:
![Mga Nalimutan [The Forgotten], inspired by a photography taken by Joe Galvez New York City, United States, 2017.](https://www.ohchr.org/sites/default/files/styles/hero_5_image_desktop/public/2024-11/minority-artists-award-memory-in-present-2024-972x700.jpg?itok=oQgPdm-9)
© Francis Estrada
The top awards for the 2024 International Contest for Minority Artists were presented to five award winners — Bianca Broxton, Joel Pérez Hernández, Francis Estrada, Laowu Kuang and youth laureate Jayatu Chakma — during a special ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland.
UN Human Rights partnered with civil society organizations, Freemuse, Minority Rights Group International, the City of Geneva, the Centre des Arts of the International School of Geneva, and with the support of the Loterie Romande. The theme, Memory in the Present, celebrates the creativity and cultural expression of minority artists whose artwork explores themes relating to memory and memorialization around the globe.
“Naturally, such collective identities will largely be grounded in a collective memory of events, generating or perpetuating values or traditions that shape the way persons belonging to a minority feel bound together by common experiences,” said Nicolas Levrat, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues. “Such memories often define how and why these past experiences shared by persons belonging to a given minority (or by previous generations) make them singular, different from other groups.”
The winners and honourable mentions at the awards ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland (shown from left to right) — Francis Estrada, Maganda Shakul, Jayatu Chakma, André Fernandes, Bianca Broxton, Joel Pérez Hernández, Chuu Wai, Laowu Kuang. © OHCHR/Irina Popa
The contest serves as a platform for minority artists human rights defenders who play a key role worldwide to build bridges of understanding, dialogue and empathy through creative and artistic means. It celebrates minority artists who have made significant contributions to raise awareness, inspire action, and foster deeper understanding of human rights across diverse communities.
The Winners
Bianca Broxton in one of her performance pieces, A Conversation, in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. She invited audience members to engage in a dialogue about their personal relationships with hair, racism, and beauty, while she crocheted dreadlocks to add to the piece. © Bianca Broxton
Bianca Broxton is an American interdisciplinary artist who focuses on raising awareness of health inequalities among minority women in the United States. She frames historical narratives and memories around the marginalized voices using sculptures and collages to portray minorities with dignity and a focus on restorative justice.
“My experience as a Black woman drives me to tell the histories of those who have faced systemic oppression and to portray them positively. I refuse to have my subjects seen only as victims of systemic injustice,” she said.
Visual artist Laowu Kuang accepting his award at the ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland. © OHCHR/Irina Popa
Laowu Kuang is a visual artist belonging to the Tibetan minority in China. Through a vivid interplay of colors and textures displayed on large canvases, his artwork navigates themes of memory and memorialization in contemporary China, through traditional Tibetan symbols and motifs.
“In contrast to Western painting, with its excessive color scale, and Han Chinese painting, with its muted and elegant concept of applying colors, Tibetan painting has a strong and intense contrast of colors,” he said. “The stone carvings of Tibetan folk art are a perfect combination of religion and nature, which is a communication and dialogue between human beings and gods, between heaven and earth.”
Joel Pérez Hernández is a visual and plastic artist from the Maya Tseltal people, born in the Lacandón jungle of Chiapas, Mexico. Hernández has dedicated years to studying traditional techniques and motifs with elder artisans and creators of his community.
“Much knowledge is asleep in our mountains, voices are trapped in the rivers, colors sleep under the stones, and in our collective memory, as well,” he said. “My people nourish me and motivate me to awaken all that; that is what I include in my works. I find no need to sign my pieces, because my people, my family, my friends make up the essence of each one of them.”
Born in the Philippines, Francis Estrada is a visual artist and educator, currently residing in the United States. Estrada’s artwork focuses on culture, history, and perception, and questions the influence of historical photographs, mass media, political propaganda, and personal archives on social narratives and collective memory.
“My art is a tool through which I confront how our understandings of culture are mediated, and the methods through which history and memory are created and perpetuated,” he said. “I think of my work as partial narratives for the viewers to complete based on their own experiences and associations.”
Youth laureate Jayatu Chakma is an artist belonging to the Chakma Indigenous community of the Chittagong Hill Tracts region in Bangladesh. His artwork features ink, acrylic, watercolor, and natural elements like mud and colors from leaves, as a way to reflect on the life of his community in relation with forced displacement and the loss of their lands.
“Chittagong Hill Tracts is a part of Bangladesh which represents a culture of variation in terms of people and landscape,” he said. “But there are stories hidden behind the decorated valleys of Chittagong Hill Tracts: my artworks are influenced by the stories of being displaced, losing belongings and relatives. I want to create artworks that show a different side of Chittagong Hill Tracts, besides its natural beauty and cultural diversity that we see on TV.”
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
Walter Ngano, on Friday, 29 November 2024, wrote about three nationals in Kenya being honoured as Human Rights Defenders, illustrating again how awards can function at the national level.
Three Kenyan activists were feted at an awards ceremony on Friday, November 29, recognizing them for their commitment to protecting human rights. Boniface Mwangi, Hanifa Adan, and Hussein Khalid were awarded the Human Rights Defender of the Year award during the Human Rights Defenders (HRD) Awards. The event was held at the Royal Danish Embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.
The three, who are prominent activists in Kenya, were jointly awarded the prize, which is under the Working Group on Human Rights Defenders in Kenya, which brings together Civic Society Organizations and development partners concerned with the protection of HRDs.
The three were honoured for the role they played in the June-August Gen Z protests that were witnessed in Kenya in 2024. Together, they managed to lead Kenyans in advocating for the withdrawal of the Finance Bill, 2024.
In addition, Boniface Mwangi was recognized for his contributions towards advancing good governance, constitutionalism, the rule of law, and the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms in Kenya. [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2019/05/17/debate-in-kenya-are-human-rights-defenders-always-credible/]
Hussein was honoured for his contribution to ensuring access to justice for survivors and families of victims of rights violations. Hanifa, on the other hand, was awarded for her dedication to the promotion of public integrity in Kenya.
The aim of the ceremony is to honour and publicly recognise the important work of HRDs in Kenya by giving out awards to men and women who have demonstrated courage and impact in the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.
While speaking after winning the award, Hanifa Adan expressed her joy at winning the award and dedicated the award to Kenyans who lost their lives in the June-August Gen Z protests witnessed in 2024. The award was her fourth in 2024.
“I feel honoured to have won the Human Rights Defender of the Year Award. It’s such an honour, and this is my fourth award this year. I dedicate this award to each and every comrade that we lost during the Gen Z protests,” Hanifa noted.
Hussein Khalid while receiving his award expressed his surprise at being feted but acknowledged the role of activism in the country this year. “I am really shocked by this, but when I look back, it is because of the so many days and sleepless nights we spent doing post-mortems and autopsies for the comrades that we lost in the protests,” Khalid stated. The activist went ahead to request a moment’s silence for the deceased.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
The annual Front Line Defenders Award was established in 2005 to honour the work of HRDs who are courageously making outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, at great personal risk to themselves. The Award focuses national and international attention on the HRDs work, providing them with a greater national and international platform to speak about and advocate for their work.
For each region of the world (Africa; Americas; Asia-Pacific; Europe & Central Asia; and Middle East & North Africa) there will be one winner selected and Front Line Defenders will recognise all five as the 2025 Front Line Defenders Award Laureates. For more on this award and its laureates, see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/2E90A0F4-6DFE-497B-8C08-56F4E831B47D.
The nomination process is open for anyone to submit a nomination of a human rights defender, collective, organisation or community working on any human rights issue and facing significant risk due to their work or operating in an environment that itself is characterised as insecure. The purpose of the Award is to give visibility to HRDs who are not normally acknowledged or recognised at the international level. At the same time, the Award should not bring additional risk for which the HRD is not prepared. In addition to the Award, winners will receive:
If you would like to nominate a HRD for the 2025 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, please follow this link to the secure online nomination form:
As the person, group or organisation making the nomination, you will be consulted by Front Line Defenders to verify the information submitted and possibly for additional information. Please complete all parts of the nomination form to the best of your ability. 2025 Front Line Defenders Award – Nomination Form
Please submit nominations via the online form. If there are any problems using the form, or if you have any questions, please contact: award@frontlinedefenders.org
Deadline for nominations: 10 January 2025
Please note:
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
The 2024 Asia Democracy and Human Rights Award (ADHRA) will be awarded to Odhikar in recognition of “the civil and political rights advocacy they have carried out and expanded in Bangladesh for three decades, despite challenges such as harassment, imprisonment, and surveillance,” TFD said in a press release.
It is hoped that the award will “encourage their work and those in the same field” so they “realize their efforts and perseverance have not gone unnoticed,” said the TFD, a nonprofit organization funded by Taiwan’s government.
Founded in 1994, the group has “deepened democracy and human rights in Bangladesh” through research, advocacy, and training, as well as government oversight efforts, the foundation said.
Odhikar, which means “rights” in Bengali, was founded by human rights activist Adilur Rahman Khan, who currently serves as the group’s secretary.
According to its website, Odhikar’s principal objectives include raising awareness of human rights and its various abuses, and promoting a vibrant democratic system through election monitoring in Bangladesh.
The Bengali group has issued annual reports since 1996 that document human rights abuses, extrajudicial killings, involuntary disappearances and other violations, the TFD said.
The TFD also highlighted Odhikar’s role in urging the Bengali government to ratify the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court in 2010, which subsequently led the country to contribute to investigations into the persecution of the Rohingya people.
TFD’s award ceremony will be held in Taipei on Dec. 10, the foundation said, adding that the award winner would receive a trophy and a grant of US$100,000.
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/607BB850-4813-489B-A47D-3965F2078E1F
https://focustaiwan.tw/politics/202411270015
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
Press freedom gala, hosted by John Oliver, honors journalists from four continents
New York, November 22, 2024—The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) celebrated four journalists from Gaza, Guatemala, Niger, and Russia at the 34th annual International Press Freedom Awards (IPFA) in New York on Thursday, raising $2.4 million to protect journalists around the world.
The 2024 awardees were all honored for their courage in reporting on their communities while experiencing war, prison, government crackdowns, and increasing efforts to criminalize their work.
This year’s awardees were: Shrouq Al Aila, a Palestinian journalist based in Gaza and director of Ain Media; Quimy de León, a Guatemalan journalist and co-founder of Prensa Comunitaria; Samira Sabou; one of Niger’s most prominent investigative journalists, and Alsu Kurmasheva, a U.S.-Russian Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL) journalist and editor jailed by Russia in 2023.
In her remarks, CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg mourned the unprecedented killing of journalists over the past year, especially in the Israel-Gaza war: “These deaths should shock and appall us. They should enrage us.”
“At CPJ we have spent more than four decades involving ourselves in mankind,” said Ginsberg. “But this year, this year has been like no other. We have painstakingly documented the ever-growing attacks on the press, we have raised the alarm over those attacks, and we have demanded action from those in power—whether it be killings in Gaza, or arrests in Russia, or harassment in India.”
This year’s awards ceremony was hosted by John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, who commended the awardees’ commitment to journalism. “The quiet courage and perseverance of tonight’s awardees are remarkable. But they don’t think of themselves as remarkable. They say they are just doing their jobs as reporters,” said Oliver.
Journalist and IPFA honoree Shrouq Al Aila walks two or three hours daily to reach places in Gaza where she reports on the war. (Image from video: Ain Media)
Leila Fadel, host of NPR’s Morning Edition, recognized Al Aila in absentia as Israel did not permit the Gazan journalist to leave the occupied Palestinian territory to attend the awards. Al Aila assumed the role of director of Ain Media following the killing of her husband Roshdi Sarraj on October 22, 2023 by the Israeli military. “I decided to continue Roshdi’s work because I believe once you are a journalist, you are a journalist for life,” said Al Aila in a video played at the ceremony.
De León, who covers environmental and human rights issues facing marginalized communities in Guatemala, spoke of her longing “for a Guatemala where, sooner rather than later, all the political, economic, and social turmoil caused by an anti-democratic minority clinging to the vices of the past will allow us to celebrate our achievements without fear.” De León received her award from Maribel Perez Wadsworth, the president and CEO of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
Julie Owono, the executive director of Internet Sans Frontieres and CPJ board member, presented the award to Sabou, who has been arrested, detained, and subjected to years of legal harassment in retaliation for her reporting in Niger. “Hope allows us to stay standing, even if by survival instinct we are often obliged to bend, to retreat, to apply self-censorship,” said Sabou. “We have hope that things will change in terms of freedom of the press, expression, and opinion on the digital space in Niger, where the profession of online journalism is still not recognized, but simply tolerated.”
Radhika Jones, editor in chief of Vanity Fair, presented the award to Kurmasheva, who has covered human rights issues affecting ethnic minority communities in Russia. In August 2024, Kurmasheva was released from a Russian jail as part of an historic prisoner exchange. “Standing here today with this award is something I never dreamed would happen. The only award I’ve ever dreamed of was the satisfaction of serving my audience to bring accurate and uncensored news to my ethnic minority—the Tatars—in our native language,” said Kurmasheva.
CPJ’s board of directors posthumously honored Christophe Deloire, who served as director general of the press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), with the 2024 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award in recognition of Deloire’s “extraordinary and sustained achievement in the cause of press freedom.”
Melissa Fleming, the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, highlighted Deloire’s legacy defending press freedom worldwide. She presented the award to Perrine Daubas, Deloire’s widow. “Under Christophe’s leadership, RSF worked hand in hand with CPJ, united by a shared mission: to protect those who put themselves on the line to reveal the truth, who stand resilient so that light can reach even the darkest corners,” said Daubas. “Christophe deeply appreciated this American cousin, a true comrade-in-arms.”
The annual benefit dinner, held in New York City, was chaired by Jessica E. Lessin, founder and CEO of The Information. The funds raised will support CPJ’s global work advocating for press freedom and providing direct assistance to journalists in distress.
###
About the Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.
To interview an awardee or CPJ experts, please email press@cpj.org. Profile videos about the awardees and footage from the ceremony are available here. Photos from the event are accessible from Getty Images.
CPJ’s 2024 International Press Freedom Awardees:
Shrouq Al Aila, Gaza Strip
Alsu Kurmasheva, U.S. – Russia
Quimy de León, Guatemala
Samira Sabou, Niger
Christophe Deloire, Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Awardee
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
The undersigned human rights organisations, which together represent the Jury for the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, condemn the continued harassment against 2021 Martin Ennals Award Finalist and woman human rights defender from Turkmenistan, Soltan Achilova. This morning, Soltan Achilova and her daughter were once again prevented from travelling to Geneva. As in 2023, Soltan Achilova was set to be recognized for her valuable contributions to the documentation of human rights violations in Turkmenistan by the Martin Ennals Foundation.
Soltan Achilova is a woman human rights defender and journalist, who continues to work in Turkmenistan, one of the most repressive and isolated countries in the world, ranking 176th out of 180 countries in terms of press freedom and working conditions for journalists. She has been reporting about her country for over a decade. Her pictures of daily life are one of the few sources of documentation of human rights violations occurring in Turkmenistan. As a result of this work, she remains under constant surveillance by Turkmen authorities and has suffered numerous incidents of harassment, intimidation, and threats. Despite the challenges, Soltan Achilova persists in her human rights work, regularly sending information and pictures outside the country so that government authorities can be held accountable. [see: https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/soltan-achilova/]
On the morning of 20 November 2024, Soltan Achilova and her daughter Maya Achilova were scheduled to travel from Ashgabat to Geneva, to participate in the Martin Ennals Award ceremony. At 6:30 a.m. local time, according to the information received by the Martin Ennals Foundation, a group of law enforcement officers pushed Soltan Achilova, her daughter and her daughter’s husband into an ambulance and brought them to the specialised hospital “Infectious Disease Control Centre” in the Choganly neighbourhood of Ashgabat, located near the Ashgabat International Airport. Maya Achilova reported to the Foundation that her husband, her mother and herself are being retained at the medical facility, guarded by the security forces, and that one of the security service agents is in possession of the keys to Soltan Achilova’s apartment. Thereby, Turkmen authorities have once again prevented Soltan Achilova from travelling to Geneva, Switzerland, where she would finally be recognized as a Finalist of the 2021 Martin Ennals Award for her documentation of land grabs and forced evictions of ordinary citizens in Ashgabat.
Turkmen authorities have prevented woman human rights defender Soltan Achilova from traveling freely outside of her country on several occasions; the latest occurring as recently as November 2023. In the early hours of 18 November 2023, Soltan Achilova and her daughter were stopped by Turkmen government officials from boarding their flight to Switzerland. A customs official took their passports, wet them with a damp rag and declared the passports to be ruined, preventing Soltan and Maya Achilova from boarding the plane. Despite receiving assurances at high-level from Turkmen authorities that Soltan Achilova would not be prevented from traveling once again, the authorities continue to harass the woman human rights defender with travel restrictions and arbitrary detention.
The human rights organisations that make up the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award, as well as the Martin Ennals Foundation, once again condemn Turkmen authorities for their continued harassment of woman human rights defender and photojournalist Soltan Achilova and her family members and call for their immediate release. The organisations jointly call upon the Turkmen authorities to provide all the necessary assistance to enable her travel outside of Turkmenistan. Finally, the organisations renew their calls for Turkmenistan to fully implement their human rights obligations, including, inter alia, allowing human rights defenders and journalists to conduct their work without fear of reprisals.
Following the writing of this statement, an article containing further details was published by the Chronicles of Turkmenistan, an online publication of the Turkmen Initiative for Human Rights, which, according to its author, has also been in contact with Soltan Achilova’s family.
Signatories:
Amnesty International
Human Rights Watch
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
HURIDOCS
Human Rights First
Front Line Defenders
Brot für die Welt
International Commission of Jurists
The Martin Ennals Foundation
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
Two outstanding human rights defenders who have made it their life mission to protect human rights in Afghanistan and in Tajikistan will receive the Martin Ennals Award 2024 on November 21th, 2024, in Geneva, Switzerland, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award.
The Jury of ten of the world’s leading human rights NGOs – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, HURIDOCS, Bread for the World, Human Rights First, World Organisation Against Torture, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), and Front Line Defenders – has selected, after much deliberation, the two human rights defenders whom it strongly believes deserve to be recognized and honored in 2024, on the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award. [see also: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/043F9D13-640A-412C-90E8-99952CA56DCE]
The two 2024 Laureates, Zholia Parsi (Afghanistan) and Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov (Tadjikistan) have shown exceptional courage and determination to bring human rights at the forefront despite evolving in deeply repressive environments.
“We are very proud to honor these two exceptional Laureates. They have paid too big a price for justice and equality to be respected in Afghanistan and Tajikistan and the international community must support their efforts instead of battling geostrategic interests in the region“.
– Hans Thoolen, Chair of the Martin Ennals Award Jury
The two Laureates 2024:
Zholia Parsi: is a teacher from Kabul, Afghanistan. Having lost her career and seeing her daughters deprived of their education with Taliban takeover in August 2021, she founded the Spontaneous Movement of Afghan Women (SMAW) to protest the return of policies and practices against women rights and fundamental freedoms. She displayed remarkable leadership and resilience in organizing numerous public protests despite the risks involved. The grassroots movement that is the SMAW quickly grew momentum in Kabul and other provinces, now counting 180 members and having mobilized communities to resist the Taliban’s policies and practices.
She was arrested in the street by armed Taliban in September 2023, and detained along with her son. She was released after three months of torture and ill-treatment under their custody, which further strengthened her resolve to resist Taliban oppression and repression.
Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov: is a Pamiri human rights lawyer from the Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast (GBAO), Tajikistan. He is serving a 16 year-long prison sentence after what is widely considered an unfair trial in retaliation for his human rights work.
As Director of the Lawyers’ Association of Pamir (LAP), he led strategic advocacy efforts in the GBAO, a region marked by its ethnic minority and historical tensions with the central government, including by lobbying for the incorporation of international human rights standards into domestic law and practice, and by providing legal support to residents of the GBAO.
Through the human rights initiatives Commission 44 and Group 6, he played a key role in investigating the death of youth leader Gulbiddin Ziyobekov in November 2021, and the violent repression of subsequent mass protest in the regional capital Khorog. The investigation resulted in critical evidence of an unlawful killing, possibly an extrajudicial execution of the young man, and the unlawful use of force of security forces against protesters, resulting in two deaths, seventeen injured and hundreds detained.
He was arrested on 28 May 2022 together with two other members of Commission 44 amid a widespread crackdown on local informal leadership and residents of the GBAO.
The Martin Ennals Award (MEA): 30 years alongside human rights defenders
The Martin Ennals Award (MEA) was given for the first time in 1994 to recognize, promote and protect human rights defenders at risk or from under-reported contexts. Over the years, the MEA has offered defenders a platform to issues that are of global concern and the means to steer the movement for human rights and larger freedoms.
The MEA culminates every year in a public ceremony in Geneva, co-hosted with the City of Geneva (Ville de Genève). The 2024 MEA Ceremony will take place on November 21th, 2024 at the Salle communale de Plainpalais. The Ceremony, which is also livestreamed, draws many local and international human rights supporters to an inspiring event which celebrates the achievements and commitment of exceptional human rights defenders.
“Geneva has a long tradition of hosting international diplomacy and promoting human rights and fundamental freedoms. The City of Geneva is proud to co-host the Martin Ennals Award and shed light, on this 30th anniversary, on the impressive resilience of two human rights defenders and the hope they bring for peace and equality” concludes Alfonso Gomez, Administrative Counselor of the City of Geneva.
https://www.frontlinedefenders.org/en/statement-report/martin-ennals-award-2024-laureates-announced
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
Established jointly by the Ministry and Nobel Peace Prize laureate Dmitry Muratov in 2023 this prize honors the work of reporters and photojournalists who are continuing their vital mission of spreading free, reliable, quality information in crisis and conflict areas. Journalist Anna Politkovskaya was working in Russia for Novaya Gazeta, whose investigations into corruption, attacks on human rights and the war in Chechnya cost the lives of six of its reporters. Despite the threats she received, she never stopped working to inform the public. Despite the risk to his life, AFP reporter and photojournalist Arman Soldin helped inform the entire world about the reality of the Russian aggression in Ukraine through the photos he took on the front lines of the conflict, starting in February 2022.
PLEASE NOTE: the new award [https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/63b130ab-84e4-41c0-aa9c-3bed6254deb3 ] shares in part the name with the older: [https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/1599D542-7B24-47EF-8D55-CE248EE07356]
The second Anna Politkovskaya-Arman Soldin Prize in 2024 has been awarded to Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham and Palestinian journalist Basel Adra for their whole body of work on the Israeli occupation and settlement-building in the West Bank and in Palestinian territories.
Yuval Abraham and Basel Adra belong to an Israeli-Palestinian collective that made the documentary, No Other Land, which won an award at the 2024 Berlinale. In it, the Palestinian journalist Basel Adra filmed evictions of Palestinians in the West Bank over five years and meets the Israeli journalist Yuval Abraham. The film tells the story of their friendship that was built over the years of their collaboration.
The first 2023 Anna Politkovskaya-Arman Soldin Prize for Courage in Journalism, was awarded to the Mexican journalist Marcela Turati for her commitment to reporting on violence related to drug trafficking and the social consequences of the war waged against cartels, despite the risks that have often cost Mexican journalists their lives.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
A Kenyan newspaper reported on 8 November 2024 something unusual with regard to human rights awards: Police officer Jackson Kuria, aka Shakur the cop, was nominated for the african Human Rights Defenders Awards. The outspoken police officer is the first uniformed officer ever nominated for this prestigious award In an interview with TUKO.co.ke, Shakur emphasised that police officers are meant to protect civilians and their rights. Jackson Kuria Kihara, aka @Shakurthecop, publicly opposed the Finance Bill 2024 and protested against it. Cop Shakur is the first uniformed officer nominated for Human Rights Defenders Award.
The newspaper adds: Did Cop Shakur merit the award? This is a huge milestone for the police officer, as he has made history as the first uniformed officer to be considered for the award.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
©Photo: PIN
Every year, the Homo Homini Award is given to individuals who have contributed to the promotion of human rights and democracy and nonviolent solutions to political conflicts. [see: https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/FAEFB03A-7F9D-4B06-BAF9-04D083724B45]
Since 2021, nominations are open to the public. As a result, not only organisations, but also individuals from all over the world may “nominate their heroes”. The deadline for nominations is 30 November, 2024.
Nominate your hero here
The list of laureates includes famous names as well as relatively unknown individuals. Last year’s laureate is Abzaz Media, one of the last free media outlets in Azerbaijan.
https://www.peopleinneed.net/homo-homini-award-2024-nominate-your-hero-8157gp
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
Thirty two years ago, I and some other good friends of Martin Ennals decided to create an award in the name of this human rights pioneer [see: https://youtu.be/tAhUi2gOHmU?si=6RxI5TduzLfLeJym]. I am very proud and happy that in two weeks time I wil be in Geneva to participate in the 30th edition of the award ceremony. I very much hope that many others wil be able to join, in person or via the live-stream.
The Award was given out for the first time in 1994 to recognize, promote and protect human rights defenders at risk or from under-reported contexts. It culminates every year in a public ceremony in Geneva, co-hosted with the City of Geneva. Over the years, the Award has offered defenders a platform to issues that are of global concern and the connections to steer the movement for human rights and larger freedoms.
The Jury has recognized 53 defenders in the past 30 years, from 37 countries and from all walks of life: lawyers, journalists, academics, medical practitioners, religious practitioners, housewives, students and grassroots activists. Their voices have illustrated some of the most important human rights demands of the past decades: free and fair justice for violations committed by security forces; access to information and freedom of expression to denounce repressive practices and authorities; the fight against gender discrimination and the importance of women’s full and equal participation in society; the essential role of civil society in conflict and post conflict resolution; the role of businesses in exploiting natural resources against the rights to land of indigenous people; or the role of global powers in the violations of the right to life of migrants.
The 2024 Martin Ennals Award continues the legacy and will honour two outstanding human rights defenders who have made it their life mission to protect human rights in their communities and countries despite evolving in deeply repressive environments.
A public discussion with Jury members later in the evening of ceremony will also be the opportunity to showcase the issues that will shape the future of the Award.
Get to know the 2024 Laureates by joining our traditional Award ceremony on Thursday 21 November at 18:30 CET, in Salle communale de Plainpalais, Rue de Carouge 52, Geneva.
The ceremony, co-hosted together with the City of Geneva, is the opportunity to learn about the two 2024 Laureates: who they are, their aspirations and what they have been doing to bring human rights at the forefront. Their inspiring stories illustrate key human rights struggles that the world needs to hear, for peace, dignity and equality of all. The Award ceremony will be followed by a cocktail offered by the City of Geneva.
You cannot join in person? We got you! The ceremony and the debate will be livestreamed on our media platforms.
Festivities will continue on Thursday 21 November with a late-night discussion to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award. Since 1994, it is the careful deliberations of the Jury that have led to the recognition of some of the most outstanding human rights defenders and organisations. The Foundation is pleased to offer a special opportunity to listen in the inner thoughts of leading organisations on the state of human rights in the world and how to reclaim them.
The one-hour discussion will start at 21:15 CET in Salle communale de Plainpalais, after the cocktail, and will be the occasion for a young human rights defender to ask everyone’s most burning questions!
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
The European Parliament on Thursday 24 October 2024 awarded the Sakharov Prize to Venezuela’s opposition leaders. Democratic leader María Corina Machado and exiled presidential candidate Edmundo González won the top human rights award for representing all Venezuelans who are “fighting for the restoration of freedom and democracy.”
The Venezuelan opposition leaders were nominated by the center-right European People’s Party (EPP) and the hard-right European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR). The far-right Patriots group rallied behind them after their original candidate, tech billionaire Elon Musk, failed to make the shortlist for the prestigious prize.
After Venezuela’s elections in late July, in which incumbent socialist President Nicolás Maduro declared victory for another term, the European Union’s foreign service said it would not recognize the results because the government had failed to release supporting voting records from polling stations.
The authoritarian Maduro’s disputed declaration of victory sparked massive opposition protests and a violent government crackdown that left more than two dozen people dead and nearly 200 injured.
Later, presidential candidate González — who fled to Madrid during the crackdown — was recognized by the European Parliament as the country’s legitimate leader.
For more on the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and its laureates see: https://trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/BDE3E41A-8706-42F1-A6C5-ECBBC4CDB449
Two other finalists made the shortlist. One was Gubad Ibadoghlu, a jailed Azerbaijani dissident and critic of the fossil fuel industry nominated by the Greens. The other finalist was a joint nomination of Israeli and Palestinian peace organizations Women Wage Peace and Women of the Sun. The groups, who announced a partnership in 2022, were nominated by the Socialists and the Renew group.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
A Brazilian nun who has helped refugees and migrants for 40 years on Wednesday won the Nansen prize awarded every year by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees for outstanding work to protect internally displaced and stateless people.
Sister Rosita Milesi, 79, is a member of the Catholic order of the Scalabrini nuns, who are renowned for their service to refugees worldwide. Her parents were poor farmers from an Italian background in southern Brazil, and she became a nun at 19.
As a lawyer, social worker and activist, Milesi championed the rights and dignity of refugees and migrants of different nationalities in Brazil for four decades.
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/CC584D13-474F-4BB3-A585-B448A42BB673
She is the second Brazilian to receive the award. Former Sao Paulo Archbishop Dom Paulo Evaristo Arns won the prize in 1985.
Milesi leads the Migration and Human Rights Institute (IMDH) in Brasilia, through which she has helped thousands of forced migrants and displaced people access essential services such as shelter, healthcare, education and legal assistance.
She coordinates RedeMIR, a national network of 60 organizations that operates throughout Brazil, including in remote border regions, to support refugees and migrants.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said the grassroots movement, which was established in 1956 in response to the atomic bomb attacks of August 1945, had “worked tirelessly” to raise awareness about the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of using nuclear weapons.
“Gradually, a powerful international norm developed, stigmatising the use of nuclear weapons as morally unacceptable. This norm has become known as ‘the nuclear taboo’. The testimony of the Hibakusha – the survivors of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – is unique in this larger context,” it added.
Congratulations are in order for Nihon Hidankyo, the Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations. The Nobel Peace Prize has for the first time in at least six years gone to a group of people who work to reduce warmaking, people who in fact seek to abolish nuclear weapons. Nihon Hidankyo has relentlessly done the work of educating the world, thanklessly, for many years. This prize should be celebrated far and wide.
In recent years, nuclear weapons have been the one strong point for the Nobel Committee, the one area of overlap between what they have treated as the purpose of the prize and the actual original purpose of the prize. In 2017, the prize was awarded to the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.
This year’s award is being given to Nihon Hidankyo “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/F8EA8555-BF30-4D39-82C6-6D241CC41B74
https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2024/press-release/
https://www.oikoumene.org/news/wcc-welcomes-nobel-peace-prize-award-to-nihon-hidankyo
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/10/11/nobel-increases-pressure-states-join-nuclear-weapons-ban
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
2024 Right Livelihood Laureates face off against the marginalisation of Indigenous Peoples, Israel’s illegal settlements, dangerous development projects in Mozambique and human rights violations committed with impunity to demand a just future for all.
THE 2024 LAUREATES:
Joan Carling “For raising Indigenous voices in the face of the global ecological breakdown and her leadership in defending people, lands and culture.” Joan Carling is a Filipino Indigenous activist who has been defending the rights of Indigenous Peoples for more than 30 years. Her work spans grassroots and international levels, focusing on human rights, sustainable development, climate justice and the fight against land exploitation. [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/2016/11/02/joan-carling-indigenous-land-rights-defender-from-the-philippines/]
Issa Amro / Youth Against Settlements “For their steadfast non-violent resistance to Israel’s illegal occupation, promoting Palestinian civic action through peaceful means.” Issa Amro is a Palestinian human rights activist who has dedicated his life to peaceful resistance against Israeli occupation in the West Bank city of Hebron. Together with the activist group he founded, Youth Against Settlements, he strives to create a future where Palestinians live freely and with dignity. [https://humanrightsdefenders.blog/tag/issa-amro/]
Anabela Lemos / Justiça Ambiental! “For empowering communities to stand up for their right to say no to exploitative mega-projects and demand environmental justice.” Anabela Lemos is a Mozambican environmental activist and Director of Justiça Ambiental! (JA!), an organisation committed to fighting corporate-led projects that displace communities, damage livelihoods and intensify climate change in Mozambique.
Forensic Architecture “For pioneering digital forensic methods to ensure justice and accountability for victims and survivors of human and environmental rights violations.” Forensic Architecture is a pioneering research agency dedicated to uncovering and documenting the truth about environmental and human rights violations using cutting-edge open-source investigation and digital modelling techniques.
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/97238E26-A05A-4A7C-8A98-0D267FDDAD59
“Amid the chaos of violence, greed and injustice that is affecting so many people around the world, the 2024 Right Livelihood Laureates reignite hope,” said Ole von Uexkull, Right Livelihood’s Executive Director.
https://preview.mailerlite.io/emails/webview/326585/134181621937997150
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
The twelfth Václav Havel Human Rights Prize has been awarded to leading Venezuelan political figure and rights defender María Corina Machado.
See https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/7A8B4A4A-0521-AA58-2BF0-DD1B71A25C8D
Ms Machado is a co-founder and former leader of Venezuelan vote-monitoring and citizens’ rights group Súmate, a former member of Venezuela’s National Assembly and currently the National Co-ordinator of the Vente Venezuela political movement. Barred from running in Venezuela’s recent Presidential election, she went into hiding in August 2024, declaring that she feared for her life, her freedom, and that of her fellow citizens.
Opening the award ceremony, PACE President Theodoros Rousopoulos pointed out that today, 6 of the 11 previous winners of the Havel Prize are in prison, and urged their immediate release. “These individuals committed only one ‘crime’ – they simply wanted to make their voices heard, to share their vision of a just and free society.”
Making the award to Ms Corina Machado’s daughter Ana, the President underlined that the Council of Europe “stands alongside those who risk their lives to make our societies more democratic and just”.
Ms Corina Machado herself, addressing the Assembly remotely from Venezuela, said she was “deeply moved, honoured and grateful” to be the first Latin American to win the distinction. “I want to dedicate this recognition to the millions of Venezuelans who, every day, embody Havel’s values and ideas – some without even realising it.” Her movement had demonstrated “the victory of democrats over dictatorship” in Venezuela’s recent elections, she said, declaring: “Today our struggle continues, because the truth persists until it prevails.”
The two other shortlisted nominees were Azerbaijani human rights defender and activist Akif Gurbanov, who is currently in pre-trial detention in Baku, and Georgian feminist activist and human rights lawyer Babutsa Pataraia, who was present at the ceremony.
As part of the ceremony, the Assembly was also addressed by Russian opposition leader Vladimir Kara-Murza, who was being held in detention in Russia when he was awarded the Havel Prize in 2022. He was released in August of this year as part of a prisoner exchange.
https://www.dw.com/en/venezuela-opposition-figure-wins-top-european-rights-prize/a-70363263
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
With the InnovationAus Awards for Excellence finalists now locked-in for 2024, the voting has now opened to the public to find a worthy winner of the prestigious People’s Choice Award. The People’s Choice Award is how we identify the crowd favourite from among all of our 2024 finalists. The voting is open to the public…
The post Voting now open for InnovationAus People’s Choice Award appeared first on InnovationAus.com.
This post was originally published on InnovationAus.com.
Esteemed awardees from four regions to be recognized in November
New York, September 19, 2024 — The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) today announced that it will honor four exceptional journalists with its 2024 International Press Freedom Awards.
This year’s awardees, who cover Gaza, Guatemala, Niger, and Russia, have withstood extraordinary challenges to continue reporting on their communities while experiencing war, prison, government crackdowns, and the rising criminalization of their work.
“CPJ’s International Press Freedom Awardees symbolize the vital work carried out by reporters everywhere to report facts in the face of fierce attempts to suppress truth,” said CPJ CEO Jodie Ginsberg. “In what has been a devastating year for journalists and for press freedom, it is an honor to stand with them.”
CPJ will posthumously honor Christophe Deloire, who served as director general of the press freedom organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF), with the 2024 Gwen Ifill Press Freedom Award, an award presented annually by CPJ’s board of directors in recognition of an individual’s sustained commitment to press freedom. Deloire led RSF for 12 years before his untimely death in June 2024.
“Christophe Deloire was a tireless advocate for media freedom and a strong partner in our efforts to help journalists globally,” said CPJ Board Chair Jacob Weisberg. “Honoring Christophe is recognition of his shining legacy and of all the journalists he supported throughout his career.”
The CPJ awards will be presented in New York City on November 21. John Oliver, host of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, will be master of ceremonies at the event, which will be chaired by Jessica E. Lessin, founder and CEO of The Information.
CPJ’s 2024 awardees include:
Shrouq Al Aila (Gaza Strip)
Shrouq Al Aila is a Palestinian journalist, producer, and researcher reporting from the Gaza Strip. Al Aila took charge of Ain Media, an independent production company specializing in professional media services, after her husband – who co-founded the company – was killed in the Israel-Gaza war. She continues to cover the war and its devastating impact on Gaza’s residents despite having been displaced several times in an effort to evade Israeli attacks.
Alsu Kurmasheva (U.S. – Russia)
Alsu Kurmasheva, a dual U.S.-Russian citizen, is a journalist and editor at Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (RFE/RL). Kurmasheva was detained in Russia in October 2023 and in July was sentenced to 6½ years in prison on charges of spreading “fake” news about the Russian army. She was released by Russia in August 2024 as part of an historic prisoner exchange.
Quimy de León (Guatemala)
Quimy de León is a Guatemalan journalist, medical professional, and historian with over 20 years of professional experience. She is a co-founder of Prensa Comunitaria, a news agency specializing in environmental and human rights issues. Her work with the outlet has led to relentless threats from corporate and governmental forces. In 2017, de León founded Ruda, a feminist digital magazine devoted to sexual and reproductive rights.
Samira Sabou (Niger)
Samira Sabou is one of Niger’s most prominent investigative journalists. She has been arrested, detained and subjected to years of legal harassment because of her reporting on governance issues throughout her career. Sabou, who publishes mainly on her Facebook page, is the president of the Association of Bloggers for Active Citizenship, an organization that advocates for freedom of expression and the rights of women and youth.
Now in its 34th year, CPJ’s annual International Press Freedom Awards and benefit dinner honor courageous journalists from around the world.
For more information about attending or sponsoring CPJ’s International Press Freedom Awards, please fill out this form, call Buckley Hall Events at (+1) 914-579-1000, or contact CPJ’s Development Office at (+1) 212- 300-9021 or CPJIPFA@buckleyhallevents.com.
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About the Committee to Protect Journalists
The Committee to Protect Journalists is an independent, nonprofit organization that promotes press freedom worldwide. We defend the right of journalists to report the news safely and without fear of reprisal.
Note to news outlets: CPJ International Press Freedom awardees or CPJ experts are available for interviews upon request by emailing press@cpj.org. High-resolution images of the awardees are also available.
This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Committee to Protect Journalists.
This post was originally published on Radio Free.
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/A5043D5E-68F5-43DF-B84D-C9EF21976B18
36-year-old Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara is a Afro-Cuban self-taught artist. He comes from a poor and marginalized neighbourhood in Havana and uses sculptural and performance art to protest violations against freedom of expression. He has been arrested multiple times for his art and activism and is currently in prison.
Otero Alcántara is the general coordinator of the San Isidro Movement – a constellation of artists, journalists and academics promoting freedom of expression. It was established in 2018 as a reaction to Decree 349. The decree requires artists to obtain advance permission for public and private exhibitions and performances. Decree 349 is one of the legal instruments used to silence artists, musicians and performers who are critical to the Cuban government.
Otero Alcántara’s artivism has come at a high personal cost. Since 2016 he has been the subject of interrogations, political persecution and arrests, and his art has been confiscated and destroyed by state security officers.
Despite this, he continued his artivism through performance pieces to raise awareness of Cuba’s ongoing repression of independent artists and activists. Otero Alcántara was detained on July 11, 2021, after posting a video online of his planned participation in the protests. In 2022, he was convicted for “contempt, public disorder and insults to national symbols”. He is currently serving a five-year sentence in Guanajay maximum security prison outside Havana.
The Rafto prize 2024 aims to highlight the importance of the work of Luis Manuel Otero Alcántara and the basic human right to expressing oneself through art. We call upon the Cuban government to stop the persecution of artists and human rights defenders. We also urge them to free Otero Alcántara and all political prisoners in Cuba.
https://www.rafto.no/en/news/the-rafto-prize-2024-to-artivist-luis-manuel-otero-alcantara
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
August 27, 2024
The selection panel of the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize, which rewards outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights in Europe and beyond, has announced the shortlist for the 2024 Award.
Meeting in Prague, the panel – made up of independent figures from the world of human rights and chaired by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) Theodoros Rousopoulos – decided to shortlist the following three nominees, in alphabetical order:
The nominee is a human rights defender, political activist and active member of the Azerbaijani civil society. He is the co-founder of the Institute of Democratic Initiative (IDI) and of the Third Republic Platform. He was arrested in March 2024 in a wave of arrests targeting journalists and activists in the country.
The nominee is a leading political figure in Venezuela engaged in denouncing human rights abuses in her country and defending democracy and the rule of law. She is the co-founder of the Venezuelan volunteer civil organisation ‘Súmate’ for civil and political freedom, rights and citizen participation.
The nominee is a leading feminist activist and human rights lawyer in Georgia. She is the Director of ‘Sapari’, an NGO focusing on women’s rights and providing support for victims of violence since 2013. She has worked for over a decade to fight against feminicide, sexual violence against women, and sexual harassment.
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/7A8B4A4A-0521-AA58-2BF0-DD1B71A25C8D
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
Human Rights First announced a call for nominations for the 2024 Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award. Nominations are due by September 23, 2024.
“Honoring those who champion human rights despite immense personal risk is at the heart of what we do,” said Human Rights First President and CEO Sue Hendrickson. “This award stands as a testament to the power of individuals to make a difference, even in the face of adversity.”
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/awards/F23B5465-6A15-4463-9A91-14B2977D9FCE
Individuals or organizations can submit nominations. Nominees will be judged based on the following criteria:
The nomination form can be found [here].
For any questions about the award or the nomination process, please contact Human Rights First at BaldwinAward2024@humanrightsfirst.org.
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.
UN experts called on the Tunisian authorities to respect the right to judicial guarantees and judicial protection of Sihem Bensedrine, who was arrested on 1 August 2024.
“In a context marked by the suppression of numerous dissenting voices, the arrest of Ms Bensedrine raises serious concerns about the respect of the right to freedom of opinion and expression in Tunisia and has a chilling effect on journalists, human rights defenders and civil society in general,” the experts said.
https://www.trueheroesfilms.org/thedigest/laureates/5A2E5622-80B0-425E-A2AE-2703983126B4
Bensedrine is the former President of the Truth and Dignity Commission (TVD) which documented the crimes committed under previous regimes, and a journalist who has long denounced human rights violations in the country.
Since 2021, she has been involved in a judicial investigation into the alleged falsification of a chapter in the TVD´s final report regarding corruption in the banking system. The independent human rights experts have already held discussions with the Tunisian government concerning this investigation.
“This arrest could amount to judicial harassment of Ms Bensedrine for work she has undertaken as President of the Truth and Dignity Commission,” the experts said. “It appears to be aimed at discrediting information contained in the Commission’s report, which could give rise to legal proceedings against alleged perpetrators of corruption under the previous regimes.”
The Special Rapporteurs urged Tunisia to uphold its obligation to protect members of commissions of enquiry into gross human rights violations from defamation and civil or criminal proceedings brought against them because of their work, or the content of their reports.
“We call for strict respect for Ms Bensedrine’s right to judicial guarantees, including the right to a fair trial by due process, impartiality and independence, and for an end to abusive proceedings and reprisals against her.”
The experts: Bernard Duhaime, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence; Irene Khan, Special Rapporteur on freedom of opinion and expression; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders.
https://www.miragenews.com/un-experts-demand-justice-for-tunisian-rights-1292532/
https://www.hrw.org/news/2024/08/12/tunisia-hollows-out-its-media-landscape-ahead-elections
This post was originally published on Hans Thoolen on Human Rights Defenders and their awards.