At 6pm on October 6, 2015, the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders will be presented to the 2015 Laureate at a ceremony hosted by the City of Geneva at UNI-Dufour, Auditorium U-600.
No registration is required to attend the event.
Follow the live broadcast of the Ceremony here (from 18:00 GVA time)!
This award is given to human rights defenders who have shown deep commitment and face great personal risk. The aim of the award is to provide protection through international recognition.
The nominees for the 2015 Martin Ennals Award are:

Robert Sann Aung (Myanmar)
Since his
first year of University in 1974, Robert Sann Aung has courageously fought
against human rights abuses. He has been repeatedly imprisoned in harsh
conditions, physically attacked as well as regularly threatened. His education
was interrupted numerous times and he was disbarred from 1993 – 2012. In 2012
he managed to regain his license to practice law. Since then he has represented
jailed child soldiers, those protesting at a contested copper mine, peaceful
political protesters, those whose land has been confiscated by the military, as
well as student activists. Throughout his career he has provided legal
services, or just advice, often pro bono, to those whose rights have been
affected.
He stated, "I feel humble and extremely honored to be nominated for this
prestigious award. This nomination conveys the message to activists, human
rights defenders and promoters who fight for equality, justice and democracy in
Myanmar that their efforts are not forgotten by the world. And this is also the
nomination for the people in Myanmar who stand together with me, who struggle
with me, for the betterment of citizens so that they can live in dignity, under
the just law, in conformity with the principles of UN human rights
declaration."
Asmaou Diallo (Guinea)
Her human rights work started following the events of 28 September 2009 when
the Guinean military attacked peaceful demonstrators. Over 150 were killed,
including her son, and over 100 women raped. Hundreds more were injured. She
and l’Association des Parents et Amis des Victimes du 28 septembre 2009
(APIVA), which she founded, work to obtain justice for these crimes and to
provide medical and vocational support to victims of sexual assault, many of
whom cannot return to their homes. She has worked to encourage witnesses to
come forward and supported them as they provided information and testimony to
court proceedings. As a result, eleven people have been charged, including
senior army officers.
She stated, “As a human rights defender in Guinea, I am very comforted to be among the nominees for the Martin Ennals Foundation, this prize encourages me to continue my fight for the protection and promotion of human rights in Guinea. I trust that this award will have a positive effect on the legal cases concerning the events of the September 28, 2009, and will be a lever for all defenders of human rights in Guinea”.
Ahmed Mansoor (United Arab Emirates)
Since
2006, he has focussed on initiatives concerning freedom of expression, civil
and political rights. He successfully campaigned in 2006-2007 to support two
people jailed for critical social comments. They were released and the charges
dropped. Shortly after, the Prime Minister of UAE issued an order not to jail
journalists in relation to their work. He is one of the few voices within the
United Arab Emirates who provides a credible independent assessment of human
rights developments. He regularly raises concerns on arbitrary detention,
torture, international standards for fair trials, non-independence of the
judiciary, and domestic laws that violate international law. He was jailed in
2011 and since then has been denied a passport and banned from travelling.
He stated, “I'm very pleased to be nominated for the Martin Ennals award. This
recognition indicates that we are not left alone in this part of the world and
that our voices resonate and our efforts are appreciated by a well-informed
people. I hope this nomination sheds further light on the human rights issues
in the UAE. It is not just full of skyscrapers, big malls and an area attractive
to businesses, but there are other struggles of different sorts beneath all of
that.”
The main award of the human rights
movement. The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) is a
unique collaboration among ten of the world’s leading human rights
organizations to give protection to human rights defenders worldwide. The Jury
is composed of the following NGOs:
- Amnesty
International
- Human Rights Watch
- Human Rights First
- Int’l Federation for Human Rights
- World Organisation Against Torture
- Front Line Defenders
- International Commission of Jurists
- EWDE Germany,
- International Service for Human Rights
- HURIDOCS.
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