Joint Mobile Group, Russia: After the murder of several human
rights activists working in Chechnya,
Igor Kalyapin started the Joint Mobile Group. To reduce the risk they send
investigators on short missions to Chechnya to document Human Rights abuses.
This information is then used to publicise these abuses to seek legal redress. Igor Kalyapin speaking of the effect of
international publicity said “… when
the international community is watching us it is more difficult for the
authorities to take steps against us…”
Micheline Calmy-Rey,
Chair, Martin Ennals Foundation said “The
choice of the Jury has again shown that human rights defenders are the most
crucial actors and can make a difference on the ground”.
“We honor the Joint Mobile Group at a time when the Russian Human Rights
community is threatened and labelled as 'foreign agents'. The Joint Mobile
Group, coordinated by the Interregional NGO “Committee Against Torture” - a
member of the SOS torture network - is one of the finest antitorture actors in
the world. Ultimately, human rights are in the national interest of any
democratic state”, said OMCT Secretary General.
The Jury also
selected two recipients of the New Martin Ennals Prizes
Mona Seif, Egypt: Core founder of the” No To Military
Trials for Civilians”, Mona has brought together activists, lawyers, victims’
families, local stakeholders and started a nationwide movement against military
trials.
Mario Joseph, referred to as Haiti’s most
important Human Rights lawyer, he has worked on some of the most important
cases in Haiti, including the current case against the former
dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier.
“This years consideration of the three nominees reflects the
extraordinary courage that it takes to fight human rights violations in many
countries around the world, not the least Egypt, Haiti and Russia”, said the
OMCT.
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 (OMCT), Front Line Defenders, International Commission of Jurists, German Diakonie, International Service for Human Rights and HURIDOCS.
For further information, please contact:
Michael Khambatta, +41 79 474 8208, khambatta@martinennalsaward.org
or visit www.martinennalsaward.org
Note: see the Russian version of the Press Release attached
PR Martin Ennals Award laureate - Russian
2 pages / 165 KB
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