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The Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzay
by Norwegian Nobel Committee, agencies
Pakistan / India
 
Oslo, 10 October 2014
 
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is to be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzay for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. Children must go to school and not be financially exploited. In the poor countries of the world, 60% of the present population is under 25 years of age.
 
It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected. In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation.
 
Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain. He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights.
 
Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzay has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations. This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.
 
The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism. Many other individuals and institutions in the international community have also contributed.
 
It has been calculated that there are 168 million child labourers around the world today. In 2000 the figure was 78 million higher. The world has come closer to the goal of eliminating child labour.
 
The struggle against suppression and for the rights of children and adolescents contributes to the realization of the “fraternity between nations” that Alfred Nobel mentions in his will as one of the criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize.
 
http://www.nobelprize.org/index.html
 
http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2014/yousafzai-lecture.html http://webtv.un.org/watch/malala-yousafzai-nobel-prize-laureate-press-conference/4509520468001 http://www.malala.org/ http://webtv.un.org/watch/at-un-malala-yousafzai-rallies-youth-to-stand-up-for-universal-education/2542492853001 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-23241937 http://www.ted.com/talks/ziauddin_yousafzai_my_daughter_malala http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2014/satyarthi-lecture.html http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2014/satyarthi-interview.html http://www.pbs.org/opb/thenewheroes/meet/satyarthi.html http://www.globalmarch.org/news/all/2014 http://www.campaignforeducation.org http://www.hrw.org/news/2014/10/10/nobel-peace-prize-boosts-battle-end-child-labor http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-29568852


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No progress will ever be achieved without human rights defenders
by Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders
Switzerland
 
Geneva, 7 October 2014
 
Address by Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights at the 2014 Martin Ennals Award Ceremony for Human Rights Defenders
 
We have reached, seemingly, tragically, a state in our human affairs, where we must renew our search for the answer as to why so much pain still exists in so many of humanity’s rooms. Why must so many weep with sobbing that neither day nor night will end? Why is this so? Why can there be so much suffering still? Why is there so much poverty and hunger, corruption, bigotry, violence and disease? And not just in one part of the world, but in so many places: North and South, East and West. And so much of it connected together.
 
Ebola exists in humans today because of a web of interlinked factors, environmental, economic, social, political. And the poor are ravaged, once again. Violence exists around the world, horrifying now -- both in scope and in intensity -- because of wickedness but also because violence remains a currency of human interaction. The line separating its legal use from its criminal use is so thin, the twins alas become indistinguishable to many who do not know the law, or care to know it, and criminal accountability for the worst crimes is still not yet universal. Is it surprising then, the extent to which we live tenuously?
 
Until we squeeze violence out of the human system altogether, and replace it with reason and kindness, compassion and common sense, we will live in the long shadows of a threatened life. Xenophobia, bigotry, chauvinism, racism, ethnic nationalisms and greed, are growing again. In our Office, so many are the worrying daily reports, streaming in every morning from so many parts of the world, it is difficult to know in which direction to swivel first.
 
What is certain is no progress will ever be achieved without human rights defenders.
 
Defending human rights remains a dangerous activity in many countries. Activists continue to be threatened, charged with criminal offences, arbitrarily arrested, attacked, tortured, subject to enforced disappearances and even killed. The space for civil society and defenders is under enormous pressure. Authorities seek to silence them and obstruct their work by labelling them foreign agents, hamstringing them with impossible administrative regulations or exorbitant fines, by public smear campaigns and by misusing the judicial system to harass them.
 
Those most at risk of violations include judges and lawyers; journalists; trade unionists; those working on sexual orientation and gender identity, and defenders who work on environmental and land issues. Women human rights defenders are especially at risk, because in resisting the oppression of the authorities they are perceived as rebelling against an entire orthodoxy of necessary submission.
 
Human rights defenders are not violent seditionists, criminals, nor bloody revolutionaries, as so many governments like to portray them. They are the best of us, all of us. And they have a message. To all governments, we say: focus on their message. Listen to what they are saying. Understand the message, talk to them about it, be persuaded or persuade, without violence, instead of silencing them, punishing them, their families, and their communities.
 
Is the State so fragile it cannot tolerate the criticism of a well-intended human rights activist?
 
The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders has become an important annual event for the human rights community, in this city which is so central to the architecture of the international system of human rights. We are here to recognize those who are extraordinary, who capture our imagination, like our nominees. There are of course tens of thousands of women and men – and children –who like them defy discrimination, corruption, the arbitrary abuse of power and every other kind of human rights violation, on the part of authorities of every weight and stripe – from school boards to community councils, from corporations to ministries – who have forgotten that they should serve the people.
 
These defenders are people who know that they risk personal security, personal liberty, the ordinary comforts and conveniences of a pleasurable life – and even, perhaps, life itself. And yet they choose to resist oppression; they stand up for the equality, freedom and dignity of all human beings – and do so peacefully.
 
Many of you may know the work of Victor Frankl. He was the Austrian psychiatrist who survived three years in Nazi concentration camps and emerged with a deep understanding of human resilience. He told us, “Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing -- your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation.”
 
And this is what these brave and astonishing individuals have shown. They are, in every other way, ordinary people, but they have stood, very simply, on principle, refusing to capitulate to the greater physical power of their oppressors. Their moral courage permits us the privilege of holding onto the passport we call humanity, and to be proud of it.
 
Their message to suffering people around the world is it does not have to be this way. No, governments may not treat people in any way they wish.
 
No, raw, crude force is not legitimate. States should be at the service of their people, and not the other way round. And individual acts matter. We can vote, teach, advocate, participate in boycotts, and volunteer. We can combine our resources and draw strength and support from others in networks of activism. And we will never support violence.
 
The determination and integrity of these human rights defenders overwhelms the normal hum of fatigue and passivity and cynicism. It brings me, and perhaps it brings you, a sense of humility, a feeling of a great and powerful debt being owed, and the will to continue working for the equal and inalienable dignity and rights of every human being.
 
Our job is to make it impossible for States to continue to suppress the voices of human rights defenders. Their peaceful and legitimate activities must no longer be criminalized or repressed. Abuses against them must be investigated and their perpetrators named and brought to justice.
 
It is particularly vital, from our perspective, to ensure that defenders who interact with the United Nations and its representatives should be free from reprisals and intimidation.
 
Perhaps you have raised an eyebrow, thinking, “it all sounds very noble, but really, how do you propose to do it?” How will the polite ladies and gentlemen of the human rights community stand up against the abuses of state sovereignty and the misuse of state power?
 
Martin Ennals knew one way: awareness. The light of day is a powerful cleanser. It is our job to bring a powerful beam of light to patterns of human rights abuse, knowing that this light will bring shame to the authorities. We must raise these cases again and again, in every arena in which governments have vowed to uphold the equality, dignity and inalienable, indivisible and inter-dependent human rights of all.
 
We must expose these narratives of violation and hypocrisy to the light, knowing that every individual who hears them will be inspired to take action, in his or her own way. I am humbled by our nominees. We will not forget their stories.
 
(The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders 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; International Federation for Human Rights; World Organisation Against Torture; Front Line Defenders; International Commission of Jurists; EWDE Germany; HURIDOCS; International Service for Human Rights)
 
http://www.icj.org/courageous-mexican-woman-wins-the-martin-ennals-award-2014/
 
Oct 2014
 
2014 Martin Ennals Award Laureate: Mexican lawyer and activist Alejandra Ancheita.
 
Alejandra Ancheita is a Mexican lawyer and activist who leads the fight for the rights of the migrants, workers, and indigenous communities of her native country to dramatically raise their standard of living.
 
She is the founder and Executive Director of ProDESC, and has for over 15 years worked with migrants, workers, and indigenous communities to protect their land and labour rights, in dealings with transnational mining and energy companies. These disputes have included violent attacks on those she is trying to protect. She is one of the pioneers in seeking accountability for transnational companies in Mexican courts when local communities rights are not taken into account.
 
In Mexico, there has been a pattern of attacks, threats, criminalization, and murders of human rights defenders. Ms Ancheita and ProDESC have been subjected to surveillance, a defamation campaign in the national media, and a break in at their offices.
 
Ms Ancheita, stated, “This recognition calls attention to the increasing violence being suffered by human rights defenders in Mexico, particularly women defenders. I hope that it provides better conditions and increased security not just for me, but for all human rights defenders in my country.”
 
Alejandra is a human rights attorney who has been living with threats against her life and her family"s life in recent years.
 
"It is very difficult to deal with the fear, and it is very painful to understand that the violence is a reality," she said. "But realizing that, however also helps me to continue finding ways to keep fighting and to maintain hope while building a process of justice."
 
Ancheita said the award brought recognition of the value of ProDESC"s work advocating social, economic and cultural rights in Mexico.
 
Ms Ancheita was selected by the International Human Rights Community. The 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 Martin Ennals award, is named after the late British lawyer who became the first head of human rights organization Amnesty International, and is granted annually to a person who has an exceptional record of fighting against human rights violations.
 
2014 Nominee - Cao Shunli - China.
 
Cao Shunli was a Chinese activist who lost her life in the struggle to build a more just society.
 
Her death in detention was announced on March 14th. She disappeared on Sept 14th shortly before boarding a flight order to participate in the Human Rights Council. Chinese authorities only acknowledged her detention months later. She died in custody after being denied medical attention for known health conditions until it was too late. Since 2008, she vigorously advocated for access to information, freedom of speech, and freedom of assembly. For this, she spent over two years in the “re-education through labour” system and was subjected to repeated harassment. This is a tragic example of reprisals suffered by human rights defenders who work with international human rights mechanisms.
 
“The Human Rights Council, its President and other UN Member States must now support an independent investigation into her death, and hold China accountable for this reprehensible reprisal against a committed and peaceful human rights defender”, said Michael Ineichen of the International Service for Human Rights.
 
2014 Nominee - Adilur Rahman Khan - Bangladesh
 
Adilur Rahman Khan is an Advocate of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh, a former Deputy Attorney General for Bangladesh (October 2001 – May 2007) and a founder and the Secretary of the human rights organisation Odhikar.
 
Since the 1990’s, he has worked on a wide range of human rights issues, such as illegal detention, enforced disappearances, and extra-judicial killings. His organization, Odhikar, is one of the few independent voices left in Bangladesh. Personally he is facing criminal prosecution for documenting the extrajudicial deaths of 61 people during demonstrations against the government.
 
In August 2013, he was detained by police with no arrest warrant, who then at first denied holding him. Immediate widespread publicity is credited with saving his life. Currently, his organization is facing closure. Donor funds destined for Odhikar are being blocked by the Prime Minister’s Office.
 
Mr Adilur Khan stated “my nomination for this prestigious award will further inspire me personally, and my fellow colleagues who shoulder the struggles for democracy and the rule of law aiming to achieve social justice in Bangladesh. As a symbol of recognition for the human rights defenders it will enhance the visibility and protection for the families of the victims of human rights abuses.”
 
* Visit the link below to watch interviews with the nominees and footage of the presentation.


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