Martin Ennals Award 2024 laureates announced
Two outstanding human rights defenders who have made it their life’s mission to protect human rights in Afghanistan and in Tajikistan will receive the Martin Ennals Award 2024 on 21 November, 2024 in Geneva, Switzerland, on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award.
The Jury of 10 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 recognised and honored in 2024, on the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award.
The two 2024 Laureates, Zholia Parsi (Afghanistan) and Manuchehr Kholiqnazarov (Tajikistan) 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,” said Hans Thoolen, Chair of the Martin Ennals Award Jury.
The two Laureates for 2024
Zholia Parsi is a teacher from Kabul, Afghanistan. Having lost her career and seeing her daughters deprived of their education with the 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 organising 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 mobilised 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 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, 17 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 recognise, 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 21 November 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.
