The

Martin Ennals Martin Ennals (27 July 19275 October 1991) was a British human rights activist. Ennals served as the secretary-general of Amnesty International from 1968 to 1980. He went on to help found the British human rights organisation ARTICLE 19 in 19 ...

Award for Human Rights Defenders, sometimes called "the Nobel Prize for human rights", is an annual prize for human rights defenders. It was created in 1993 to honour and protect individuals around the world who demonstrate exceptional courage in defending and promoting

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

. Its principal aim is to provide protection ("protective publicity") to human rights defenders who are at risk by focusing international

media Media may refer to: Communication * Means of communication, tools and channels used to deliver information or data ** Advertising media, various media, content, buying and placement for advertising ** Interactive media, media that is inter ...

attention on their plight, mainly through online means and advocacy work. The Award is named after British human rights activist Martin Ennals, former secretary general of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

and a

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

laureate. The Award carries an important financial prize intended to support the Award winners' work in the field of human rights. The Award ceremony, co-hosted with th
City of Geneva
takes place in the first semester of the year. The Jury, composed of representatives of ten of the world's leading human rights organisations, selects the Award winner each year. Members of the jury includ
Amnesty International

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. Headquartered in New York City, the group investigates and reports on issues including War crime, war crimes, crim ...

, International Federation of Human Rights, World Organisation Against Torture,

Front Line Defenders Front Line Defenders, or The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, is an Irish-based human rights organisation founded in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in 2001 to protect those who work non-violently to uph ...

International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is supported by an International Secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland, and staffed by lawyers drawn from a wide range of jurisdi ...

, Human Rights First, International Service for Human Rights
Brot für die Welt
and Huridocs.

Recipients

The award was in the news in November 2023 when Solton Achilova was prevented from attending that years ceremony by the authorities in Turkmenistan. She was a critic of her country's government and she had been a runner-up for the 202? award. She had been unable to attend in 2021 because of the Covid-19 pandemic and she had planned to pick up the award in 2023. No reason was given by the authorities for preventing her leaving the country.

References

External links

Martin Ennals Award website
Human rights awards Awards established in 1993 {{award-stub