Press ReleaseVersoix / Geneva / Switzerland, January 16th, 2002 Chadian Woman Wins Highest Award of Human Rights Movement Jacqueline Moudeina, a lawyer from Chad, was announced today as the winner of the 2002 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. The announcement comes at the opening of a key meeting, Frontline's Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders, where Ms Moudeina is one of the participants. See: www.frontlinedefenders.org . Ms Moudeina is the lawyer for the victims of the former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré. She took enormous risks by filing complaints in Chad against a number of Habré's accomplices, including the heads of Habré's political police, many of whom are still in positions of power. She also is one of the lawyers in the case against Habré himself in Senegal, where he lives in exile. In February 2000, a Senegalese court indicted Habré, on charges if torture and crimes against humanity, and placed him under house arrest. Those charges were later dismissed, but the victims are now seeking Habré's extradition to stand trial in Belgium. As one of the few women lawyers in Chad, Jacqueline Moudeina works for the local NGO, ATPDH (*), where she is daily engaged in providing free legal advice and human rights awareness training. On 11 June 2001, she took part in a peaceful sit-in by a group of women to protest against the fraudulent elections. A security squad, led by one of the men she is suing, threw a grenade at her. Jacqueline Moudeina almost lost a leg and had to go to Paris for treatment. Nonetheless, she plans to return soon to continue her work against impunity and her quest for justice. The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) is a unique collaboration among ten of the world's leadingnon-governmental human rights organizations. The Jury is composed of the following: Amnesty International, Defence for Children, German Diakona, Human Rights Watch, HURIDOCS, International Alert, International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights, International Service for Human Rights and World Organisation Against Torture. The MEA, created in 1993, is granted annually to an individual or an organization who has displayed exceptional courage in combating human rights violations. The award of 20,000 CHF is given to further human rights work. The previous 8 recipients of the MEA are: Peace Brigades International (2001), Immaculée Birhaheka, DRC; Natasa Kandic, Yugoslavia; Eyad El Sarraj, Palestine; Samuel Ruiz Garcia, Mexico; Clement Nwankwo, Nigeria; Asma Jahangir, Pakistan; Harry Wu, China (1994). Martin Ennals (1927-1991) was instrumental to the modern human rights movement. A fiercely devoted activist, he creatively pursued ideas ahead of his time as the first Secretary-General of Amnesty International and the driving force behind many other organisations. His deep desire was to see more cooperation and solidarity among NGOs. The ceremony takes place in Geneva on April 11th, 2002. For further details on the Martin Ennals Award, please call the Secretariat of the Martin Ennals Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland, ++ 41 (22) 755 52 52, e-mail info@martinennalsaward.org Website: www.martinennalsaward.org . Mobile tel. of Chair MEA, Hans Thoolen: ++ 30 (9) 44 75 86 78. (*) Jacqueline Moudeina is a member of the Executive Committee of the ATPDH (Association Tchadienne pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l'Homme) |
