Short Report on the
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| At the Television Suisse Romande Studios, North-South Media Festival |
In 2002 the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) helped to increase the profile of human rights defenders (HRDs) all over the world and to provide protection to one activist in particular: Jacqueline Moudeina from Chad. The widely distributed press releases of 16 January and 11 April 2002, explain how she took enormous risks by filing complaints in Chad against a number of Habré's accomplices, 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. On 11 June 2001, when she took part in a peaceful sit-in to protest against the fraudulent elections, a security squad - led by one of the men she is suing - threw a grenade at her and seriously wounded her. Jacqueline Moudeina had to go to Paris for treatment. Jacqueline has informed us that a large part of the prize money, which she received will be used to pay the medical bills for her recovery. She is now making good progress and is planning to return at the end of August.
The ceremony itself took place in Geneva on 11 April at 17.00 hours in the big studio 4 of Télévision Suisse Romande (TSR). It was again a well-attended and moving event, and…this year we had more TV coverage than ever. Those who are interested can obtain a copy of the media impact report prepared from the Secretariat in Geneva. Jacqueline Moudeina was the main guest in three different TV programmes (ZigZag Café and FaxCulture of TSR, and an interview with Denise Epoté-Duran for TV5 Afrique). All three were re-broadcast, via TV5, all over the francophone world and in particular in Africa. ZigZag Café included in its broadcast the integral version of the film on the work of Jacqueline made by Willem Offenberg and Rob Brouwer, thus ensuring that a film that would never have been shown on TV in Chad was now seen by thousands of compatriots of Jacqueline Moudeina. Her return to Chad will be followed closely by the media and public opinion. The performance and handing over of the award by the Senegalese singer and human rights activist Cheikh Lô added much to the ambiance and outreach of the ceremony. This new feature is something we would like to repeat next year.
In 2003 the MEA ceremony could be a direct (or quasi direct) TV broadcast. Probably in the first week of April 2003 and thus still parallel to the North-South Festival and the Commission on Human Rights. Although the precise 'format' of the broadcast needs to be further agreed, this represents a big step forward in our efforts to get substantive human rights information on the screens.
Contributions this year, came from AI Netherlands, the Barbara Hendricks Foundation, Ms Elisabeth Ahmadi, the Oltramare Foundation and the German Ambassador in Geneva/Bern.
This year's award has shown that the MEA has the potential to generate the kind of publicity that brings protection to HRDs and that is what the MEA is ultimately all about. The Award may be even more important now that the general climate for HRDs has worsened with the 11/9 aftershock. On behalf of the award winners and the ten NGOs on the MEA Jury, listed on the front page, we would like to thank most profoundly all those who have supported the MEA in 2002.