This year, the Martin Ennals Foundation celebrates the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award, a prestigious distinction awarded to the most outstanding human rights defenders by a Jury composed of ten leading organisations of the human rights movement.
The Award was created in 1994 to recognize, promote and protect human rights defenders at risk or from under-reported contexts. It culminates every year in a public ceremony in Geneva, co-hosted with the City of Geneva. Over the years, the Award has offered defenders a platform to issues that are of global concern and the connections to steer the movement for human rights and larger freedoms.
The Jury has recognized 53 defenders in the past 30 years, from 37 countries and from all walks of life: lawyers, journalists, academics, medical practitioners, religious practitioners, housewives, students and grassroots activists. Their voices have illustrated some of the most important human rights demands of the past decades: free and fair justice for violations committed by security forces; access to information and freedom of expression to denounce repressive practices and authorities; the fight against gender discrimination and the importance of women’s full and equal participation in society; the essential role of civil society in conflict and post conflict resolution; the role of businesses in exploiting natural resources against the rights to land of indigenous people; or the role of global powers in the violations of the right to life of migrants.
The 2024 Martin Ennals Award continues the legacy and will honour two outstanding human rights defenders who have made it their life mission to protect human rights in their communities and countries despite evolving in deeply repressive environments.
A public discussion with Jury members later in the evening of ceremony will also be the opportunity to showcase the issues that will shape the future of the Award.
Get to know the 2024 Laureates by joining our traditional Award ceremony on Thursday 21 November at 18:30 CET, in Salle communale de Plainpalais, Rue de Carouge 52, Geneva.
You cannot join in person? We got you! The ceremony and the debate will be livestreamed on our media platforms.
Festivities will continue on Thursday 21 November with a late-night discussion to celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award. Since 1994, it is the careful deliberations of the Jury that have led to the recognition of some of the most outstanding human rights defenders and organisations. The Foundation is pleased to offer a special opportunity to listen in the inner thoughts of leading organisations on the state of human rights in the world and how to reclaim them.
The one-hour discussion will start at 21:15 CET in Salle communale de Plainpalais, after the cocktail, and will be the occasion for a young human rights defender to ask everyone’s most burning questions!
Every year, Jury members go through a careful and difficult process to identify the name of the Laureate of the year. The high quality of the applications received in 2024 notably pushed the Jury to distinguish not only two Laureates, but also to recognize some of the most outstanding candidates it considered.
As such, the Foundation is launching the 2024 festivities with a series of portraits of these outstanding human rights defenders, check them out!
With the experience of a previous Martin Ennals Laureate specialized in detention and the migration context, the Foundation wishes to take a moment of the 30th anniversary festivities to shed light on the routine violation of migrants’ rights and continued protection gaps. Already among the most affected, human rights defenders who are on the move, displaced or exiled face additional repercussions for their legitimate activities and for speaking up against the limits of democracy.
The event will showcase collected video testimonies from outstanding candidates of the 2024 nomination process to bring a vivid image of migration today and discuss avenues for improvement.
The event will take place on Wednesday 13 November at 18:30 CET, as part of the human rights week organized by the University of Geneva under the thematic “The uncertainties of democracy.”
