This year, the Martin Ennals Foundation celebrates the 30^th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award, a prestigious distinction awarded by ten of the leading human rights organizations in the world. The ceremony in honor of the 2024 Laureates took place in Geneva on November 21^st. The Foundation is now continuing the 2024 festivities with a series of portraits of some of the most outstanding human rights defenders whom the Jury considered. 

Armel Niyongere is a Burundian lawyer and Human Rights Defender who was forced to leave his country after being disbarred and sentenced to life in prison for speaking out against torture on an international stage. He has dedicated his entire life to defend voiceless victims of human rights abuses since 2002. He is the president of the Association des Chrétiens pour l’Abolition de la Torture au Burundi and the coordinator of the Collective of Victims’ Lawyers and Civil Party “Justice for Burundi” of the Burundian crisis who have filed more than two thousand warrants for the defense of their interests before regional and international courts. Despite an Interpol arrest warrant unjustly issued against him through Burundian authorities and regular threats, he continues to carry out his work from exile.

–> STAY TUNED FOR ARMEL’S FULL STORY AND INTERVIEW, WHICH WILL BE PUBLISHED HERE SHORTLY