Martin Ennals Awards 2021 and 2022 nominees

BY Olga Kravets and noor

The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders honours individuals and organisations that have shown exceptional commitment to defending and promoting human rights, despite the risks involved.

NOOR was assigned by the Martin Ennals Foundation to produce a series of animation videos to introduce their 2021 and 2022 finalists.

During the past two years, NOOR Filmmaker Olga Kravets has directed a set of six film portaits that were showcased during the Martin Ennals Award ceremony, which is held annually to recognize the efforts of human rights defenders worldwide and advocate for their protection.

The project is a NOOR Film Production.

Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja

Abdul-Hadi Al-Khawaja is a Bahraini-Danish leader of freedom and democracy. His dedication to the protection of human rights became visible early when he was a student in London. Fiercely outspoken, Al-Khawaja embodies Bahrain’s spirit of protest and has inspired a generation of activists in Bahrain and beyond.

dr. daouda diallo

In Burkina Faso, Dr. Daouda Diallo is a pharmacist by training and a committed human rights defender. In 2019, he witnessed a violent clash between Burkinabe civilians, government military, local paramilitary groups and Islamist factions, where almost 200 innocent civilians across 20 villages lost their lives. Dr. Diallo strives to document human rights violations by both government factions and Islamist groups, reminding civil societies across the world of the need for human rights protection especially in the event of abysmal functioning of the rule of law and in conditions of extreme poverty.

PHAM DOAN TRANG

Pham Doan Trang is a leading journalist and an advocate for democracy in Vietnam, raising awareness on a broad human rights agenda in Vietnam. She advocates for the guarantee of civil liberties such as freedom of expression, freedom of the press, freedom of assembly, raises awareness about a wide range of topics including LGBTQ+ rights, women’s rights, environmental issues, the territorial conflict between Vietnam and China, police brutality, suppression of activists and political prisoners. In a country where the Communist Party’s one-party rule leaves no room for voices of criticism and opposition factions, Pham Doan Trang’s entrepreneurial work is an unparalleled achievement. She co-founded several leading media outlets such as the Luat Khoa Magazine, providing political and legal analysis, the Green Trees, Vietnam’s only pro-democracy, underground environmental rights organization and the Liberal Publishing House, printing banned books written by Vietnamese civil society leaders. She published articles in various Vietnamese print and online media.

YU WENSHENG - LAUREATE

In China, more than 300 human rights activists and lawyers disappeared or were arrested in 2015 during the so called 709 Crackdown. A successful business lawyer, Yu Wensheng gave up his career to defend one of the detained lawyers, before being arrested himself. Detained for three years now, Yu Wensheng’s health is failing.

LOUJAIN ALHATHLOUL - FINALIST

Loujain AlHathloul is a pioneer Saudi activist and a women’s rights defender. Loujain was arrested and detained after campaigning for the #Women2drive movement and the end of the male guardianship system. Tortured, denied medical care, and subjected to solitary confinement, Loujain was sentenced to several years in prison on December 28, 2020.

SOLTAN ACHILOVA

In Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most isolated countries, freedom of speech is inexistant and independent journalists work at their own peril. Soltan Achilova, a photojournalist, documents the human rights abuses and social issues affecting Turkmen people in their daily lives. She is one of the very few reporters in the country daring to sign independent articles.