FW: Chadian woman lawyer

[Miro Kiss Ida]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-amnesty-l at oil.ca [mailto:owner-amnesty-l at oil.ca]On
> Behalf Of ainews
> Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2002 11:00 AM
> To: amnesty-l at oil.ca
> Subject: Chadian woman lawyer receives highest award of human
> rights movement for international criminal justice work
>
>
> * News Release Issued by the International Secretariat of Amnesty
> International *
>
> 11 April 2002
> IOR 81/001/2002
> 64/02
>
>
> Today, Jacqueline Moudeina, the lawyer for the victims of the
> former dictator of Chad, Hissene Habre, receives the 2002 Martin
> Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. She took enormous risks
> by filing complaints in Chad against a number of Habre's
> accomplices, many of whom are still in positions of power. She
> also is one of the lawyers in the case against Habre himself in
> Senegal, where he lives in exile. As one of the few women lawyers
> in Chad, Jacqueline Moudeina gives much of her time to the local
> NGO, ATPDH. 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. Jacqueline Moudeina had to go to Paris for treatment.
>
>       The award will be handed to her today, 11 April 2002 at
> 17.30, by the Senegalese singer Cheikh Lo, himself a human rights
> activist. The ceremony takes place in studio 4 of the Télévision
> Suisse Romande in Geneva in the framework of the Festival Media
> North-South.
>
>       This 11th of April also marks the much-awaited entry into
> force of the International Criminal Court. The Jury of the Martin
> Ennals Award is proud to honour today an activist who symbolises
> the fight against impunity. The members of the Jury are: 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 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA)
> is a unique collaboration among ten of the world's leading
> non-governmental human rights organizations. The MEA, created in
> 1993, carries a money component of 20.000 CHF. It is granted
> annually to an individual or an organization who has displayed
> exceptional courage in combating human rights violations. 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).
>
> Background
>
> Martin Ennals (1927-1991) was instrumental to the modern human
> rights movement seeking cooperation and solidarity among NGOs. A
> fiercely devoted activist, he was the first Secretary-General of
> Amnesty International and the driving force behind many other
> organisations. For further information please call the
> Secretariat of the Martin Ennals Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland,
> + 41.76 3662043 (Nadja Houben), or +30 9 44758678. e-mail
> info at huridocs.org Website: http://www.martinennalsaward.org.
>
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