Venerable Luon Sovath announced as 2012 Martin Ennals Award
Laureate
03.12.2008
The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), has announced the Venerable Luon
Sovath as the 2012 Martin Ennals Award winner - at a ceremony held at Victoria Hall on Tuesday 3 October.
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The Venerable Luon Sovath, a Buddhist monk from Siem Reap,
Cambodia witnessed his family and fellow villagers being forcibly
evicted from their homes in 2009. Since then he has been a strong
advocate against forced evictions, which remove families from their
homes, often violently and little or no compensation. Despite threats
to his person, of arrest and disrobing, the Venerable Sovath, a nonviolent Buddhist monk, uses videos, poems and songs to defend the
right to housing. His advocacy touches powerful economic interests,
and the threats against him are very real.
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Venerable Sovath was selected from among three final nominees. Also nominated was Nasrin Sotoudeh, an
Iranian Lawyer serving a 6 year prison sentence in Iran for her human rights work. She is known particularly
for her work on behalf of women and children’s rights, especially juveniles facing execution. The third nominee
is the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, who report widely on human rights abuses in Bahrain. Many of their
key staff are currently imprisoned for their work.
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The new chair of the Martin Ennals Foundation, Micheline Calmy-Rey, the former Swiss President and Foreign
Minister said: 'This year’s novel format with three nominees made the Jury’s decision particularly difficult. As
a Buddhist monk, Venerable Sovath has managed to raise wider attention to the issue of forced evictions in
Cambodia'.
About the other 2012 nominees
Nasrin Sotoudeh, a woman lawyer from Iran, is currently serving an
11-year sentence on charges of ‘spreading propaganda against the
State’, ‘collusion and gathering with the aim of acting against national
security’ and ‘membership in an illegal organisation’. She is the
former lawyer and member of the organisation of the now-exiled
Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner Shirin Ebadi, who declares
Sotoudeh is ‘one of the last remaining courageous human rights
lawyers who has accepted all risks for defending the victims of human
rights violations in Iran’.
The Bahrain Center for Human Rights (BCHR) is internationally recognised for its work
on documenting human rights abuses in Bahrain. Despite harassment by the government,
which warns of legal action against the Center’s members if they continue their activities,
the BCHR provides information to international NGOs and the diplomatic community in
Bahrain and advocates locally and internationally in support of demands for democratic
change in the Gulf Kingdom.
The goal of the Martin Ennals Award is to extend recognition and protective publicity to those who are
currently involved in front line work for the promotion and protection of human rights. The Award aims to
encourage individuals and – exceptionally – organisations who are currently working for the rights of others in
conditions hostile to fundamental human rights and who are in need of protection. Special account is taken of
those who have demonstrated an active record of combating human rights violations by courageous and
innovative means.
The MEA is the result of a unique collaboration of ten of the world's leading human rights NGOs, including the
International Service for Human Rights. The other organisations are Amnesty International, Human Rights
Watch, International Federation of Human Rights, World Organisation Against Torture, Front Line,
International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights First, Diakonie Germany and HURIDOCS. These
organisations form the jury for the awards.
To find out more about the award visit the official MEA website.
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NB: ISHR is in no way affiliated with the 'International Service Human Rights Awards'.