Chad: press release - Chadian woman wins highest award of human rights movement
PRESS RELEASE
Geneva, Paris, 17 January, 2002
CHADIAN WOMAN WINS HIGHEST AWARD OF HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT
Jacqueline Moudeina, a lawyer from Chad, was announced today as the winner of the 2002 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. This announcement was made on the day of the opening of the “Platform for the defenders of human rights”, a meeting organized by Frontline in Dublin, at which Ms Moudeina is participating.
Ms Moudeina is the lawyer for the victims of the former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré. She took enormous risks by filing complaints in Chad against a number of Habré’s accomplices, including the heads of Habré’s political police, many of whom are still in positions of power. She also is one of the lawyers in the case against Habré himself in Senegal, where he lives in exile. In February 2000, a Senegalese magistrate indicted Habré, on charges if torture and crimes against humanity, and placed him under house arrest. Those charges were later dismissed, but the victims are now seeking Habré’s extradition to stand trial in Belgium.
As one of the few women lawyers in Chad, Jacqueline Moudeina works for the local NGO, ATPDH , where she is daily engaged in providing free legal advice and human rights awareness training.
On 11 June 2001, she took part in a peaceful sit-in by a group of women 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 almost lost a leg and had to go to Paris for treatment. Nonetheless, she plans to return soon to continue her work against impunity and her quest for justice. The Observatory had denounced this attack in a letter to the chadian authorities on the 15 January 2001 and lent its support and assistance to Ms Moudeina in order to enable her to travel to Paris.
The OMCT and the FIDH express their warmest congratulations to Ms Moudeina and send her all their encouragement for her activities in favour of the respect for human rights.
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 Jury is composed of the following: 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 MEA, created in 1993, is granted annually to an individual or an organization who has displayed exceptional courage in combating human rights violations. The award of 20,000 CHF is given to further human rights work. 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).
Martin Ennals (1927-1991) was instrumental to the modern human rights movement. A fiercely devoted activist, he creatively pursued ideas ahead of his time as the first Secretary-General of Amnesty International and the driving force behind many other organisations. His deep desire was to see more cooperation and solidarity among NGOs.
The ceremony takes place in Geneva on 11 April 2002. For further details on the Martin Ennals Award, please call the Secretariat of the Martin Ennals Foundation, Geneva, Switzerland, + 41 22 755 5252, e-mail info@huridocs.org Website: http://www.digitalsmile.com/mea. Mobile phone of Chairman MEA, Hans Thoolen: +30.9.44758678.