La lauréate du Prix Martin Ennals pour les Défenseurs des Droits de l’Homme 2011 est une activiste gay d’Ouganda

Tuesday 3May 2011

2011Martin Ennals Award for Human RightsDefenders winner is a gay rights activist from Uganda

TheJury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), meeting in Geneva,selects Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera as the Laureate for her work for LGBT rights and marginalised people inUganda

Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, a Ugandan woman, is thefounder and Executive Director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, a main lesbian, bisexualand transgender (LGBT) rights organisation. Kasha has had the courage to appearon national television in Uganda, she has issued press statements on behalf ofthe gay community, and spoke on several radio stations. Already in 2007 she washarassed at the World Social Forum in Nairobi, and on many occasions afterwardsshe was hackled, threatened and even attacked by people for appearing in themedia. Since then she has been shifting from house to house, afraid to staylong in the same place. On 26 January 2011, one of her colleagues, gay activistDavid Kato, was murdered following the publication of a “gay list” by theUgandan tabloid Rolling Stone calling for their hanging; in this black listKasha Jacqueline’s name also appears. The Chairman of the Jury ofthe MEA, Hans Thoolen, describes the laureate as “an exceptional woman of arare courage, fighting under death threat for human dignity and the rights ofhomosexuals and marginalised people in Africa”. With this award theJury wants to underline its position against the discrimination of people basedon gender or sexual orientation.

The Ceremonyof the Martin Ennals Award will take place in the Victoria Hall of Geneva latein the year.

The main award of the human rightsmovement. The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders(MEA) is a unique collaboration among ten of the world’s leading human rightsorganisations to give protection tohuman rights defenders worldwide. The Juryis composed of the following NGOs: Amnesty International, Human RightsWatch, Human Rights First, International Federation for Human Rights, WorldOrganisation Against Torture, Front Line, International Commission of Jurists,German Diakonie, International Service for Human Rights and HURIDOCS.

Previouslaureates : Muhannad Al-Hassani, Syria (2010), Emad Baghi,Iran; Mutabar Tadjibaeva, Uzbekistan; Pierre Claver Mbonimpa, Burundi and RajanHoole-Kopalasingham Sritharan, Sri Lanka; Akbar Ganji, Iran and Arnold Tsunga,Zimbabwe; Aktham Naisse, Syria; Lida Yusupova, Russia; Alirio Uribe Muñoz,Colombia; Jacqueline Moudeina, Chad; Peace Brigades International; ImmaculéeBirhaheka, DR Congo; Natasha Kandic, Yugoslavia; Eyad El Sarraj, Palestine;Samuel Ruiz, Mexico; Clement Nwankwo, Nigeria; Asma Jahangir, Pakistan; Harry Wu,China.

Fordownloadable film images on theLaureate of 2011, please go to http://vimeo.com/23160035 - the Vimeo account of True Heroes witha password: MEA_KASHA_2011.

Patrons of theMartin Ennals Award: Asma Jahangir, Barbara Hendricks, José Ramos-Horta, AdamaDieng, Leandro Despouy, Louise Arbour, Robert Fulghum, Irene Khan, Theo vanBoven and Werner Lottje†.

For further information,please contact: Luis Marreiros, Coordinator, +41228094925 marreiros@martinennalsaward.orgor visit www.martinennalsaward.org