Ref: 61/2013
Today, 26
September 2013, the
Swedish Right Livelihood Award Foundation granted Lawyer
Raji Sourani, Director of the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights (PCHR) its
annual Award that is known as “Alternative Nobel Prize” for his
unwavering dedication to the rule of law and human rights under exceptionally
difficult circumstances according to a press release issued by the
organization.
Granting the
Award for this year was announced during a press conference held by the board
of directors of the Foundation. It is scheduled that the Award will be
presented at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm on 02
December 2013.
Right
Livelihood Awards are presented annually in the fields of human rights,
sustainable development, health, education, peace and the protection of
environment.
In 1980, the
journalist and professional philatelist Jakob von Uexkull felt that the Nobel
Prize categories were too narrow in scope and too concentrated on the interests
of the industrialized countries. He considered it to be necessary to recognize
those working on confronting challenges in their communities directly. Uexkull
sold his business to provide the original funding. Since then, individual
donors provide funds to the awards that aim to honor and support those coming
up with practical answers to the most pressing challenges in the world.
Since 1985, the
Award has been known as the Alternative Nobel Prize and is presented in an
annual ceremony in the Swedish Parliament in Stockholm.
Unlike the
Nobel Prize and other international awards given to political, scientific or
economic figures in the world, the Alternative Nobel Prize is granted to
persons working and struggling for a better future in their countries and the
entire world.
Sourani is the
first Palestinian and third Arab to be awarded this international award. Architect
Hassan Fathy received the 1980 Right Livelihood Award, while the Egyptian
scientist Dr. Ibrahim Abouleish received the 2003 Right Livelihood Award.
The 2013 Right
Livelihood Awards go to Raji Sourani and other three recipients:
1- Paul Walker, from the USA, for working tirelessly to
rid the world of chemical weapons;
2- Denis Mukwege, from the Democratic Republic of Congo,
for his courageous work healing women survivors of war-time sexual violence;
and
3- Hans R. Herren, from Switzerland, for his expertise
and pioneering work in promoting a safe, secure and sustainable global food
supply.
These four
recipients were selected out of 94 candidates from 48 countries.
PCHR expresses
its honor to have lawyer Sourani nominated and then selected for such an
international award, which internationally recognizes PCHR’s efforts on the
level of defending the Palestinian human rights; monitoring, documenting and
publishing all violations and breaches against Palestinian civilians rights
that are guaranteed under international human rights conventions; in addition
to efforts practiced to build a Palestinian democratic civil society based on
the independence of the judiciary and the rule of law.
PCHR
congratulates Lawyer Sourani for this award and considers selecting him to
receive this award an international recognition of the Palestinian human rights
movement.
Lawyer Sourani
has received many other awards in the field of defending human rights from
international and high-profile organizations. In 1991, he received the Robert
F. Kennedy Human Rights Award jointly with the Israeli lawyer Avigdor Feldman.
In 1996, he received the 1996 French Republic Award on Human Rights, while in
2002, he received the Bruno Kreisky Human Prize for Outstanding Achievements in
the Area of Human Rights. Furthermore, he received the International Service
Human Rights Award in 2003. In 1988, he was an Amnesty International prisoner
of conscience, which is a title given annually by Amnesty to a person who was
arrested for peacefully expressing his/her beliefs and opinions.
Lawyer Sourani
is one of the most prominent Palestinian human rights defenders. He faced many
Israeli measures to push him to abandon his role as a serious defender of
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. The Israeli forces issued an
unprecedented military decision against him in 1986 to prevent him from
practicing legal work for a full year. In addition, the Israeli authorities
prevented him from traveling outside the Gaza Strip during the period 1977-1990
according to a military decision also.
Sourani
contributed to the establishment of PCHR in 1995 following long years of
experience in the field of defending human rights of Palestinian civilians,
especially prisoners in the Israeli jails.
PCHR has become
one of the active human rights organizations in the occupied Palestinian
territory (oPt) and it has been present on all international levels pertaining
to issues of the Palestinian human rights. Moreover, PCHR has played a
pioneering role in the field of monitoring and documenting human rights
violations in oPt and periodically evaluating the human rights situation and
its consequences. PCHR has received international recognition for its
outstanding role in the field of research and advocacy relevant to the Israeli
occupation of Palestine, and for its direct intervention in human rights issues
in oPt.
As a lawyer
specialized in defending human rights, Sourani gained a wide recognition on the
regional and international levels. He was the Vice President of the
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) for 12 consecutive years. Now,
he is the President of Board of Trustees of the Arab Organization for Human
Rights (AOHR), Member of Independent Electoral Commission of the International
Human Rights Commission (ICHR), Expert Member of the International Council of
the International Human Rights Law Group and member of the Executive Committee
of the International Commission of Jurists. In addition, Sourani occupies many
posts in local organizations; he is a member of the Advisory Council of Bir Zeit
University Law Centre, a founding board member of the Arab Studies Society and a
board member of the Palestinian Human Rights Information Centre.
Sourani
dedicates his time to be a human rights defender in the Gaza Strip and to many
advocacy activities outside the oPt by participating in different international
activities. He also works on uncovering the reality of Israel through exposing
the Israeli violations and crimes against the Palestinian civilians and their
property.
Sourani raises
the slogan of “Never Forgive, Never Forget”, under which he has exerted
efforts through PCHR to prosecute suspected Israeli war criminals. PCHR is
considered as the first human rights organization that resorted to the
international judicial system in order to achieve judicial remedy to the
Palestinian victims since the early 2002. Since then, Sourani and PCHR have
continued their serious efforts to ensure the prosecution of Israeli war
criminals and to hold them accountable for the crimes they perpetrated against
the Palestinian civilians away from the culture of impunity. Sourani has filed
many cases against Israeli military leaders before many national courts of
countries that adopt the principle of the Universal Jurisdiction in their laws,
which allows the Palestinian victims to litigate before them.
In 1991, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Award jointly with the Israeli lawyer Avigdor Feldman.
In 1996, the
1996 French Republic Award on Human Rights,
2002, the Bruno
Kreisky Human Prize for Outstanding Achievements in the Area of Human Rights.
