In an
official ceremony held on Monday, 02 December 2013, in the Swedish Parliament
in Stockholm, Mr. Raji Sourani received the 2013 Right Livelihood Award in the
field of human rights for his unwavering dedication to the rule of law and
human rights. 

Right Livelihood Awards that are
also known as “Alternative Nobel Prizes” are presented annually by the Right
Livelihood Award Foundation in the fields of human rights, sustainable
development, health, education, peace and the protection of environment.

The 2013
Right Livelihood Awards go to Raji Sourani and other three recipients: Paul
Walker, from the USA; Denis Mukwege, from the Democratic Republic of Congo; and
Hans R. Herren, from Switzerland.

Sourani
is the first Palestinian and Arab to be granted this prestigious award in the
field of human rights.  This Award was
innovated by the journalist and professional philatelist Jakob von Uexkull in
1980.  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.

In his awards acceptance speech at the
ceremony, Sourani expressed his sincere thanks for this award, considering it
an award for all human rights defenders and victims of human rights violations
in Palestine.  He highlighted the ongoing
closure imposed by Israeli authorities for almost 6 and a half years on 1.8
million Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip, have been cut off from the
outside world. He reviewed the disastrous impact of the closure, including the
de-development.  He pointed out that
according to the World Health Organisation over 90% of our water is ‘unsafe for
human consumption’, electricity cuts of up to 18 hours a day are routine and
widespread, and unemployment has increased as has the price of basic food
staples: over 80% of Gaza’s population hase been made dependent on
international aid.  He added that the closure
of the Gaza Strip evidences a simple reality: international law has been
deliberately violated in pursuit of elusive political goals. The result has
been the opposite: entrenchment of the situation. It is innocent civilians who
continue to pay the price.

Sournai further stated that for almost 20
years, PCHR has documented the violations, published reports and analysis, and
prepared cases.  He emphasized that the
pursuit of accountability is another key goal, and ff international law is to
be effective, if human rights are to be more than high ideals or words on
paper, then they must be enforced. 
Sourani expressed his firm belief that it is the enforcement of
international law that is the key to the future, as we have seen international
law sacrificed before, and the results have been nothing short of catastrophic,
Stressing that “we must adopt international law going forward.”

Sourani pointed out that in pursuing
accountability and enforcement of the law for Palestinians under occupation,
however, the system is stacked firmly against us. The world sees the Israeli
court system as a model system, and perhaps in some respects it is, but it is
firmly biased against Palestinian victims. According to Sourani, this is a key
struggle for human rights defenders: the Israeli court system is strategically
used to present an illusion of justice while in fact entrenching impunity. He
provided an example of the Israeli judiciary’s biasness against Palestinian
victims.  He indicated that following
“Operation Cast Lead” in 2008-2009, PCHR submitted 490 criminal complaints to
the Israeli military authorities requesting the opening of a criminal
investigation. These complaints included the most notorious cases from the
conflict. In almost five years we have only received 44 responses. This means
that 446 cases have been completely ignored. Of the responses, 40 were
interlocutory responses, merely stating that a case was under review. 3 cases
were confirmed as being closed and only one resulted in a prosecution. In this case
a soldier was charged with, and convicted of, the theft of a credit card. In
the midst of all the war crimes, in the middle of the white phosphorous and the
drones, it is the theft of a credit card that is punished. So this is the
reality: 5 years later we have 4 concrete responses from a total of 490 cases.
He wondered: Is this a system concerned with accountability?

In the end of his speech, Sourani emphasized
that this Award constitutes an international recognition of our humanity, our
existence and the importance of our struggle for justice, and says loudly: you
are not alone, while States may turn their back, free people around the world
stand in solidarity.

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. 

To read Raji Sourani’s full speech, please
click here.

http://www.pchrgaza.org/files/2013/RS_speech-en.pdf

Video: Raji Sourani receives the 2013 Right
Livelihood Award

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=yyQbgdOxMVs