On October 26, the Conference of Presidents will vote on the winner of an award designated for an individual – or group of individuals – who has made a significant contribution to promoting human rights: the 2012 Sakharov Prize.
Even the most basic of freedoms should never be taken for granted- David Casa
Established in 1988 by the European Parliament, the Sakharov Prize recognises those who have dedicated their lives to protecting these basic rights of people even under the most brutal and oppressive of circumstances.
The prize was named after Andrei Sakharov (1921-1989), who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975, and is endowed with €50,000.
The prize is presented annually on December 10 on the day that commemorates the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, signed into effect on December 10, 1948 in Paris.
This declaration of human rights was the first international agreement that acknowledged the inherent rights to which every individual is entitled. It represents the precautionary measures that countries sought to take after WWII and it brought human rights issues to the international stage for the first time.
Since that time, the European Parliament has aimed to select individuals who still embody these esteemed values. The honourable nominations require the support of at least 40 MEPs or the endorsement of a political group. The winner will be able to attend the ceremony in Strasbourg in December to receive the award.
The remaining nominees for the 2012 award are Ales Bialiatski, Nasrin Soutoudeh, Jafar Panahi and the Russian punk band Pussy Riot.
Bialiatski founded the Viasna Human Rights Centre in Belarus that provides financial and legal assistance to political prisoners.
Sotoudeh and Panahi of Iran have focused their efforts on protecting the freedoms of impoverished women and children.
Pussy Riot is a Russian band, three members of which were arrested for protesting against Vladimir Putin in a cathedral. Nadezhda Adreyevna Tolokonnikova, Yekaterina Samutsevich and Maria Alyokhina were all sentenced to two years in a labour camp for speaking out against the Russian government.
While this year’s nominees may come from drastically different backgrounds, the common values rooted in freedom connect them to their predecessors. The first recipients of the Sakharov prize were Nelson Mandela, the former South African President, and Anatoly Marchenko, a Soviet dissident.
Throughout the years, the European Parliament has selected individuals from a myriad of backgrounds who rose above the challenges they faced and used their struggles to fuel their campaigns against injustice.
In 2011, five representatives of the Arab Spring were chosen as laureates. On October 10, three of the 2011 laureates met for the annual panel discussion with the winner of the European Book Prize 2011, Maxim Leo, to share their visions for freedom and democracy globally. The programme, entitled Voices For Democracy: Citizenship In The Making, gave people a chance to ask questions on site as well as remotely, through various social media sources.
One of the five laureates of the Arab Spring movement was Ali Ferzat, a Syrian political cartoonist. He provided a touching moment when he stood up to collect his long-awaited 2011 Sakharov Prize. In August of 2011, masked gunmen broke into Ferzat’s house, fracturing his hands in an effort to quell his gift of depicting the injustices of society in his cartoons.
Ferzat fled and went into hiding, which rendered him unable to receive his prize at the 2011 December Strasbourg sitting.
Hands healed, he continues to draw political cartoons that reiterate the need to promote human rights above all else. His hands may have been broken but his spirit and fiery enthusiasm remained intact.
The passion and enthusiasm these individuals display for promoting basic human rights directly correlates with the values on which the European Union is founded: human dignity, freedom, democracy and equality.
These fundamental rights empower individuals to think and believe what they want. This is vital to the collective development of society, the promotion of peace and cooperation and the respect for human rights.
As a member of the European Parliament, I believe the Sakharov Prize is an important award to give to individuals who have given so much of themselves for the greater good.
Such individuals remind us all that even the most basic of freedoms should never be taken for granted. They remind us to take advantage of these freedoms, using them to better ourselves and others.
David Casa is a Nationalist MEP.