Martin Ennals Award Finalists 2021 shine a light on abuses in authoritarian states

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In isolated Turkmenistan, Soltan Achilova documents human rights violations and abuses through photojournalism.

Imprisoned in Saudi Arabia, Loujain AlHathloul is a leading advocate for gender equality and women’s rights.

A lawyer, Yu Wensheng defended human rights cases and activists before his conviction and imprisonment in China.

The Finalists distinguish themselves by their bravery and deep commitment to the issues they defend, despite the many attempts to silence them by respective governmental authorities.

The 2021 Martin Ennals Award Ceremony will celebrate their courage on 11 February during an online ceremony hosted jointly with the City of Geneva which, as part of its commitment to human rights, has for many years supported the Award.

Nothing can stop us from celebrating human rights defenders

Each year, the Martin Ennals Award honors human rights defenders from around the world who distinguish themselves by their strong commitment to promoting our fundamental rights - often at the risk of their own lives. In 2021, the Jury nominated three individuals in distinctly authoritarian contexts. “Every year thousands of human rights defenders are persecuted, harassed, imprisoned, even killed.

The Martin Ennals Foundation is honored to celebrate the 2021 Finalists, who have done so much for others and whose stories of adversity are emblematic of the precarity faced by the human rights movement today”, says Isabel de Sola, Director of the Martin Ennals Foundation.

The 2021 Finalists

“Authoritarian states tend to believe that by jailing or censoring human rights defenders, the orld will forget about them. During the COVID-pandemic, it seemed like lockdowns would successfully keep people from speaking out. This year’s Finalists are a testament to the fact that nothing could be further from the truth”, says Hans Thoolen, Chair of the Jury.

• In Turkmenistan, one of the world’s most isolated countries, freedom of speech is inexistant and independent journalists work at their own peril. Soltan Achilova (71), a photojournalist, documents the human rights abuses and social issues affecting Turkmen people in their daily lives. Despite the repressive environment and personal hardships, she is one of the very few reporters in the country daring to sign independent articles.
• In Saudi Arabia, women still face several forms of gender discrimination, so much so, that the Kingdom ranks in the bottom 10 places according to the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Report 2020. Loujain AlHathloul (31) was one of the leading figures of the Women to drive movement and advocated for the end of the male guardianship system. She was imprisoned in 2018 on charges related to national security together with several other women activists. Tortured, denied medical care, and subjected to solitary confinement, Loujain was sentenced to 5 years and 8 months in prison on 28 December 2020.
• In China, more than 300 human rights activists and lawyers disappeared or were arrested in 2015 during the so called 709 Crackdown. A successful business lawyer, Yu Wensheng (54) gave up his career to defend one of these detained lawyers, before being arrested himself. Detained for almost three years now, Yu Wensheng’s right hand was crushed in jail and his health is failing.

Online Award Ceremony on 11 February 2021

The 2021 Martin Ennals Award will be given to the three Finalists on 11 February 2021 at an online ceremony co-hosted by the City of Geneva (Switzerland), a longstanding supporter of the Award. “The City of Geneva reaffirms its support to human rights, especially during these times of crisis and upheaval. Human rights are the foundation of our society, not even the pandemic will stop us from celebrating brave persons who have sacrificed so much”, says Member of the executive Alfonso Gomez.

The finalists

Soltan Achilova (Turkmenistan)

Soltan Achilova (71) is an independent photojournalist and reporter in Turkmenistan, one of the most isolated and repressive countries in the world. She is shedding light on the many injustices and human rights violations people face in her country. With almost complete governmental control over its population, citizens of Turkmenistan have scarcely any recourse to defend their rights.

Her work illustrates issues affecting Turkmen citizens in their daily lives such as food insecurity, forced and illegal evictions, lack of adequate healthcare and the discrimination faced by people with disabilities. She has reported on these issues for more than a decade, filing articles and reports smuggled on to foreign-based media outlets. Her photographs and findings were central to investigations of housing rights violations in Ashgabat conducted by the Turkmen Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights and Human Rights Watch.

As an investigative journalist in a country without media freedom, Soltan Achilova is subject to severe forms of attacks and harassment. She has been stopped from leaving the country on several occasions and has almost no access to the internet. Despite the difficult circumstances and personal hardships, she continues to investigate and stand alongside Turkmen citizens.

Loujain AlHathloul (Saudi Arabia)

Loujain AlHathloul (31) is a Saudi woman human rights activist. She is a leading advocate for the promotion of gender equality and women's rights in Saudi Arabia.

Before her arrest in 2018, Loujain AlHathloul was one of the key figures of the Women to Drive movement, which called for the abolition of the driving ban for women. She also advocated for the end of the male guardianship system in Saudi Arabia and planned to open a shelter for victims of gender-based violence. Loujain began her activism in 2013 while still a student of French literature at the University of British Columbia in Canada.

Despite the great risks her activism entailed, Loujain AlHathloul decided time and again to carry on her mission of giving a voice to the voiceless. She was arrested for the first time in 2014 while driving from the UAE to neighboring Saudi Arabia. She has been in detention since May 2018, where she has been subject to torture, solitary confinement, and denial of access to her lawyers, family and medical care. Loujain could have been released on the condition she publicly deny she was tortured while in jail – but she refused to do so. In October 2020, she started a hunger strike to protest against the conditions of her detention. On November 25, her case was transferred to a Specialized Criminal Court, known as “terrorism court”. Her family was given one day only to prepare her defense. On December 28, the Court sentenced Loujain to five years and eight months in jail. The judge suspended 2 years and 10 months in addition to the time already served (since May 2018) which means that Loujain may be freed early 2021.

However, Loujain will be placed on a 5-year travel ban and 3 years of probation during which time any perceived criminal activity would result in her re-imprisonment. Loujain AlHathloul is the winner of the PEN/Barbey Freedom to Write Award in 2019 and the ‘Prix Liberté’ (Normandie) in 2020. She was named one of TIME Magazine’s most influential people in 2019 and nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2019, 2020 and 2021.

Yu Wensheng (China)

Yu Wensheng (54) is a Chinese human rights lawyer from Beijing. He has been detained since 2018 for his activism in favor of the rule of law, democracy and governmental reform in China.

Before his human rights engagement, Yu Wensheng was a corporate lawyer. He gave up a successful career to focus on human rights cases, which ultimately led him to speak out more broadly on the rule of law in China. Over the past ten years, Yu Wensheng worked on several high-profile human rights cases, the best known of which is his defense of human rights lawyer Wang Quanzhang who was arrested in 2015 during a major crackdown on human rights, called the 709 Crackdown. Despite the risk of doing so, Yu Wensheng decided to take on the case. Not only was he involved in legal human rights cases, but he also publicly advocated for constitutional changes and a revision of the legal system, namely the abolition of the death penalty and the introduction of a multi-party system.

As one of the best-known and most intrepid Chinese human rights activists, Yu Wensheng has faced the severest forms of repression by the Chinese state, including arbitrary detention, conviction during a secret trial, and expulsion from the legal bar. According to his wife, he is currently being held in solitary confinement, has been denied access to medical care and subjected to ill-treatments which resulted in his hand being crushed. In December 2020, a Chinese regional High Court upheld the four-year prison sentence against him. Ever since, his whereabouts are unknown.