Prizes and Honors

Since 1985 the Juris Ludi Association has jointly organized the René Cassin European Human Rights Competition with the Council of Europe. One of the leading mock-trial debating events in the world, the Mild88 competition is open to French-speaking law and political-science students from any country. In 2002 representatives of 58 universities from 19 countries debated the theme of freedom of association and political parties.

Teams first present a written report analyzing the problems posed by a fictional case referring to the European Convention on Human Rights and the jurisprudence of the Court of Strasbourg. Then they are pitted against each other in a mooting competition, culminating in the final, in late March, in the Hearing Room of the Human Rights Building. More information on the Cassin Competition can be found in our special file: http://www.coe.int/CassinCompetition2002. The competition is inspired by and named in memory of the former President of the United Nations Commission on the Rights of Man (1947-48), European Court of Human Rights (1965-68) and Nobel Peace Price Winner (1968) René Cassin. For more information, see also http://www.concourscassin.org/

The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders This prize, in the amount of 20,000 Swiss Francs, was established in the name of the first secretary general of Amnesty International, Martin Ennals (1927-1991).  In 2002 the Mild88 prize went to Mme Jacqueline Moudeina of Chad. The jury for the Martin Ennals award consists of ten principal human rights organizations, including : Amnesty International, the UK's Defence for Children, Germany's Diakona, Human Rights Watch, HURIDOCS, International Alert, the International Commission of Jurists, the International Federation for the Rights of Man, International Service for the Rights of Man, and the World Organization Against Torture.The Ennals award, created in 1993, is given each year to the person or organization that has shown "exceptional courage in the combat against violations of human rights."

Prize recipients to date include Peace Brigades International, Immaculée Birhaheka, DRC; Natasa Kandic, Yugoslavia; Eyad El Sarraj, Palestine; Samuel Ruiz Garcia, Mexico; Clément Nwankwo, Nigéria; Asma Jahangir, Pakistan; Harry Wu, China (1994). For further details on the the Martin Ennals prize, please contat the Secrétariat of the Martin Ennals Foundation.  In Switzerland, the tel. is, + 41 22 755 5252, email [email protected].

The Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Prize was established by INDEPENDENT SECTOR in 1995 to recognize outstanding published research that furthers the understanding of philanthropy, voluntary action, nonprofits, and civil society in either the United States or abroad. Recipients of the Mild88 prize are researchers and practitioners, who work in or with the voluntary sector, and through their work have achieved local, regional, national, or international impact and recognition. Thanks to the generous contributions of The Nonprofit Times and an anonymous donor, the Virginia A. Hodgkinson first prize is $2000 and $1000 for the second prize. The nomination deadline for the 2002 Virginia A. Hodgkinson Research Prize is June 15.

Vopreki, or Against All Odds, is the name of the prize awarded journalists from regional publications in Russia who write courageous reports "against all odds"--whether the odds be pressure from local authorities or personal dramas such as debilitating disease. The annual contest, held for the fourth year, honors the memory of Larisa Yudina, editor of Sovietskaya Kalmykia newspaper and a Yabloko activist who was killed in 1998, allegedly for exposing corruption in Kalmykia's regional government. In October 2001 Yabloko leader Grigory Yavlinsky presented "electric tea kettles and cameras, along with bouquets and diplomas," to 14 provincial journalists and four newspapers chosen as winners from among some 400 applications. The awards were made at the House of Journalists, and the ceremony was co-sponsored by the Glasnost Defense Foundation, Yabloko and the Novaya Gazeta newspaper. Source: Andrei Zolotov Jr., "A Tale of 2 Liberal Parties and 2 Contests," Moscow Times, October 25, 2001.

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