Chad
Chadian woman wins highest human rights award

afrol News, 20 January - Jacqueline Moudeina, a lawyer from Chad, this week was announced as the winner of the 2002 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. Ms Moudeina is the lawyer for the victims of the former dictator of Chad, Hissène Habré and has been continously harrassed.

The announcement came at the opening of a key meeting, Frontline's Dublin Platform for Human Rights Defenders, where Ms Moudeina is one of the participants. The ceremony is to take place in Geneva on 11 April 2002. 

Ms Moudeina has taken "enormous risks by filing complaints in Chad against a number of Habré's accomplices, including the heads of Habré's political police, many of whom are still in positions of power," according to the announcement of the 2002 award. 

As one of the few women lawyers in Chad, Jacqueline Moudeina is a member of the Executive Committee of the ATPDH (Association Tchadienne pour la Promotion et la Défense des Droits de l'Homme). Here she is daily engaged in providing free legal advice and human rights awareness training.

On 11 June 2001, she took part in a peaceful sit-in by a group of women to protest against the fraudulent elections. A a security squad, led by Mahamat Wakayé, one of the men she is suing, threw a grenade at her. Jacqueline Moudeina almost lost a leg and had to go to Paris for treatment. Several others were injured as well. The security forces also apparently fired on the car that was driving the injured Ms Moudeina away from the scene. 

The government has not arrested anyone for the attack. "Nonetheless, she plans to return soon to continue her work against impunity and her quest for justice," the committee presenting the award says.

She also is one of the lawyers in the case against Habré himself in Senegal, where he lives in exile. In February 2000, a Senegalese court indicted Habré, on charges if torture and crimes against humanity, and placed him under house arrest. Those charges were later dismissed by Senegal's Court of Final Appeals, ruling that Habré could not be tried in Senegal for crimes allegedly committed in Chad.

The victims are now seeking Habré's extradition to stand trial in Belgium, and Senegal has accepted a United Nations request not to let Habré leave Senegal except via extradition. This month, the Chadian government announced that a Belgian judge would be able to visit Chad to interview witnesses and gather evidence against Habré. 

Martin Ennals Award
The Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) is a unique collaboration among ten of the world's leading non-governmental human rights organisations. The Jury is composed of the following: Amnesty International, Defence for Children, German Diakona, Human Rights Watch, HURIDOCS, International Alert, International Commission of Jurists, International Federation for Human Rights, International Service for Human Rights and World Organisation Against Torture.

The MEA, created in 1993, is granted annually to an individual or an organization who has displayed exceptional courage in combating human rights violations. The award of 20,000 CHF is given to further human rights work. The previous 8 recipients of the MEA are: Peace Brigades International (2001), Immaculée Birhaheka, DRC; Natasa Kandic, Yugoslavia; Eyad El Sarraj, Palestine; Samuel Ruiz Garcia, Mexico; Clement Nwankwo, Nigeria; Asma Jahangir, Pakistan; Harry Wu, China (1994).

Martin Ennals (1927-1991) was instrumental to the modern human rights movement. A fiercely devoted activist, he creatively pursued ideas ahead of his time as the first Secretary-General of Amnesty International and the driving force behind many other organisations. His deep desire was to see more cooperation and solidarity among non-governmental organisations.

Positive reactions
The US based group Human Rights Watch has hailed the announcement that Jacqueline Moudeina had received the prestigious award. "Jacky Moudeina's work is a direct challenge to the continuing power of those who terrorized Chad in the Habré years," said Reed Brody, Advocacy Director of Human Rights Watch, who coordinates the international case against Habré. "Her determination to stand up for torture victims at great personal sacrifice is a shining example to us all."

Brody again called on the Chadian government to bring Ms Moudeina's attackers to justice. In a letter to Chadian President Idriss Déby prior to the attack, Human Rights Watch and the International Federation for Human Rights had requested the Chadian government to prevent ex-DDS agents (Habré's political police) still in official positions from interfering with the torture cases Ms. Moudeïna had filed. 

Sources: MEA, Human Rights Watch and afrol archives

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