Call for nominations for the Vaclav Havel Prize announced

SARAJEVO, (Patria) - The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in partnership with the Vaclav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, today announced a call for nominations for the Václav Havel Human Rights Prize for 2020.

The prize, established in 2013, aims to reward outstanding civil society actions in defending human rights in Europe and beyond. Candidates should have genuinely changed the human rights situation of a particular group, played a significant role in exposing major systemic violations, or successfully mobilized public opinion or the international community for a cause.

The deadline for submitting nominations is 30 April 2020. 

The prize, which will be awarded on 12 October 2020 in Strasbourg, consists of a sum of 60,000 euros, a trophy and a diploma.

Since 2013, prizes have been awarded to: Ales Bialiatski (Belarus), Anar Mammadli (Azerbaijan), Ludmilla Alexeeva (Russian Federation), Nadia Murad (Iraq), Murat Arslan (Turkey) and Oyub Titiev (Russia). 

Last year, a joint prize was awarded to the arrested Uyghur intellectual Ilham Tohti from China and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR), which brings together young people from across the Balkans to promote reconciliation.