Helpline: 0716 200 100
To champion the safety, security and wellbeing of Human Rights Defenders.
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AWARDS 2022 WINNERS ANNOUNCED
HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS AWARDS 2022 WINNERS ANNOUNCED
2 November 2022, Nairobi, Kenya
On behalf of the Working Group on Human Rights Defenders, Defenders Coalition and the Embassy of Sweden in Kenya congratulates the winners of the 2022 Human Rights Defenders Awards after a feting ceremony held on 2 December 2022 in Nairobi.
The winners in the various categories are individuals and groups that have exemplified unbelievable courage, commitment and selflessness in the defence of human rights and promotion of justice for the weak the society.
Through the Awards, we aim to motivate and showcase what ordinary citizens should do with their own communities to speak truth to power and advance constitutionalism.
The 2022 Human Rights Defenders Awards are unique in recognition that young kids can also contribute and set the pace for adults in doing what is right.
For instance, the case of Lia Gem – the winner of the Upcoming Human Rights Defender of the Year Award – is model for every citizen in terms of what they ought to do, no matter how young or old they are.
THE WINNERS
CATEGORY A: UPCOMING HRD OF THE YEAR AWARD
WINNER 1 – LISA GEM
Lisa is a 10-year-old, grade 4 pupil from M.M Shah Primary School in Kisumu and is a human rights defender who believes she was born to change the world through her words and actions. Her starting point was with children and the environment because that is where she found a home. She desires every child to enjoy life and a loving upbringing free from abuse and lack of necessities.
Through her advocacy actions, Lisa has conducted campaigns supporting pediatric cancer survivors, ecological justice, and the rights of health workers in Vihiga and Kisumu County. She also petitioned the Kisumu County Government to invest in pediatric cancer management at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Lisa also started Children’s rights clubs in 5 public schools in Kisumu. She spends her free time doing sanitation campaigns in Manyatta and Mamboleo settlements in Kisumu and teaching children photography as a communication tool.
Lisa enjoys playing scrabble, modelling, dancing, and storytelling in her free time.
WINNER 2 – BILLY HANI
Billy Hani is a queer artist and activist based in Kenya. They use writing and photography to explore African queerness, sexuality, gender identity and expression, bodies and mental health. Billy co-curates HeART Out Kenya, an art therapy initiative for feminists, LGBTIQ+ folks and activists. Billy’s feminism and activism are grounded on Queer Joy and Rest.
Billy started activism in 2018 through education on LGBTIQ+ issues on Social Media. They first volunteered as a Sexual Reproductive Health Rights advocate at Q-Initiative Eldoret, where they championed the rights of Sexual and Gender Minorities. Over the past five years, they have advocated for LGBTIQ+ rights online and physically in different local and national spaces aiming to improve understanding, acceptance and the upholding of LGBTIQ+ people’s rights in Kenya. They have written extensively on the issues that Sexual and Gender Minorities go through and continue to document similar stories through writing and photography. As an activist, Billy believes that education and accurate information are necessary to realize LGBTIQ+ human rights. Billy’s articles can be found in FemInStyle Magazine, Minority Africa, Adventures From the Bedrooms of African Women and The Continent, among others. Currently, they are working on using art to promote mental wellness, especially among activists and feminists, through HeART Out Kenya, which they co-founded in 2021.
WINNER 3 – GRACE KALEKYE
Grace Kalekye Mwangangi is an anti-human trafficking advocate and intern at Free the Slaves, a journalist and musician. In 2018 she was trafficked to India and forced into sex work, an experience that inspired her to become an anti-human trafficking advocate. Since 2019 when she returned to Kenya, Grace has been using TV, radio and online platforms to share her story and create awareness of human trafficking.
Being an anti-human trafficking advocate has opened opportunities for Grace, which have helped her grow as a leader and expounded her network to other human rights defenders. She hopes to one day have her platform where survivors will tell their stories and connect victims to their families. Grace also intends to work with government agencies, non-governmental organizations and religious leaders to advocate for strict anti-human trafficking policies and frameworks.
Human trafficking is a sensitive area due to its illegality and criminal nature. However, Grace loves her work and is willing to continue the cause to help others who may find themselves in such situations.
CATEGORY B: HRD OF THE YEAR AWARD
WINNER: JOHN ALLAN NAMU
John-Allan is a Kenyan investigative journalist and the co-founder of Africa Uncensored. He has been a journalist for 17 years and has spent considerable time focusing on numerous social justice issues. Notable among these is his journalistic work about excessive use of force, extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances perpetrated by Kenya’s security agencies. His most recent work on the subject is titled “Justice be our shield”, a documentary profiling the planning and execution of a murder plot against human rights lawyer and investigator Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and their driver Joseph Muiruri.
Africa Uncensored, the organization he co-founded in 2015, is earning a reputation for honest, incisive, and hard-hitting journalism, both locally and on the African continent. The organization’s goal to investigate, expose and empower is founded on the belief in the power of investigative and in-depth journalism as a force for good. John-Allan hopes that his work as a journalist will inspire coming generations of journalists to hold power to account, doing so professionally and with passion for Africa.
John-Allan is the 2015 and 2017 joint journalist of the year Annual Journalism Excellence Awards, a 2019 Global Shining light award winner, a 2019 Trace International Prize on investigative journalism winner, and the 2009 CNN African Journalist of the Year. He is a 2009 CNN fellow and a 2017 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow. He holds a BA in Journalism from the United States International University – Africa and is pursuing an Executive master’s degree in media leadership and innovation. He is married and lives in Nairobi with his wife and four children.
CATEGORY C: LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
WINNER: MICERE MUGO
Micere Githae Mugo is a renown playwright, author, activist, instructor and poet recognized internationally for her literary works, essays and writings which she has used as a platform to advocate for social justice and human rights in Africa especially Kenya.
Mugo was a political activist who fought against human rights abuses in Kenya. Her political activism led to her being harassed by the police and arrested. Mugo and her family were forced to depart Kenya in 1982 after the attempted coup after which she became a target of government harassment and her citizenship stripped off.
Mugo went to Zimbabwe for a time, where she found a teaching post, and continued to write. Her second work of literary criticism, African Orature and Human Rights, appeared in 1991. The work is a discussion of the storytelling culture of the Ndia people in Kenya’s Kirinyaga District and that culture is in relation to politics. In such a society, Mugo’s thesis maintained, the orature artist is a defender of human rights in the community. Her work has been cited as verbal arts that expresses both the society’s negative and positive qualities, its strengths and challenges, its justice and injustices, its realities, and ideals.
Micere has continued to use her literature work to speak out and stir conversation at any time when she could not stand the myopic political elite as they oppressed the common citizen and continue to violate basic human rights.
CATEGORY D: GLOBAL SOLIDARITY AWARD
WINNER – ANGELA YVONNE DAVIS
Angela Davis is a prominent writer, feminist, political activist, and educator. She is most well known for her involvement in the civil rights and Black liberation movements, as well as for being a leading advocate for prison abolition. Ms. Davis rose to prominence in 1969 when her campaign to defend three black soldiers in Soledad Prison and her affiliation with the Communist Party led to her being fired from the University of California, Los Angeles. Following her own experience with arrest and imprisonment, in the early 1970s, she went on to found Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization aimed to dismantle the prison-industrial complex. Along with prison reform, Ms. Davis has advocated for social issues related to gender, race and class and has authored many books and articles on these subjects.
In 1997, Davis came out as a lesbian and has since continued to tackle oppression faced by the black community, women, and the LGBTQ+ community.
Her scholarly contribution has been a great influence on grassroots human rights movements organizing and the support and solidarity to the human rights struggles have been immense contributed to the growth and rising of global south feminist movements and minority right groups.
*ENDS*
___________________________________
Advocating for the respect of Human Rights is high risk. Groups and individuals who walk this road are often the targets for reprisals by authorities and private groups who make use of various forms of repression to silence them. The “Declaration of the Rights and Responsibility of individuals, groups and organs of Society to Promote and Protect Universally Recognized Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms” was adopted in December 1998 and defines these advocates as human rights defenders.
The Defenders Coalition and the Working group on Human Rights Defenders (WGHRD) have played a pioneering role in the protection and recognition of human rights defenders.The WGHRD launched the inaugural Human Rights Defenders(HRD) awards in 2016 to:
The awards are presented in three categories and one recognition category:
The winners in each Awards category will receive:
The Working Group on Human Rights Defenders in Kenya develops a call for nominations, which is then widely circulated by the Defenders Coalition and other partners. This call outlines the criteria for eligibility for nomination. Individual HRDs can be nominated in the four categories.
A shortlisting panel composed of missions and CSO organizations involved in the planning of the HRD Awards then shortlists five individuals per category within the set-out guidelines for shortlisting candidates.
The panel conducts verification of the nominees regarding their human rights work through field visits, and interviews with the nominators, the nominees and their references.
The Independent Selection Panel, which comprises of eminent individuals in the human rights sector, makes a final decision, from the names submitted, on the recipient of the three awards and the runner up.
The celebration is held annually towards the end of the year. (November of December). The event is hosted by the Ambassador of the mission that co-chairs the Working Group on HRDs. The participants of the event are all the nominees, the family, missions, government officials and the media to commemorate their achievements.
The following will be taken into consideration:
ENDS
MEET NOMINEE 7 OF 7 IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR AWARD CATEGORY – NOOR BASHIR
Noor Bashir Shuria is a 30 years old human rights defender. He started his human rights works due to the terror incidents in Ijara and Hulugho Sub counties. The towns had faced violent retaliation and collective punishment from security forces and the Al-Shabaab militia. Arbitrary arrests and extra-judicial executions were on the rise, as well as enforced disappearances. Seeing the pain of the mothers and families of the victims forced Noor to act, and his journey of monitoring human rights violations began.
Noor graduated from Garissa University with a degree in Community Development. He is a practising paralegal, having worked with UNDP, and focuses on access to justice for victims of various injustices, including extra-judicial killings within Garissa County.
Noor believes that enforced disappearances represent serious violations of human rights that need to be addressed by all human rights actors.
MEET NOMINEE 6 OF 7 IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR AWARD CATEGORY – JOHN ALLAN NAMU
John-Allan is a Kenyan investigative journalist and the co-founder of Africa Uncensored. He has been a journalist for 17 years and has spent considerable time focusing on numerous social justice issues. Notable among these is his journalistic work about excessive use of force, extra-judicial killings and enforced disappearances perpetrated by Kenya’s security agencies. His most recent work on the subject is titled “Justice be our shield”, a documentary profiling the planning and execution of a murder plot against human rights lawyer and investigator Willie Kimani, his client Josephat Mwenda and their driver Joseph Muiruri.
Africa Uncensored, the organization he co-founded in 2015, is earning a reputation for honest, incisive, and hard-hitting journalism, both locally and on the African continent. The organization’s goal to investigate, expose and empower is founded on the belief in the power of investigative and in-depth journalism as a force for good. John-Allan hopes that his work as a journalist will inspire coming generations of journalists to hold power to account, doing so professionally and with passion for Africa.
John-Allan is the 2015 and 2017 joint journalist of the year Annual Journalism Excellence Awards, a 2019 Global Shining light award winner, a 2019 Trace International Prize on investigative journalism winner, and the 2009 CNN African Journalist of the Year. He is a 2009 CNN fellow and a 2017 Archbishop Desmond Tutu Fellow. He holds a BA in Journalism from the United States International University – Africa and is pursuing an Executive master’s degree in media leadership and innovation. He is married and lives in Nairobi with his wife and four children.
MEET NOMINEE 3 OF 7 IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR AWARD CATEGORY – FATUMA YUSSUF ABDULLAHI
Fatuma Yussuf Abdullahi is a Person With Disability (PWD), Woman Human Rights Defender and a business owner in Wajir County. She is the current Chairperson of Wajir County Civil Society Consortium, an umbrella of 21 CBOs. She has worked with Save Children as a community Mobilizer and is a Former Nominated MCA Representing PWDs.
As a person living with a disability, she has taken it upon herself to advocate for the rights of other persons living with disability, taking on various initiatives to advocate for their rights as a minority group.
Fatuma is also a paralegal trained by Aldef Kenya and served as a gender office in their county paralegal office from 2009 to 2010. She has served as a paralegal for fourteen years, twelve being on a voluntary basis.
Fatuma is passionate and believes in justice for all. Her work goes beyond women and persons with disability, and she has been vocal about protecting sexual minorities.
MEET NOMINEE 4 OF 7 IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR AWARD CATEGORY – KELLY KARIMI RWIGI
Kelly Rwigi is a child and women’s rights advocate. She is the Founder and Executive Director of Enlightened Generation International(EGI), a community-based organization based in Chuka, Tharaka Nithi County, that advocates for and protects children and women’s rights. Founded in 2017, EGI has rescued over 150 children and donated Reusable Sanitary Towels to over 1,200 girls and women in Tharaka Nithi County, Kenya. The organization has been active in anti-FGM, ending early marriages and rescuing abused children throughout the county in its four years of operation.
In 2020, Kelly received the Head of State Commendation for exemplary community service for efforts towards child protection and advocacy in Tharaka Nithi. The award came with recognition from local and national media and the general public. Since then, she has participated in various technical working groups and forums on important issues such as ending teenage pregnancies, ending FGM and other forms of Gender-Based Violence.
In 2021 Kelly was recognized on Citizen TV as Mwanamke Bomba. The visibility enhanced her work, where she rescued and took over 20 children to schools and homes, helped several teenage mothers during their journey, and donated food and clothes to over 15 households. Kelly has distributed sanitary towels to more than 500 girls and offered sexual health and reproductive rights education to more than 1000 teens.
Through her organization, she is currently putting up a children’s centre to provide good shelter for children rescued from abusive, harmful or vulnerable environments.
MEET NOMINEE 3 OF 7 IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR AWARD CATEGORY – DAHIR DAUD
Dahir Daud Ahmed is a passionate human rights defender and paralegal in Tana River County. He actively started defending human rights back in 2010. He was motivated due to the rising number of arbitrary arrests by police, widow inheritance against their will, poor service delivery by the government, forceful evictions and lack of good leadership.
His focus area is women’s land rights, reproductive health rights and good governance, specifically ensuring the county government’s resources are spent prudently and citizens get service delivery.
Some of his achievements include stopping the forceful eviction of bulla salama village by the National Irrigation board, which claimed that the land belonged to them. Dahir organized community protests, and the land was eventually given to the residents of bulla salama. As a paralegal, he helped 7 widows file matrimonial property cases in hola law courts, and three cases were concluded in favour of the widows. Dahir drafted two petitions to the county assembly against 4 chief officers for gross misconduct, abuse of office and misappropriation of funds. One chief officer was removed from office, and the three of them surcharged the amount of money they could not account for, which served as a deterrent to the other county officials.
Dahir is a full-time human rights practitioner who encourages other human rights defenders to cater to their financial well-being. He operates a cybercafé and earns from his facilitation as a certified budget trainer on the devolved system of governance.
MEET NOMINEE 2 OF 7 IN THE HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDER OF THE YEAR AWARD CATEGORY – MORAA OBIRIA
Congratulations on your nomination!
Moraa writes investigative and in-depth stories and editorial opinions. She also publishes podcasts. Every piece of her story is about advocating for the rights of all. From highlighting the work of human rights defenders to reporting on sexual harassment among male journalists to sexual exploitation of children in tourism, her journalism is purely human-rights-based.
While working at the Nation Media Group(NMG), Nakuru regional office in 2013, Moraa built her name as a writer with a deep interest and passion in human rights, gender, governance, climate change, and the environment. One outstanding outcome of her journalism work was being nicknamed “Ogiek” because she consistently and extensively wrote about the tribulations of the Ogiek minority community. In 2016 she joined Ogiek Peoples’ Development Program as a communication development consultant before the management took her on as a media and communication officer. She not only raised the visibility of her organization but also created partnerships with like-minded human rights organizations before returning to full-time journalism.
Due to her human rights reporting, Moraa is a multiple award-winning journalist, feted by the Media Council of Kenya, National Gender and Equality Commission, and UN Women. Last year, her investigative story on cross-border female genital mutilation between Kenya and Uganda won her Journalists for Human Rights Award in the print category. At the same time, she was in second place in Usawa Awards by the National Gender and Equality Commission. The award recognized organizations and individuals who have made tremendous efforts in championing gender equality and inclusion in Kenya. In 2017, she also won the impact AFRICA award for her investigative story on the challenges women with disabilities face while seeking maternal health services.
In this year’s Media Council of Kenya Annual Journalism Excellence Awards, she came second in the Development reporting, digital category for her story on Why Kitale men are warming up to Kangaroo Mother Care. For the second time, her report on Inside the Kenya-TZ cross border FGM earned her second place in the Gender reporting, digital category. She is also a finalist in the 2022 UN Women Gender Journalism Awards.
Moraa is a Journalists for Human Rights trainee and a member of the Association of Media Women in Kenya. She is pursuing a Master’s degree in Gender and Development Studies at Kenyatta University.
She lives by the mantra, “I cannot change anything without doing something.” So daily, she is motivated to write stories that bring change to our society.
STATEMENT TO CONDEMN ATTACK ON NATION MEDIA GROUP JOURNALIST – MR. MUIRURI MWANGI – IN MURANGA COUNTY
The National Coalition of Human Rights Defenders in Kenya condemns the attack on Nation Media Group journalist Mwangi Muiruri by policemen attached to H.E Dorcas Gachagua.
The attack on Mr. Muiruri happened on Thursday, 25 November 2022 while in the line of duty while covering a food distribution exercise presided over by the second lady Dorcas Gachagua.
We are concerned that the attack is an assault and a violation of the rights of those who bear the duty to inform and educate Kenyans. Further, the attack is by an officer of the constitutional office that should guarantee law and order in the service and protection of all Kenyans.
The Defenders Coalition must remind such rogue officers that Article 34 (2) of the CoK 2010 provides that the State shall not interfere with any person engaged in broadcasting, production or circulation of any publication or the dissemination of information by any medium; or penalise any person for any opinion or view or the content of any broadcast or publication.
Police brutality and excesses against journalists is not a new phenomenon. Defenders Coalition has documented various violations in the past including
Defenders Coalition reiterates that for all Kenyans, including journalists, to be truly safe and their rights protected, police must conduct themselves in an accountable, professional, and human rights compliant manner. In the same breadth, any officer who violates the laws that they are sworn to protect must be investigated and prosecuted.
We therefore recommend that
*ENDS*
The Defenders Coalition is a national organization that works to champion the safety, security, and well-being of human rights defenders by strengthening their capacity to work effectively and to reduce their vulnerability to the risk of persecution by advocating for a favourable legal and policy environment in Kenya.
For more deatails, please contact Obino Nyambane – Communications 0716 200 100 obino@defenderscoalition.org / info@defenderscoalition.org
www.defenderscoalition.org
Download statement here
MEET NOMINEE 1 OF 7 IN THE HRD OF THE YEAR CATEGORY – WHITE EAGLE CBO
The White Eagle is a grassroots community-based organization of fisher folks that was registered in 2019. It currently has 354 members that receive community development empowerment solutions and innovative products to access social, economic and developments right in Lake Naivasha through its programs.
Through their advocacy work, the White Eagle has influenced policy at the county level and made public interest advocacy to the county government of Nakuru. Among others, it has sought implementation of a motion passed on 10 August 2018 by the Nakuru County Assembly seeking the reopening of grabbed corridors. Due to its impact, local hotel companies have targeted and sued the White Eagle and its members. The government deregistered the CBO in 2022 due to their advocacy work on access to the lake Naivasha corridor. However, following advocacy, the registration was reinstated.
Winning this Award will enhance their advocacy and act as a strategy to showcase their work as a human rights organization.
MEET NOMINEE 6 OF 6 IN THE UPCOMING HRD OF THE YEAR CATEGORY – LISA GEM
Lisa is a 10-year-old, grade 4 pupil from M.M Shah Primary School in Kisumu and is a human rights defender who believes she was born to change the world through her words and actions. Her starting point was with children and the environment because that is where she found a home. She desires every child to enjoy life and a loving upbringing free from abuse and lack of necessities.
Through her advocacy actions, Lisa has conducted campaigns supporting pediatric cancer survivors, ecological justice, and the rights of health workers in Vihiga and Kisumu County. She also petitioned the Kisumu County Government to invest in pediatric cancer management at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital.
Lisa also started Children’s rights clubs in 5 public schools in Kisumu. She spends her free time doing sanitation campaigns in Manyatta and Mamboleo settlements in Kisumu and teaching children photography as a communication tool.
Lisa enjoys playing scrabble, modelling, dancing, and storytelling in her free time.
