Human Rights Tulip

The Human Rights Tulip (Dutch: Mensenrechtentulp) is an annual prize awarded by the Dutch ministry of Foreign Affairs to a human rights defender or organisation who promotes and supports human rights in innovative ways. The Human Rights Tulip was established in 2007 and presented for the first time on 10 December 2008.

The prize consists of a statuette and support worth €100.000 to assist the winning individual or organization to further develop and scale up their innovation.

The procedure of awarding the Human Rights Tulip starts with an open nominating procedure. The winner is selected by the Dutch minister of Foreign Affairs on the basis of public voting and the advice of an independent jury.

In October 2013, The Netherlands Foreign Minister Frans Timmermans decided to retain the award but to seek greater awareness for it.

In June 2014, the foreign ministry appointed the international development organisation Hivos to run the selection process for the award. This partnership continued in 2015, when the shortlist of six candidates was composed of three gaining the most votes in a public voting process, and three more selected by the Foreign Ministry and Hivos.

The 2008 prize winner was Justine Masika Bihamba from Goma in North Kivu province in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Her organisation, Women's Synergy for the Victims of Sexual Violence (Synergie des femmes pour les Victimes des violences Sexuelles – SFVS) has since 2002 been fighting the massive use of sexual violence in the armed conflict in the east of the DRC.

The 2009 prize winner was Shadi Sadr from Tehran, Iran, a women's rights activist and campaigner against stoning as an execution method.

The 2010 prize winner was Bertha Oliva from Honduras, for her long struggle for the rights of relatives of people who were disappeared in Honduras between 1979 and 1989.

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Wikipedia