What?
The Sunflower Declaration is a call to action to protect human rights defenders at risk, with concrete recommendations to governments, multilateral organizations, businesses, cities and universities. It was drafted together with the Nobel Peace Prize laureates 2022; Center for Civil Liberties, Memorial and Viasna (on behalf of Ales Bialiatsksi) and other human rights organizations. Presented at the Nobel Peace Conference HUMAN RIGHTS HEROES 31 August 2023, it is signed and endorsed by a number of Nobel Prize laureates, human rights organisations and individuals.
Why?
The Nobel Peace Prize 2022 was awarded to three human rights defenders: Ales Bialiatski from Belarus, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian Center for Civil Liberties. This year also mark the 25th anniversary of the UN Declaration to Protect Human Rights Defenders and the 75th anniversary of the Declaration of Human Rights. As we celebrate this important milestone, defenders of human rights are under threat in many parts of the world: Freedom of assembly and freedom of expression are under pressure from authoritarian regimes, and weaponization of the law, digital surveillance and hate campaigns are making the work of human rights defenders difficult.
The people who are defending our common rights, need our support and protection.
The Declaration is available in PDF HERE
If you wish to sign, please send an email to post@nobelpeacecenter.org
Share this declaration
You can support the declaration by sharing this site with others. You can also join the Nobel Peace Conference HUMAN RIGHTS HEROES on 31 August 2023. Click here to join the digital conference.
SIGNATORIES
Nobel laureates, organisations, foundations, universites, human right defenders and individuals from around the world and from a diverse range of backgrounds, geographies and sectors have already signed the document. If you wish to sign, please send an email to post@nobelpeacecenter.org:
Nobel Peace Laureates
Viasna on behalf of Ales Bialiatski, Nobel Peace Laureate 2022
CCL, Nobel Peace Laureate 2022
Memorial, Nobel Peace Laureate 2022
Dmitry Muratov, Nobel Peace Laureate 2021
ICAN – the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Nobel Peace Laureate 2017
Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Laureate 2014
Leymah Gbowee, Nobel Peace Laureate 2011
Tawakkol Karman, Nobel Peace Laureate 2011
Shirin Ebadi, Nobel Peace Laureate 2003
Jody Williams, Nobel Peace Laureate 1997
Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Nobel Peace Laureate 1992
Organizations and Individuals
African Human Rights Coalition
African Parliamentarians Association for Human Rights (AfriPAHR) Steering Committee
Aleksandr Voronov, Director, Coming Out LGBT Group
Araminta
Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
Association for Democracy Assistance and Human Rights (DEMAS)
Austausch – For a European Civil Society
Bruce Mutsvairo, Associate Professor, Media and Performance Studies, University of Utrecht
Burma Center Prague
Cambodian League for the Promotion & Defense of Human Rights (LICADHO)
Can Dündar, Journalist, Turkey
Centre for Applied Human Rights (CAHR) at University of York
Češi Tibet podporují / Czechs Support Tibet
Coalition 5 a.m. Ukraine
Crude Accountability
Dalius Čekuolis, Ambasasador for Human Rights and Gender Equality, Government of Lithuania
Danish Refugee Council (DRC), Denmark
David R. Boyd, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the issue of human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment
Democracy Research Institute/Human Rights Center
Dr. Julie Posetti, Deputy Vice President International Center for Journalists, Research Associate University of Oxford/University of Sheffield
Epress
Equality Now
European Centre for Press and Media Freedom
European Federation of Journalists (EFJ)
Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor
European Endowment for Democracy
European Platform for Democratic Elections (EPDE)
Fernanda San Martin Carrasco, Director, The International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB)
Fernand De Varennes, United Nations, Special Rapporteur on minority issues
Freedom House
Front Line Defenders
Fund for Global Human Rights
Gila Cotler, CEO, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Hala Ahed, Lawyer, Jordan
HCAV
Helsinki Citizens’ Assembly-Vanadzor
Hillel Neuer, Executive Director, United Nations Watch
Hirschfeld-Eddy Foundation
Hrystyna Kit, founding member of JurFem Ukrainian Women Lawyers’ Association
Human Rights Centre ZMINA
Human Rights Foundation
Human Rights House Foundation
Human Rights Movement “Bir Duino-Kyrgyzstan”
Human Rights NGO “Citizens’ Watch”, St. Petersburg, Russia
Human Rights Watch
Ingjerd Schou, Member of Norwegian Parliament, head of PACE delegation, Conservative Party
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
International Dalit Solidarity Network
International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders
The International Panel of Parliamentarians for Freedom of Religion or Belief (IPPFoRB) Steering Group
International Partnership for Human Rights (IPHR)
International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs (IWGIA)
Jostein Hole Kobbeltvedt, Executive Director, Rafto Foundation for Human Rights
Julia Kharashvili, Chair person, IDP Women Association “Consent”, Georgia
JurFem
Justice and Peace Netherlands
Karen Human Rights Group (KHRG)
Kazakhstan International Bureau for Human Rights and Rule of Law
KLP, Norway
Kyiv Dialogue
Kyrgyzstan’s Coalition for Democracy and Civil Society
Leonard Hammer, University of Arizona, Center for Judaic Studies, United States
Legal policy research centre, Kasakhstan
Leonid Drabkin, OVD-Info, Russia
Luminate
MachsomWatch (Checkpoint Watch)
Morris Tidball-Binz, United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Moscow Helsinki Group
Nadia’s Initiative
Nahla Yousif, Women Human Rights Defenders in Darfur, Sudan
Netherlands Helsinki Committee
Nobel Women’s Initiative
Norwegian Helsinki Committee
Norwegian Human Rights Fund
People in Need
Physicians for Human Rights Israel
Protection International
Rasheed Draman, Executive Director, African Centre for Parliamentary Affairs (ACEPA)
Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
SafeMuse
Socioscope Societal Research and Consultancy Center
SOVA Research Center
Start Point
Telenor, Norway
The Barys Zvozskau Belarusian Human Rights House
The Belarusian Helsinki Committee
The Honourable Irwin Cotler, Former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, Founder and Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
The Public Verdict Foundation, Russia
The Swedish OSCE-network
The World Movement for Democracy
Transparency International
Transparency International Anticorruption Center, Armenia
Turkmenistan Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights
Washington Office on Latin America
William Paul Simmons, Director, Human Rights Practice Program, University of Arizona, United States
World Liberty Congress
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Yuri Manvelyan, editor, Independent Journalists’ Network NGO
Cities
Shelter City Batumi
Shelter City Cotonou
Shelter City Dar es Salaam
Shelter City Kathmandu
Shelter City Lyon
Shelter City San José
Shelter City Tbilisi
Shelter City Telavi
Shelter City York
Universities
Hajvery University, Lahore, Pakistan
Linköping University, Sweden
Luleå University of Technology, Sweden
Malmö University, Sweden
Umeå University, Sweden
