The Sunflower Declaration (A call to action to protect human rights defenders at risk)

31.08.2023

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


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