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2019 Václav Havel Prize shared by Ilham Tohti and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights
PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY SESSION STRASBOURG 30 SEPTEMBER 2019 COUNCIL OF EUROPE The seventh Václav Havel Human Rights Prize – which honours outstanding civil society action in defence of human rights – has been awarded jointly to imprisoned 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. The prize was presented at a special ceremony today in Strasbourg, on the opening day of the autumn plenary session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE). Ilham Tohti, a renowned Uyghur public intellectual in China, has worked for over 20 years to improve the situation of the Uyghur minority and to foster inter-ethnic dialogue and understanding in China. In September 2014, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. The prize was received on his behalf by Enver Can of the Ilham Tohti Initiative. The Youth Initiative for Human Rights, established in 2003, promotes reconciliation through building connections between young people across the Balkans from different ethnic groups, regions and countries. By working together for human rights, they aim to build links that can prevent the re-emergence of ethnic conflict in the region. Read full article – 2019 Václav Havel Prize shared by Ilham Tohti and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights _________________________________Source: www.coe.int/en/web/portal/-/2019-vaclav-havel-prize-shared-by-ilham-tohti-and-the-youth-initiative-for-human-rights
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Sakharov Prize: daughter of 2019 laureate Ilham Tohti receives prize on his behalf
EU affairs Updated: 19-12-2019 Jewher Ilham (left) receiving the award from Parliament President David Sassoli Ilham Tohti’s daughter Jewher Ilham accepted the 2019 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on 18 December on behalf of her jailed father. Ilham Tohti, a Uyghur scholar fighting for the rights of China’s Muslim Uyghur minority, has been in jail since 2014 on separatism-related charges. Presenting the award, Parlimaent President David Sassoli said: “Ilham Tohti, with his activism, managed to give a voice to the Uyghurs. […] He has been working for 20 years to promote dialogue and mutual understanding between them and other Chinese people. “Today should be a moment of joy, to celebrate freedom of speech. Instead, it is a day of sadness. Once again, this chair is empty, because in the world we are living, exercising our freedom of thought does not always mean being free.” Accepting the award during the ceremony in Strasbourg, Jewher Ilham said: “It is an honour to be at the European Parliament today to accept the Sakharov Prize on behalf of my father. I am grateful for the opportunity to tell his story, because he cannot tell it himself. To be honest with you, I do not know where my father is. 2017 was the last time my family received word about him. “Today, there is no freedom for Uyghurs in China… Not at school, not in public, not even in private homes. My father, like most Uyghurs, has been labelled a violent extremist, with a disease that needs to be cured and a mind that needs to be washed.. It is under this false label of extremism that the government has put one million people – probably more – into ‘concentration camps’ where Uyghurs are forced to give up their religion, language and culture, […]