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One Million Signatures Campaign in Iran wins Anna Politkovskaya Award 2009

Please check our video page for important video addresses and news features relating to the 2009 Anna Politkovskaya Award.

The winner of RAW in WAR’s third annual Anna Politkovskaya Award is The One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality (Iran). The grass roots campaign, launched in 2006, aims to collect one million signatures of Iranian nationals to a petition demanding an end to legal discrimination against women in Iran.

Leila Alikarami, a lawyer and human rights activist, accepted the Anna Politkovskaya Award on behalf of the Campaign, which was presented to her by Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Mairead Maguire, at a special award ceremony at Kings Place in London. Working with the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Shirin Ebadi, Leila Alikarami has defended many of the women members of the Campaign including Aliyeh Eghdam Doust, who was the first women’s rights activist in Iran to be imprisoned for the full term of her 3-year sentence.

In Iran legislation values evidence given by a woman in court only worth half that given by a man. Girls under the age of 13 can be forced to marry once her father permits it. Women do not have equal rights with men when it comes to marriage, divorce, child custody and inheritance. Although campaigning peacefully and legally, activists are often subject to arbitrary arrests and imprisonment. The recent political protests have increased government pressure and persecution of those actively supporting the campaign. Charges against members range from acting against the national security of the state and propaganda against the state to membership in the One Million Signatures Campaign itself. Many activists are serving suspended sentences and face regular harassment and persecution by the government.

Sign the petition

One Million Signatures Campaign demanding changes to discriminatory laws in Iran

1. Shirin Ebadi 2. Simin Behbahani 3. Shahla Lahiji 4. Shahla Ezazi 5. Babak Ahmadi 6. Farzaneh Taheri 7. Tahmineh Milani 8. Manijeh Hekmat 9. Maedeh Tahmasebi 10. Narges Mohamadi

Iranian law considers women to be second class citizens and promotes discrimination against them.

RAW in WAR Scholarship in human rights journalism to honour Natalia Estemirova

RAW in WAR is announcing the establishment of a scholarship, named after Natalia Estemirova, the first recipient of the Anna Politkovskaya Award, who was killed in July. The scholarship, will commemorate Natalia and honour her life, and will be awarded annually to a woman from war and conflict in the world to study human rights journalism in London. The scholarship in the name of Natalia Estemirova is set up in cooperation with City University. The Guardian newspaper has offered an internship placement for the recipient.

Anna Politkovskaya Award 2009

One Million Signatures activists protest in 2006 at the start of the campaign. The sign reads ‘We condemn any kind of discrimination.

Wednesday 7 October marks the third anniversary of the murder of Anna Politkovskaya, the campaigning Russian journalist and outspoken government critic, who exposed the brutal treatment of civilians in Chechnya at the hands of both the Russian forces and the Moscow-supported Chechen officials. No closer to having her assassin brought to justice, three years on, the Russian authorities remain reluctant and show no political will to identify who ordered the killing and to see justice done.

To mark the anniversary of Anna Politkovskaya’s murder and to honour Anna and other women like her in the world, RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in WAR) annually presents the Anna Politkovskaya Award to a woman human rights defender from a conflict zone in the world who, like Anna, stands up for the victims of this conflict, often at great personal risk. Anna lived a life of courage in the face of grave danger, just like her friend, colleague and first recipient of the Award, Natalia Estemirova, who was abducted and murdered on 15th July 2009. This year’s award ceremony also remembers Natasha, who was a truth-seeker with every fibre of her being.

RAW in WAR aims to support women human rights defenders working in countries in war and conflict, and to help end abuse and persecution against them, as well as to strengthen their work in areas of conflict, or “forgotten conflict”, where there is limited or no support from the major humanitarian agencies and organisations. Mariana Katzarova founded RAW in WAR in 2006, after working as a journalist and human rights advocate in the war zones of Bosnia, Kosovo and Chechnya, including 10 years as the Russia Researcher for Amnesty International.

Women of courage in the face of danger

The Guardian, Wednesday 7th October 2009

Today marks the third anniversary of the murder of the Russian investigative journalist Anna Politkovskaya. Yesterday the human rights organisation Reach All Women in War presented the annual Anna Politkovskaya Award, set up to recognise women defending human rights in zones of war and conflict, to the One Million Signatures Campaign for Equality in Iran. This group of women are risking their lives to collect signatures in support of a petition to change the laws which discriminate against women. Many have faced imprisonment, and torture and abuse in detention; they have been banned from travelling abroad and their lives have been in danger. But this has not stopped their determination to struggle for equality. They live a life of courage in the face of danger, just as Anna did.

In October 2007, we presented the first Anna Politkovskaya Award to Natalia Estemirova for her courage in seeking and telling the truth about the torture, disappearances and murders of civilians in the war in Chechnya. We were outraged by the killing of Natalia on 15 July. Nobody has been charged for this crime and two other humanitarian aid workers helping children disabled by the war, Zarema Sadulayeva and her husband, Alek Dzabrailov, were abducted and killed in Chechnya on 10 August.

We call again on the Russian government to bring to justice those who killed Anna and Natalia and their colleagues in Chechnya, and to end the killings of journalists and human rights defenders in the Russian Federation. We also call on world leaders to take action to protect the journalists and human rights defenders in areas of war and conflict. We owe it to the memory of Anna and Natalia to protect those who still speak out on behalf of those to whom nobody wants to listen.

Mairead Maguire, Betty Williams, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elena Bonner, Frank Judd, Gillian Slovo, Azar Nafisi, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Eva Hoffman, Vaclav Havel, Susan Sarandon and 99 others , RAW in WAR

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