Viasna awarded the Human Rights Tulip prize

On December 8, The Hague hosted the Human Rights Tulip 2022 award ceremony, founded by the government of the Netherlands.

The Human Rights Center "Viasna", Cambodian human rights activist Leng Ouch and Thai Lawyers for Human Rights were selected as the top three candidates for the award.

Today, it was announced that the laureate of the award is the Human Rights Center "Viasna". The award was presented by Minister of Foreign Affairs Wopke Hoekstra.

During the ceremony, the organization's representatives noted:

“Despite the dissolution, despite the high risks of criminal charges, despite the many obstacles, arrests and penalties, Viasna continued to work, continued to witness, document and expose each and every abuse perpetrated by the government. We still do, although some are imprisoned and many are exiled. The reason for that is because we truly believe that what we are doing is essentially right. We believe that this hard work will sooner or later bear fruit, both for us and for the good of the democratic Belarus. Our struggle is not over and will continue until the last political prisoner is freed and justice is restored. And we can guarantee that human rights defenders will be there, at the right time, when the irreversible change finally comes.”

The winner receives a prize of 100,000 euros and a bronze sculpture in the shape of a tulip. The Dutch government hopes that the prize will enable the winner to:

- gain international fame and recognition;

- further develop and scale up its human rights work to reach more people in as many places as possible;

- inspire others.