Global Citizenship for Human Rights - Human Rights Heroes

  DESMOND TUTU (b. 1931) Desmond Tutu is one of South Africa’s most well-known human rights activists, winning the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts in resolving and ending apartheid in South Africa. Known as the voice of the voiceless Black South Africans he was an outspoken critic of apartheid. Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born on October 7, 1931, in Klerksdorp, South Africa. His father was an elementary school principal and his mother worked cooking and cleaning at a school for the blind. The South Africa of Tutu's youth was rigidly segregated, with Black Africans denied the right to vote and forced to live in specific areas. Tutu's rise to international prominence began when he became the first Black person to be appointed the Anglican dean of Johannesburg in 1975. It was in this position that he emerged as one of the most prominent and eloquent voices in the South African anti-apartheid movement, especially important considering that many of the movement's promi...

  THE LAWYERS' COMMITTEE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS (YUCOM) The Lawyers’ Committee For Human Rights (YUCOM) was founded in 1997 as an expert, voluntary, non-governmental organization whose members are legal experts engaged in promoting and advocating for the rule of law and compliance with human rights, raising public awareness, conceiving, establishing and leading civic initiatives, providing legal assistance to victims of human rights violations, as well as developing co-operation with national and international organizations involved in human rights’ protection and promotion. YUCOM is renowned as an organization advocating for human rights and promoting the active participation of citizens through legal initiatives. It has profiled itself and gained much recognition as a human rights defender organization. Today, YUCOM, as a member of numerous ad-hoc coalitions, has both the capacity and an extended experience in successfully leading campaigns for the reform of legislature and legal...

  RAIF (RAEF) MUHAMMED BADAWI (b. 1984) Badawi is a writer and activist from Saudi Arabia. He created the website Free Saudi Liberals where he wrote about free speech. In 2012, he was arrested on a charge of insulting Islam and brought to court for charges involving apostasy. In his writings, he criticized religion in Saudi Arabia. He was originally given a death sentence but then sentenced to 1000 lashes and ten years in prison in 2014. In 2015, he endured 50 lashes in public. While in prison, he has undertaken hunger strikes to protest the conditions. Badawi was first detained on apostasy charges in 2008, but was released after a day of questioning. The government banned him from leaving the country and froze his bank accounts in 2009. The family of Badawi's wife subsequently filed a court action to forcibly divorce the couple on grounds of Badawi's alleged apostasy. Following Badawi's 2012 arrest, Amnesty International designated him a prisoner of conscience, ...