Global Citizenship for Human Rights - Human Rights Heroes

NATALYA KHUSAINOVNA ESTEMIROVA Natalya Khusainovna Estemirova (28 February 1958 – 15 July 2009) was a Russian human rights activist and board member of the Russian human rights organization Memorial. Natalia Estemirova was one of the leading human rights defenders in the North Caucasus. Working for Civil Rights Defenders’ partner, Human Rights Centre Memorial, she investigated cases of grave human rights violations in Chechnya. In 2009 she was murdered. Her death is most likely connected to her human rights work, which many considered put her at risk. Natalia Estemirova was a graduate of the historical faculty of the university in Grozny. Until the late 1990s, she worked as a history teacher at a school in the Chechen capital. She had also worked as a correspondent for local newspapers and TV stations in Grozny before joining Memorial Human Rights Center and frequently contributed to the independent Moscow newspaper Novaya Gazeta and the news web site Kavkazsky Uzel (Caucasian

  BEFAQADU (BEFAKADU) HAILU (b. 1980) Befeqadu Hailu is an Ethiopian writer, activist, and blogger. Hailu co-founded Zone 9. This blogging platform allows people to speak against human rights violations in Ethiopia. Hailu first began blogging on his personal blog, The Q Perspective, where he wrote about socio-political issues in Ethiopia. He later became one of the founding members of Zone 9, a collective of bloggers sharing commentary about political repression and social injustice in Ethiopia. Hailu was charged with terrorism because of his work promoting human rights. Due to his activities as part of the Zone 9 group, Hailu was arrested on April 25, 2014, and charged with terrorism. Specifically, he was charged with violating Article 4 of the 2009 Anti-Terrorism Proclamation as well as various other laws. The government accused Hailu of being a leader of a terrorist enterprise and inciting violence. He has been imprisoned at four different times but has never received a conv

  MUHAMMAD YUNUS (b. 1940) Economist and Nobel Peace Laureate Muhammad Yunus has become internationally renowned for his revolutionary system of micro-credit (small loans to entrepreneurs too poor to qualify for traditional bank loans) that has helped millions to escape poverty. Professor Muhammad Yunus established the Grameen Bank in Bangladesh in 1983, fueled by the belief that credit is a fundamental human right. His objective was to help poor people escape from poverty by providing loans on terms suitable to them and by teaching them a few sound financial principles so they could help themselves. Born in the seaport city of Chittagong, Bangladesh, Yunus’ life is motivated by his vision of a world without poverty. Professor Yunus studied at Dhaka University in Bangladesh, then received a Fulbright scholarship to study economics at Vanderbilt University. He received his Ph.D. in economics from Vanderbilt in 1969 and the following year became an assistant professor of economic

  NANCY HERZ (b. 1996) Nancy Herz is a human rights activist, columnist, public speaker and co-author of the book, “Shameless,” which was published in Norway in October 2017.   In 2016, Herz published the article “We are the shameless Arab women and our time starts now.” Together with other Norwegian activists, Nancy started the #Shameless movement - which aims to tackle negative social control and the consequences of growing up in a shame-honor culture.   She advocates for freedom hopes to inspire other girls and women to free themselves from constrictive gender roles set for them.   The principles of anti-racism and feminism are at the core of all her work and she believes that young people must claim their rights and work together for the world they want to live in.   Nancy was personally affected by negative social control and a shame-honor culture growing up which made her struggle with her identity and she experienced guilt and shame and never feeling “good enough” in the