Human Rights Awards for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders.

The use of awards in human rights is relatively recent. The oldest is the Nobel Peace Prize (1901), followed by the Freedom Award (1943) and the Nansen Medal (1955). From the mid-1970s until the end of the twentieth century their numbers increase steadily with one or two awards created each year. This century has seen a remarkable increase in human rights awards, with more than 50 new awards created in just 12 years. This relatively recent development is perhaps one of the reasons why there is no systematic research on human rights awards, their impact and effectiveness. The aim of this essay is to give a brief review of human rights awards and discuss issues in regard to the protection function of awards. This essay reviews 100 awards,1 of which 88 are international in scope (with potential winners coming from anywhere in the world) and 12 are regional (winners must come from a specific region).2 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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