Sakharov Network

Welcome to the blog on the Sakharov Prize
The «Sakharov Prize for the freedom of the mind » is given each year by the European Parliament which created it in 1988.
The Sakharov Prize, sometimes called “the little brother” of the Nobel Prize of Peace, encourages and supports the commitment, courage, and perseverance of exceptional men and women from around the world, who are fighting for the respect of human rights, for the freedom of speech and thought.
As 2008 coincides with the 20th anniversary of the Sakharov Prize, and with the 60 years of existence of the human rights, the prize will be given to Hu Jian, Chinese militant and defender of the human rights, AIDS victims, and environment, during the plenary session of December 17th, a solemn ceremony taking place at the European Parliament in Strasburg.


Since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948, and despite numerous successes, the situation keeps declining in various countries.
The voices that warn us against those dangers, the voices that fight to establish truth, are the voices of the defenders of the human rights.
The defenders of the human rights appear as a necessity: when the other countries cannot or do not want to do it, they take a stand, they face danger, they get arrested, harassed and killed to defend not only their causes but also the respect, promotion, and defense of the human rights for all.

The European Union (EU) is based on the principles of freedom, democracy, respect of the human rights and basic liberties. It is to affirm its commitment to those values and stress the role which it wants to play in their defense that the European Parliament created in 1988 the “Sakharov Prize for the freedom of the mind” from the name of the famous Soviet physician and dissident Andreï Sakharov, Nobel Prize of Peace in 1975.

It is given each year to a public person or to an organization which contributes in its country, in a decisive way, to the fight in favor of “the human rights and basic liberties, in particular the right to the freedom of opinion, protection of the rights of the minorities, respect of the international public right, development of democracy, and establishment of the Nation State.”

The candidatures, which have to be backed up by at least 25 European deputies, are examined by the Commission of Foreign Affairs of the Parliament, the same commission which writes the annual report on the situation of the human rights in the world, and on the politics of the human rights of the EU in its external relations. After this examination, three candidatures are presented at the Conference of the Presidents, a body made of the president of the Parliament, and of the presidents of the various political groups, who choose the winner.
This year for the Sakharov Prize, eight names have been suggested by the eurodeputes.
The Commission of Foreign Affairs has selected three candidates for the final selection which will take place on September 22nd.
The winner of the 2008 Sakharov Prize, Hu Jia, was chosen by the Conference of the Presidents of the EP in mid-October.