Sakharov Network

In 2002, the European Parliament awarded the Sakharov Prize to the founder of the Movimiento Cristiano Liberación (Christian Liberation Movement), Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas, born in 1952, thus honouring his undeterred commitment to national dialogue and democratic change in Cuba.

Despite being persecuted and condemned since his youth for his criticism of Fidel Castro’s policy, his commitment is unwavering. In 1997, Payá Sardiñas, drew up the Varela project calling for a national referendum on freedom of expression and assembly, free pluralist elections, the release of all political prisoners, and economic and social reforms .

In so doing, Payá Sardiñas demonstrated his support for the goal of bringing about political change using existing legal means. He and his supporters succeeded in gathering 25000 signatures and presenting the project to the National Assembly of People’s Power in May 2002. For the first time, the opposition came together to support the manifesto ‘Todos Unidos’ (All Together).

In March 2003, 75 Cubans - two thirds of whom had been active in the campaign for a referendum - were sentenced to long-term prison sentences for offences against national independence and territorial integrity.

In his address to the European Parliament, Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas pledged a commitment that the Cuban Government’s repression would not halt the campaign, as the Cuban people wanted change without violence.

In July 2003, 200 Members of the European Parliament put their signatures to the ‘Sakharov initiative’ giving Oswaldo José Payá Sardiñas an assurance of their continuing support.

In 2003, Payá and other leaders launched a National Dialogue process in which over 12000 Cubans on and off the island discussed their visions for Cuba’s future .Their comments and suggestions were systematically collected and included into the Program for All Cubans presented by Payá to the public in 2006 as a contribution to a peaceful and democratic transition .

In 1999 renewed awareness of the need to fight for peace and human rights began to increase among the Angolan people, encouraged by the efforts of church leaders and various civil society bodies to foster « inclusive national reconciliation ».

Archbishop Zacarias Kamwenho is in the vanguard of this peace movement. Born in Chimbundo ( Huambo, Angola) in 1934, ordained in 1961, and made Archbishop of Lubango in 1995, Dom Zacarias Kamwenho expressed his firm, impartial and determined views to all parties of the conflict in an effort to achieve lasting peace through political dialogue after 26 years of civil war. In 2001 he was awarded the Sakharov prize in recognition of his untiring efforts for peace.

The ceasefire which came about in 2002 after the killing of Jonas Savimbi, the peace talks and the general climate of support for democratisation can largely be attributed to the campaign conducted by Dom Zacarias Kamwenho and other religious and civil leaders.

In 2003 Archbishop Zacarias Kamwenho resigned as chair of the Bishop's Conference of Angola and São Tome (CEAST) but he continues to work actively through his diocese and the Ecumenical Committee for Peace in Angola (COIEPA) for the realisation of democracy, respect for fundamental freedoms and human rights, the implementation of the rule of law and lasting national reconciliation.

An Israeli born in 1949, Nurit Peled-Elhanan is a university professor of comparative literature. She represents all Israelis who are committed to a negotiated solution to the conflict and who clearly acknowledge the right of two peoples and two States to exist side by side on an equal footing. Her father is the famous General Matti Peled, who is renowned for his efforts to foster peace and progress.

Her 14-year-old daughter, Smadar, was killed in an attack carried out in West Jerusalem by a Palestinian suicide bomber. When her daughter was killed, Nurit did not give in to despair but made speeches which focused on the responsibility borne by those who implement a short-sighted policy which refuses to acknowledge the rights of others and fuels hatred and conflict. Nurit Peled-Elhanan founded the Israeli-Palestinian Bereaved Families Forum.

Speaking to secondary school pupils in Rimini on 4 February 2004, Nurit Peled-Elhanan said «It is high time that we define what is happening in the Middle East in terms of criminality rather than in political and military terms... It is time to teach how to recognise false ideals and how to oppose the terrible misuse of ideals... It is high time ... for us to became individuals again instead of nations, individuals instead of troops, and to work together to save those children who are still alive by saying 'enough is enough'».

Through their lives and their commitment, Izzat Ghazzawi and Nurit Peled-Elhanan embody the hope of a negotiated, peaceful solution to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. Their personal tragedies have not turned them into enemies; their pain has not been transformed into hatred, but instead into the energy required to find ways of respecting the rights of individual citizens.

A Palestinian born in 1951, Izzat Ghazzawi was a professor at Birzeit University and held a master's degree in English literature. He chaired the Union of Palestinian Writers, wrote novels and short stories, was a literary critic and organised and chaired the first International Writers' Conference in Palestine (1997).

Izzat Ghazzawi was a member of the Executive Bureau of the Palestinian Council for Justice and peace and was awarded the International Prize for Freedom of Expression in Stravanger in 1995. He was imprisoned and punished on a number of occasions by the Israeli authorities as a result of his political activities.

His life was marked by the murder, by the Israeli Army, of his son Ramy, aged 16. Ramy was killed in the courtyard of his school as he went to help a wounded friend. Despite this tragedy, Izzat Ghazzawi always continued to seek cultural and political dialogue with the Israeli people.

Together with the Israeli writer Abraham B. Yehoshua and the photographer Oliviero Toscani, he published a book on relations between the Palestinians and the Israelis which became hugely successful.

Izzat Ghazzawi died on 4 April 2003.

Through their lives and their commitment, Izzat Ghazzawi and Nurit Peled-Elhanan embody the hope of a negotiated, peaceful solution to the conflict between Palestinians and Israelis. Their personal tragedies have not turned them into enemies; their pain has not been transformed into hatred, but instead into the energy required to find ways of respecting the rights of individual citizens.

The pressure group BASTA YA (Stop it now), which was granted consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council in July 2004, consists of people who work for basic human rights, democracy and tolerance in the Basque country. Members of the group come from different ideological backgrounds but agree on three principles:

> They actively oppose terrorism.

> They support all victims of terrorism and political violence.

> They uphold the rule of law, as enshrined in the Constitution and Statute of Autonomy.

Fundamental freedoms and humans rights are under threat in the Basque country from terrorism by ETA and related groups. Thousands of people have been victims of intimidation, extortion, blackmail and attacks, with families and property also targeted. They are unable to express themselves freely or exercise their rights without taking great risks.

The members of BASTA YA are risking their lives to fight terrorism and the only « weapon » they have is the peaceful mobilisation of the people to protect their basic freedoms. BASTA YA wants to raise awareness through actions designed to display solidarity with all those who oppose terrorism and support democratic values.

In March 2002 the group's spokesman, Fernando Savater, told the European Parliament's Committee on foreign Affairs that, after 25 years of daily struggle, the people have had enough and, in the last ten years, 10% of the population have already left the Basque country.

In July 2004 BASTA YA gained a consultative status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council.

Xanana Gusmão was born on 20 June 1946 in Laleia, East Timor.

When the Portuguese withdrew, Indonesia began a policy of destabilising East Timor. On 7 December 1975, Indonesia invaded. Gusmão went underground and in 1978 became leader of the military wing of the Revolutionary Front for the independence of East Timor (FRETLIN).

The violence which accompanied the invasion cost an estimated 200 000 lives, but failed to break the people's determination to resist. Xanana Gusmão sought to secure a peaceful solution to the conflict by proposing a peace plan and talks under UN supervision to the indonesian Government.

In 1986 he managed to bring together the various political and social groupings to form the Timorese National Resistance Council (TNRC). On 20 November 1992 Xanana Gusmão was arrested. He was sentenced to life imprisonment, subsequently reduced to 20 years, on charges of separatism and illegal possession of arms and ultimately, in February 1999, placed under house arrest. Even the imprisonment of Xanana Gusmão, who is also known the « Mandela of Timor », failed to break the opposition in East Timor.

In releasing Xanana Gusmão on 7 September 1999 - shortly after the referendum of 30 August, in which 80% of the population of East Timor had voted for independence - Indonesia's President Habibie was responding to massive international pressure. Xanana Gusmão, who has become a symbol of resistance in East Timor and the embodiment of the hopes of the international solidarity movement, said on his release: « As a free man, I promise to do everything in my power to bring peace to East Timor and my people ».

In April 2002 the first free presidential elections were held in East Timor. Xanana Gusmão was elected with almost 83% of the votes. On 20 May 2002 Kofi Annan officially declared the Democratic Republic of East Timor an independent state. While José Xanana Gusmão served as President of East Timor until May 2007, he became Prime Minister of the country in the outcome of legislative following the legislative elections of 30 June 2007.

In 1998, as the armed conflict between Serbian units and the Kosovo Liberation Army escalated, the European Parliament sent out a message by awarding the Sakharov Prize to the political leader of the Kosovo Albanians. In giving the prize to Ibrahim Rugova, the European Parliament honoured a man committed to the principle of peaceful resistance to violence.

Dr Ibrahim Rugova, who was born on 2 December 1944 in Cerrca (Istog), Kosovo, taught literature at the University of Pristina before being elected leader of the Kosovo Democratic Alliance (LDK) in 1989. That year, Belgrade abolished the autonomous status of the province of Kosovo; the Albanians found themselves subjected to oppression, and opposition leaders were arrested. In 1990 the two million Kosovo Albanians adopted their own constitution, in 1991 in a referendum 97% of them voted for an independent Kosovo, and in 1998 they confirmed Ibrahim Rugova as President of their self-proclaimed “Republic of Kosovo”.

The pacifist Rugova stuck doggedly to his approach based on non-violent opposition to the Serbian regime, constantly reiterating his willingness to enter into dialogue with Belgrade. At the same time, he endeavoured to win over world opinion to his people’s cause. He never faltered in urging the international community to step up its pressure and offer Kosovo protection.

Convinced that this people could achieve self-determination only through peace, on 18 March 1999 Ibrahim Rugova signed the Rambouillet peace agreement as the chief negotiator for the Kosovo Albanians. Belgrade’s refusal to endorse the agreement led on 24 March to the launch of NATO attacks on Yugoslavia which were intended to last three months. On 28 March Rugova’s key adviser in the peace negotiations, Fehmi Agani, was murdered in Pristina. Rugova himself was forced to go underground.

In March 2002 Ibrahim Rugova was elected as the first President of Kosovo. President Rugova died of Cancer on 21 January 2006.

Salima Ghezali, the 1997 winner of the Sakharov Prize, was born near Algiers in 1958. In the 1980s she became involved in the Algerian women’s movement, inter alia as a founder member of “Women of Europe and the Maghreb” and as editor-in-chief of “NYSSA”, the women’s publication she herself had founded.

The women’s rights activist became a committed campaigner for human rights and democracy in Algeria. After 1994, as publisher of the weekly magazine “La Nation”, she increasingly focused on issues of censorship. Her articles constantly called for a peaceful and democratic solution to the crisis in Algeria, which has cost the lives of tens of thousands of people, including many journalists. As a result, she became a target for criticism from both the Algerian authorities and Islamic extremists.

The appearance in “Le Monde Diplomatique” of her report on the human rights situation in Algeria prompted the authorities to order the closure of her magazine in 1996. Salima Ghezali reacted by saying that “Drawing attention to the principles which form the foundations of our human society and exercising vigilance are the best means of ensuring that civilisation wins out over barbarism”.

On 25 April 1996, at a hearing on press freedom held by the European Parliament, Salima Ghezali described the fear and pressures to which journalists in Algeria are exposed if they seek to circumvent censorship and escape the murderous wrath of their opponents.

In 2002, shortly before publication of “La Nation” was to resume, she confirmed that the weekly magazine would continue to campaign for the opening up of Algeria to democracy in the future.

Salima Ghezali has been a Board member of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network since February 2005.