Gamito dos Santos Carlos, Human Rights Defender

Executive Director, JOPAZ, the Youth Association for Peace,

Nampula, Northern Mozambique

Gamito dos Santos Carlos, a human rights defender from Nampula, northern Mozambique, is the executive director of AJOPAZ, the Youth Association for Peace. His human rights work centres around social, civil and political rights and accountability. Gamito has been advocating for the protection of human rights activists and engaging with young people to advocate for significant social change in his community, to foster justice and sustainable decision-making by authorities.

He is a member of the Friends of Amurane Association for a Better Mozambique -KÓXUKHURO, as well as an analyst and Provincial Coordinatorof the Mozambican Network of Human Rights Defenders (RMDDH). He has faced ongoing intimidation for his human rights work, including repeated raids on his home and the loss of his job, and in March 2023 he was kidnapped and tortured after he organised a demonstration.

Despite all the challenges he faces, Gamito has consistently defended democracy, human rights and anti-corruption initiatives in Mozambique, having a significant impact in improving conditions for the Nampula community.

Gamito dreams of a fairer, equal country; where health, education, housing and employment are rights which are properly realised, where equity and gender equality are accepted without prejudice, where young people and women are involved in decision-making processes, where politicians treat people with respect and dignity and adhere to the rule of law, where freedom of speech is a respected right, and where democracy is genuine and people exercise their rights without fear.

Muñecas de Arcoíris (Rainbow Dolls),

The Trans Women Collective,

Represented by Jennifer Bexara Córdova,

Honduras

Muñecas de Arcoíris (Rainbow Dolls) is a collective of trans women from the city of Tegucigalpa and Comayagüela in Honduras, founded in 2008. Muñecas works under the LGBTI+ Arcoíris Association of Honduras with the aim of creating a safe space for trans sex worker women. The members of Muñecas started as volunteers of the Arcoíris Association, where they became more aware of the situation that trans people were facing in Honduras. With the support of the Arcoíris Association, Muñecas members received training related to their rights as LGBTI+ people. They then started to document human rights violations specifically against trans women in 2006 and two years later, the collective was formally created as a trans women organisation. Most of its members are sex workers, informal workers, stylists, and house keepers, among others.

As human rights defenders, members of Muñecas have a double layer of vulnerability. They are adversely targeted, firstly due to their identity, and secondly due to their work defending trans rights. Over the years, the work of Muñecas has led to high-risk situations for a number of its members, who have faced threats, physical, psychological and verbal attacks, and killings.

The members of Muñecas dedicate their lives to the defence of human rights, fighting for a more equal world, in which respect, tolerance, empathy is present. For the members of Muñecas, it is invaluable to have a safe space where they meet and learn more about their human rights.

Sammi Deen Baloch, Human Rights Defender

Voice for Baloch Missing Persons

Balochistan province, Pakistan

Sammi Deen Baloch is a Baloch woman human rights defender from Mashkai, Awaran District of Balochistan province, Pakistan. She is the General Secretary of the Voice for Baloch Missing Persons (VBMP), a non-governmental organisation that represents and supports victims and relatives of enforced disappearances in Balochistan.

In June 2009, at the age of 10, Sammi’s father, Dr Deen Mohammed Baloch, was forcibly disappeared in Khuzdar, Balochistan. She began persistently campaigning for the release of her father, which further led to her deeper, collective involvement in advocating against enforced disappearances in Balochistan by state forces.

Sammi has led campaigns and actions including marches, protests and sit-ins; documented violations and cases of enforced disappearance; and assisted families with registering cases with relevant authorities. She has been a vocal advocate on women’s and girls rights, the right to education and ongoing violations including killings, mass graves and the collective punishment of families.

Sammi has faced persecution and reprisals including violence towards herself and family members. Since 2009, the military have raided her home several times, burned and seized valuables and even tried to abduct her brother. The family were forced to relocate to Karachi where her work continued, and threats against her escalated.  She has also been forcibly disappeared herself.

Despite being targeted and risking so much, Sammi remains undeterred, driven by her unwavering commitment to justice and the protection of human rights in Balochistan. Her work has enabled thousands of women and girls to stand up for their rights and has brought attention to the struggles of the Baloch people.

Doros Polykarpou is a leading human rights defender and founding member of KISA (the Movement for Equality, Support and Anti-Racism). He is an expert on migration, asylum, discrimination, racism, and trafficking in Cyprus. For over 27 years, he has dedicated himself to defending and advocating for the rights of people on the move and tackling discrimination and xenophobia in Cyprus, navigating the unique socio-political environment of the small island nation with strong conservative elements.

Cyprus first developed its immigration policy in 1996, and strong right-wing conservatism led to a model focused on temporary residence and filling of undesired jobs by migrants. The policy ultimately led to a rapid increase of migrants, along with strong sentiments of racism and discrimination. In response to this, Doros and other activists founded KISA, with the objective of combating discrimination against migrants and asylum seekers, and addressing human trafficking.

Doros has been the target of a multitude of attacks, including defamation campaigns, criminal prosecutions and death threats – the latest being the bomb attack on KISA’s offices on 5 January 2024, with the planting of an explosive device right opposite Doros’s workstation at KISA’s offices.

Doros was born in Silikou, a mixed village where Turkish and Greek Cypriots lived together peacefully, even during intense inter-communal conflicts. In the 80s, Doros moved to Germany to study where he stayed for 10 years working and studying.

Returning to Cyprus in the early 1990s, he engaged in the movement for reconciliation and reunification of the divided island and worked to protect children and women from domestic violence.

Despite the threats and challenges, Doros finds great satisfaction in his work, engaging directly with individuals and migrant groups through a human rights-based approach and making positive changes in people’s lives.

We Are Not Numbers (WANN)

Youth-Led Palestinian Non-Profit

Gaza Strip

We Are Not Numbers (WANN) is a youth-led Palestinian non-profit project established in the Gaza Strip in 2014, with the aim of telling the everyday, human stories of thousands of Palestinians. Their vision is to spread Palestinian voices and narratives, based on respect for human rights through the work of peaceful, non-violent, youth led Palestinians. When co-founder Ahmed Alnaouq lost his 23-year-old brother, Ayman, during an Israeli military attack on Palestinians in the summer of 2014, he was devastated, and sunk into a depression from which he thought he would never escape. During this time, he met American journalist Pam Bailey, who encouraged him to celebrate his brother’s legacy by writing a story about him.

The idea came fully to fruition in early 2015 in collaboration with Dr. Ramy Abdu, chair of the board of directors for the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor (Euro-Med Monitor). In a context where the media was dominated with news and stories of Palestinians as mere political numbers; living under occupation, amid war, WANN wanted to share the humanity of Palestine beyond politics and numbers. It became a platform both to document human rights violations, but also to share the personal struggles and triumphs, tears and laughter, and the universal human experiences of Palestinians. The mission of WANN is to break stereotypes about Palestinians, by creating and empowering a new generation of Palestinian writers and thinkers who can share unfiltered stories of the Palestinian cause.