Stockholm, 7 December 2019 (SPS) - Sahrawi human rights activist Aminatou Haidar on Wednesday was awarded the "2019 Right Livelihood Award", also known as the "Alternative Nobel Prize,” during an official ceremony attended by more than 1200 activists from around the world.
During the ceremony, the Sahrawi activist made a statement in which she called for respect for international law and human rights in occupied Western Sahara.
"First of all, I would like to thank the international jury of the Right Livelihood Prize for the honour it has bestowed on me. It is recognition of my people's struggle for freedom and independence, but also a tribute to human dignity and the principles and values of human and peoples' rights," said the icon of the Sahrawi peaceful resistance.
"Allow me also to congratulate the other three winners who share this award with me. I would like to tell them that their struggles are ours and that our struggles are complementary and aim at a more just humanity, more respect for human rights, for nature and for the great country that shelters us all, our mother Earth".
The Sahrawi activist also stressed in her speech that her experience resembles "that of many of my compatriots, subject to injustice, human rights violations, humiliation, enforced disappearances, torture and deprivation. However, they showed resistance, sacrifice, refusal of submission and determination to defend human and peoples' rights.” (SPS)
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