2019 Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize – Award Ceremony – Invitation

On May 27, 2019, at the Palace of Justice in Brussels, the Jury of the 24th Ludovic-Trarieux International Human Rights Prize chose the Colombian lawyer Rommel Durán Castellanos, President of the Equipo Jurídico Pueblos (EJP), as the recipient of the 2019 Prize.

Over the past two decades, Mr. Durán has courageously represented farming communities claiming the restitution of their lands, as well as victims of crimes such as enforced disappearance, torture and extrajudicial executions perpetrated by paramilitary groups. Mr. Durán himself also faces very serious threats to his life due to his work as a lawyer, and he is also subject to harassment, including to a campaign of threats, attacks and stigmatization because of his work. He survived an attempt on his life perpetrated by armed men during an incident in December 2013 while attempting to verify the state of the community’s crops. Rommel Durán Castellanos, is a volunteer of the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners (CSPP), in Bucaramanga, in the department of Caesar

It is a great pleasure and honour for UIA to announce that the 2019 Ludovic-Trarieux Prize will be officially presented to
Mr. Durán Castellanos
on November 8 at 5 p.m.
at the Salle D of the European Convention Center Luxembourg – ECCL.

For further information please contact uiacentre@uianet.org

About the Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Award
Created in 1984, the "International Human Rights Prize Ludovic -Trarieux” is awarded to "a lawyer, regardless of nationality or Bar, who throughout their career has illustrated, by their activity or their suffering, the defence of human rights, the promotion of defence rights, the supremacy of law, and the struggle against racism and intolerance in any form."
It is the oldest and most prestigious award given to a lawyer but his/her peers.
The Prize was first awarded on March 29, 1985 to Nelson Mandela, who at the time was in prison.
Since 2003, the Prize is awarded every year in partnership with the Human Rights Institute of The Bar of Bordeaux, the Human Rights Institute of the Bar of Paris, the Human Rights Institute of The Bar of Brussels, l'Unione forense per la tutela dei diritti dell'uomo (Rome), Rechtsanwaltskammer Berlin, the Bar of Luxembourg, the Bar of Geneva, the Bar of Amsterdam as well as the International Association of Lawyers (UIA), and the European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE) whose members are the biggest European law societies fighting for human rights.