Al-Haq has been jointly awarded The Danish PL Foundation Human Rights Award with B’Tselem, in recognition of the efforts of both organisations to uphold the principles underlined by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The annual honour has been granted since the 1980s to organisations and individuals who lead the fight for the respect for human rights and dignity. This year’s award is granted in acknowledgement of Al-Haq’s dedication to the protection and promotion of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

The PL Foundation was established by Poul Lauritzen, who was a member of the Danish resistance during the Nazi occupation of World War II, and a staunch defender of human rights. In recent years, the award has been granted to human rights activists from Serbia and Burma. Another previous recipient, the Tunisian doctor and human rights activist Moncef Marzouki, is in the process of becoming the president of his country following the first free election in Tunisia since the end of the Zine Abidine Ben-Ali dictatorship.

The award will be presented by Danish Supreme Court Justice Poul Soegaard at a ceremony in Copenhagen on 29 November. Nina Atallah, Head of the Monitoring & Documentation Department, will accept the award on behalf of Al-Haq, given that Shawan Jabarin, the General Director of the organisation, is subject to a travel ban that has lasted five years and as such is prevented from leaving the Occupied Palestinian Territory by Israeli military authorities. Jessica Montell, Executive Director of B’Tselem, will receive the award on behalf of the Israeli organisation.

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