Press release December 7, 2015
IRA-Mauritanie Wins Human Rights Tulip Award
Freedom House extends congratulates IRA-Mauritanie on receiving this year’s Human Rights Tulip award for courageous human rights defense.
Washington
In response to the Human Rights Tulip 2015—an award of the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs for courageous human rights defenders—being given to the Initiative pour la Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste (IRA-Mauritanie), Freedom House issued the following statement:
“Freedom House extends its sincere congratulations to IRA-Mauritanie for receiving this year’s Human Rights Tulip award,” said Mark Lagon, president of Freedom House. “The organization remains a powerful voice for those living in the margins of Mauritanian society. Despite challenges—including the government's refusal to grant NGO status and having its leaders (President Biram dah Abeid and Vice President Brahim Bilal) imprisoned for two years—IRA-Mauritanie finds innovative ways to promote human rights and bring the issue of slavery into the limelight.”
Maurtiania is rated Not Free in Freedom in the World 2015, and Partly Free in Freedom of the Press 2015.