View source for Martin Ennals

{{short description|British human rights activist}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| name               = Martin Ennals
| birth_date         = {{birth date|df=yes|1927|07|27}}
| birth_place        = [[Walsall]], [[Staffordshire]], England
| death_date         = {{death date and age|df=yes|1991|10|05|1927|7|27}}
| death_place        = [[Saskatoon]], [[Saskatchewan]], Canada
| nationality        = British
| title              = Secretary general
| organization       = [[Amnesty International]]
| predecessor        = [[Eric Baker (activist)|Eric Baker]]
| successor          = [[Thomas Hammarberg]]
| awards             = [[Gandhi Peace Award]]
}}

'''Martin Ennals''' (27 July 1927{{spaced ndash}}5 October 1991) was a British [[human rights]] [[activism|activist]]. 
Ennals served as the [[Secretary-General|secretary-general]] of [[Amnesty International]] from 1968 to 1980.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Carmody |first=Michelle |date=2025 |title=Facing 'The World of the 70's': Martin Ennals, Amnesty International, and the Turn to the Third World in Human Rights Internationalism |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/07075332.2025.2466459 |journal=The International History Review |pages=1–16 |doi=10.1080/07075332.2025.2466459 |issn=0707-5332|url-access=subscription }}</ref> He went on to help found the British human rights organisation [[ARTICLE 19]] in 1987 and [[International Alert]] in 1985.

During Ennals's tenure as secretary general, Amnesty International was awarded the [[Nobel Peace Prize]], the [[Erasmus Prize]], and the [[United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights|UN Human Rights Award]].<ref name=award_bio>{{cite web|title=Martin Ennals: A Giant Human Rights Defender|url=http://www.martinennalsaward.org/mea/en/martinennals/index.html|publisher=Martin Ennals Award|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130415072609/http://www.martinennalsaward.org/mea/en/martinennals/index.html|archivedate=15 April 2013}}</ref>

== Early life and career ==

Born in 1927 in [[Walsall]], [[Staffordshire]] to Arthur Ford Ennals and his wife Jessie Edith Taylor. Ennals was educated at [[Queen Mary's Grammar School]] and the [[London School of Economics]], where he received a degree in international relations. Ennals worked for the [[UNESCO|United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO)]] from 1951 to 1959. In 1959, Ennals became a founding member of the [[Anti-Apartheid Movement]], and also became secretary general of the [[National Council for Civil Liberties]], a position that he held until 1966, when he became information and publications officer of the [[Commission for Racial Equality]].<ref name="ehr">David P. Forsyth, "Encyclopedia of Human Rights", Oxford University Press</ref>

Ennals became Secretary General of Amnesty International in 1968. At the time, the organization had 7 staff and an annual budget of £17'000.<ref>Martin Ennals Award, http://martinennalsaward.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98&Itemid=74&lang=en</ref> Twelve years later, the staff had grown to 150 with an annual budget of £2 million. Ennals represented an era where Amnesty became a human rights organization of global concern. Amnesty was awarded the Erasmus Prize in 1976, the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977, and the UN Human Rights Award in 1978. Ennals had other people accept the prizes on behalf of Amnesty.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://martinennalsaward.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=98&Itemid=74&lang=en |title = News & Updates – Martin Ennals Award}}</ref>

In 1982 Ennals led the founding assembly of [[HURIDOCS]] and was its founding President.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.huridocs.org/our-story/|title=Our Story|date=2010-06-23|website=HURIDOCS|language=en-US|access-date=2020-02-07}}</ref>

In 1986 Ennals became the first secretary general of [[International Alert]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.international-alert.org/who-we-are/history|title=History|website=International Alert|language=en|access-date=2020-02-07}}</ref>

Ennals had two elder brothers, John and David. [[David Ennals]] was a British [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] politician who served as [[Secretary of State for Social Services]], while John Ennals was Chairman of the Anti-Apartheid Movement from 1968 to 1976.<ref>{{Who's Who | title=ENNALS, John Arthur Ford | id = U163925 | type = was | volume = 2023 | edition = online}}</ref>

==Award==
The [[Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders]], created in 1993, is granted annually to someone who has demonstrated an exceptional record of combating human rights violations by courageous means and is in need of protection. The award gives international "protective publicity" to human rights defenders around the world, mainly in their country of origin (a unique characteristic of this award, and very important from a protection point of view), through too much mass media (television, radio and internet). The winner is selected in Geneva, the world center for human rights, by a jury made up of 10 leading international human rights organisations, such as Amnesty International, [[Human Rights Watch]], [[Front Line Defenders|Frontline]], [[International Commission of Jurists]], [[HURIDOCS]], etc.<ref name="award">{{cite web |url=http://www.martinennalsaward.org |title=Welcome to Martin Ennals Awards – MEA |publisher=Martinennalsaward.org |date=2014-05-16 |access-date=2014-07-15}}</ref>

The Martin Ennals Award is considered ''the'' award of the whole human rights movement. It is known as "the Nobel prize for human rights".<ref>{{cite web |author=Agathe Duparc |url=http://www.lemonde.fr/asie-pacifique/article/2008/11/24/le-combat-de-mutabar-tadjibaeva-survivante-des-geoles-de-tachkent_1122352_3216.html |title=Le combat de Mutabar Tadjibaeva, survivante des geôles de Tachkent |trans-title=The fight of Mutabar Tadjibaeva, survivor of the Tashkent jails |work=Le Monde |date=2008}}</ref> The Annual Ceremony organised with the City of Geneva is an event with world Internet and TV coverage.

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year
! Recipient Name
|-
| 1994 || [[Harry Wu]] ({{flag|PRC}}) 
|-
| 1995 || [[Asma Jahangir]] ({{flag|Pakistan}}) 
|-
| 1996 || [[Clement Nwankwo]] ({{flag|Nigeria}}) 
|-
| 1997 || Bishop [[Samuel Ruiz Garcia]] ({{flag|Mexico}})
|-
| 1998 || [[Eyad El Sarraj]] ({{flag|Palestine}}) 
|-
| 1999 || [[Natasha Kandic]] ({{FR-YUG}}) 
|-
| 2000 || [[Immaculée Birhaheka]] ({{flag|DR Congo}}) 
|-
| 2001 || [[Peace Brigades International]] ({{flag|Colombia}}) 
|-
| 2002 || [[Jacqueline Moudeina]] ({{flag|Chad}}) 
|-
| 2003 || [[Alirio Uribe Muñoz]] ({{flag|Colombia}}) 
|-
| 2004 || [[Lidia Yusupova]] ({{flag|Russia}})
|-
| 2005 || [[Aktham Naisse]] ({{flag|Syria}}) 
|-
| 2006 || [[Akbar Ganji]] ({{flag|Iran}}) and [[Arnold Tsunga]] ({{flag|Zimbabwe}})
|-
| 2007 || [[Rajan Hoole]], [[Kopalasingham Sritharan]] ( both {{flag|Sri Lanka}}) and [[Pierre Claver Mbonimpa]] ({{flag|Burundi}})
|-
| 2008 || [[Mutabar Tadjibaeva]] ({{flag|Uzbekistan}})
|-
| 2009 || [[Emad Baghi]] ({{flag|Iran}}) 
|-
| 2010 || [[Muhannad Al-Hassani]] ({{flag|Syria}})
|-
| 2011 || [[Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera]] ({{flag|Uganda}}) 
|-
| 2012 || [[Luon Sorvath]] ({{flag|Cambodia}})
|-
| 2013: || [[Joint Mobile Group]] ({{flag|Russia}}) 
|-
| 2014 || [[Alejandra Ancheita]] ({{flag|Mexico}})
|-
| 2015 || [[Ahmed Mansoor]] ({{flag|UAE}})
|-
| 2016 || [[Ilham Tohti]] ({{flag|PRC}}) 
|}

==See also==
*[[Human rights defender]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* [http://www.martinennalsaward.org Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders]
* [http://www.omct.org/index.php?id=&lang=eng&actualPageNumber=1&articleId=6299&itemAdmin=article Human rights defenders from Iran and Zimbabwe receive Martin Ennals Award 2006, presented by Louise Arbour, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights]

{{Navbox Gandhi Peace Award laureates}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ennals, Martin}}
[[Category:1927 births]]
[[Category:1991 deaths]]
[[Category:Amnesty International people]]
[[Category:British human rights activists]]
[[Category:People educated at Queen Mary's Grammar School]]
[[Category:Place of birth missing]]
[[Category:Place of death missing]]