Father Stan Swamy Honoured With Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders

The award was conferred posthumously as the social activist died an undertrial prisoner last year.

Indian social activist Father Stan Swamy was posthumously honoured with the Martin Ennals Award 2022 on Thursday, 2 June, in Geneva.

(Photo: Aroop Mishra/Altered by The Quint)

Indian social activist Father Stan Swamy was posthumously honoured with the Martin Ennals Award 2022 on Thursday, 2 June, in Geneva.

The award presented by the Martin Ennals Foundation based in Geneva, Switzerland, is regarded as the Nobel Prize for human rights defenders

“Father Stan was nominated to the Award in spring 2021, but he sadly passed away before it could reach him,” Chair of the Martin Ennals Award Jury Hans Thoolen said, as per an official press release.

“The Jury wished to shine a light on Father Stan’s many contributions to human rights, which cannot be eclipsed by his unjust incarceration by Indian authorities,” Thoolen had said, announcing Swamy's nomination for the award on 30 May.

The winner of the annual award for human rights defenders is selected by a jury comprising ten of the world’s leading human rights NGOs.

Father Swamy was a Jesuit priest and activist who founded several organisations to promote Adivasi rights in Jharkhand. He was arrested under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA) on 8 October 2020, for his alleged ties to the Bhima Koregaon violence of 2018.

Swamy, who had suffered from Parkinson's disease, spent nine months in jail until 29 May 2021, when his condition became critical and he was transferred to a hospital. He passed away at the age of 84 on 5 July, a day before his bail hearing.

His pleas for bail had previously been rejected multiple times. Swamy's death as an undertrial prisoner, whose health had deteriorated while under incarceration, had provoked widespread outrage.