This year, the Martin Ennals Foundation celebrates the 30^th anniversary of the Martin Ennals Award, a prestigious distinction awarded by ten of the leading human rights organizations in the world. The Foundation is launching the 2024 festivities with a series of portraits of some of the most outstanding human rights defenders whom the Jury considered. The ceremony in honor of the 2024 Laureates will take place in Geneva on November 21^st.

Sami Huraini is a 27 years-old human rights defender from At-Tuwani, a village in the South Hebron Hills in the West Bank. He is the coordinator of Youth of Sumud, a collective of peaceful activists from At-Tuwani and neighboring villages who accompany children on their way to and from schools, and shepherds to the fields. Daily, he answers calls for protection from Palestinians of the area who are under direct attack by Israeli settlers or military, literally acting as a shield for them and filming abuses and violations of their basic rights.

Masafer Yatta, the region where he lives is known for shepherding. His family has walked the land there for generations, watching over the sheep but also witnessing the successive displacements of Palestinians and dispossession of their land since 1948. In the 1980s, part of Masafer Yatta was designated by Israeli authorities as “Firing Zone 918,” establishing a closed miliary zone. Despite appeals, the Israel High Court of Justice approved military claims in 2022 for Palestinian residents to be evicted, putting them at risk of imminent and violent forced displacement.

It is in this environment that Sami Huraini learned steadfastness, “sumud” in Arabic, a legacy from his grandmother and father who led non-violent resistance against the theft of their land and onslaughts by Israeli settlers and military.

Youth of Sumud, the organisation he created in 2017 together with other young activists, provides support to Palestinian residents who are under threats by Israeli settlers or military. They accompany children to and from school and shepherds to the fields, interposing themselves between the stones and insults thrown in their direction and filming it. Similarly, the group monitors settlers who attack farmers during the olive harvest season as part of the Fazaa campaign (Fazaa translates to assistance in Arabic), and shares videos and photos on social networks in case of attack.

The violence he describes as a witness escalates in very concrete ways: breaking farmers trees, raids by settlers at night against the house of a single mother and her daughter, the broken hands of his father after he was lynched, the death of his cousin from live ammunition, the burning of houses, or the terrifying event of at least 70 Israeli settlers overpowering a local community with weapons and brute force, forcing the residents to flee by foot.

He explains that being Palestinian is enough to be targeted, yet his role in exposing abuses and human rights violations have made him a more visible target. His house was raided by Israeli soldiers end of September, they arrested him and took him far to a military base, handcuffed and blindfolded at all time, subjecting him to acts of ill treatment and torture before he was released hours later.  Since 2021, a case is also pending against him before a military court, on charges of insulting a public police border and organizing an illegal protest, which could result in a lengthy prison sentence or a severe fine depending on the final decision. The fact that his lawyer and him are the only civilians in the court room speaks volume of the reality of the judiciary for Palestinians in the West Bank.

“The Jury of the Martin Ennals Award believes that Sami Huraini is being charged solely as a result of his peaceful human rights work. We call for the charges against him to be dropped immediately and unconditionally, and for the targeting of human rights defenders in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and Israel to end.”  Guadalupe Marengo, on behalf of Amnesty International, a member organisation of the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award.

The importance of his work keeps him steady, and he takes the time to frame it into the regional context, the West Bank, Gaza and Lebanon. He denounces the war, the crimes, including forcible transfer of Palestinians, apartheid, ethnic cleansing and genocide, and aspires for his land to remain and its identity not to be erased, for the end of Israeli occupation and accountability for perpetrators.

He also calls for adequate red lines to be given to Israel and to stop the hypocrisy: “The people who are talking about peace and talking about justice, like the US, are just giving bombs and weapons. What do you mean giving people bombs and then you want to work with diplomacy and you want to work for peace? This doesn’t work like this, this is not peace.”