Saudi Rights Activist Loujain Al-Hathloul Awarded the 2020 Vaclav Havel Prize

By Sally Shakkour

Saudi Arabia’s women’s rights activist Loujain Al-Hathloul received a top European rights award by The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), on April 19th.

The rights activist won the Vaclav Havel Human Rights Award  for 2020. Loujain Al-Hathloul has served 1,001 days in jail for defending women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and was released on Feb 10, 2021.

The Vaclav Havel Human Rights Award was first launched in 2013 and given to people or institutions for outstanding efforts in defending human rights across the world.

Vaclav Havel, the human rights activist and president of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic, was the main inspiration behind the prize which is endowed with €60,000 ($72,000).

Al-Hathloul is a well known figure for her fight for women’s rights activism in Saudi Arabia especially fighting for the right for all women to drive cars and opposing the Saudi male guardianship system.

However, the Saudi government has always stood against the rights activist and in December 2020, the court sentenced her to 5 years and eight months in jail, accusing her of violating the country's counterterrorism law. Despite her jail release, Lujain is banned from leaving the country.

This year’s nominees of Vaclav Havel Human Rights Award are Julienne Lusenge, who has been the leading female activist in Democratic Republic of the Congo fighting against gender-based violence (GBV) and promoting rights of women and girls in conflict situations, as well as the Himalayan "Kung Fu Nuns" of the Drukpa Order of Buddhism familiar for their efforts to halt human trafficking, reach gender equality, and mobilize for disaster relief.

The Vaclav Havel award 2019 was given to Ilham Tohti; an Uyghur university lecturer and economist serving a life sentence in Xinjiang, China since 2014 on separatism-related charges and to the Youth Initiative for Human Rights, which brings together young people from different ethnic groups in the Balkans to promote reconciliation.