On 27 March 2014 the Documentation and Culture Centre and the Central Council of German Sinti and Roma along with the Manfred Lautenschläger Foundation will for the fourth time present the 15,000 euro European Civil Rights Prize of the Sinti and Roma at the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. This year's award winner is the founder and general secretary of the Society for Threatened Peoples Tilman Zülch, as unanimously decided by the international jury when they met in Heidelberg. The 5,000 euro Special Prize goes to the youth organisation Amaro Drom e.V.
As a student in Hamburg, Tilman Zülch (born in 1939) was already politically engaged. He has been supporting the cause of the Sinti and Roma since the 1970s and played a significant role in the campaigns of the then young civil rights movement which were directed against persistent discrimination and social exclusion. Tilman Zülch continues to work on behalf of the rights of Sinti and Roma across Europe and takes a position against all forms of discrimination and racism. It is also thanks to Tilman Zülch that the Sinti and Roma people are today one of the four recognised national minorities in Germany. The jury were unanimous in granting the award to Tilman Zülch because since the foundation of the Society for Threatened Peoples he has been strong in fighting for the rights of minorities around the world and has never felt obligated to an ideology but has always placed humanity at the centre of his work.
Amaro Drom e.V., recipient of the 5,000 euro Special Prize, is an intercultural youth association of Roma and non-Roma with the goal of enabling them to become active citizens through empowerment, mobilisation, self-organisation and participation. As young Roma and non-Roma, members together accept responsibility within society for esteem and mutual respect. The work of the association contributes to children and young people being able to develop into personalities who are open to criticism, aware and accepting of their responsibilities and who act with consciousness. A prerequisite for this is educational work which places people in their dignity and freedom at the centre of what they do.
The European Civil Rights Prize, first awarded in 2007, is intended to contribute to the safeguarding of civil rights and equal opportunities for the members of the Sinti and Roma minorities in their home countries in Europe. In addition and at the same time it is intended to send a signal to those in political power, the media and social groups in Europe that they should act against received stereotypes, prejudicial structures and all forms of exclusion.
Find out more at www.buergerrechtspreis.de and www.civilrightsprize.com
As a student in Hamburg, Tilman Zülch (born in 1939) was already politically engaged. He has been supporting the cause of the Sinti and Roma since the 1970s and played a significant role in the campaigns of the then young civil rights movement which were directed against persistent discrimination and social exclusion. Tilman Zülch continues to work on behalf of the rights of Sinti and Roma across Europe and takes a position against all forms of discrimination and racism. It is also thanks to Tilman Zülch that the Sinti and Roma people are today one of the four recognised national minorities in Germany. The jury were unanimous in granting the award to Tilman Zülch because since the foundation of the Society for Threatened Peoples he has been strong in fighting for the rights of minorities around the world and has never felt obligated to an ideology but has always placed humanity at the centre of his work.
Amaro Drom e.V., recipient of the 5,000 euro Special Prize, is an intercultural youth association of Roma and non-Roma with the goal of enabling them to become active citizens through empowerment, mobilisation, self-organisation and participation. As young Roma and non-Roma, members together accept responsibility within society for esteem and mutual respect. The work of the association contributes to children and young people being able to develop into personalities who are open to criticism, aware and accepting of their responsibilities and who act with consciousness. A prerequisite for this is educational work which places people in their dignity and freedom at the centre of what they do.
The European Civil Rights Prize, first awarded in 2007, is intended to contribute to the safeguarding of civil rights and equal opportunities for the members of the Sinti and Roma minorities in their home countries in Europe. In addition and at the same time it is intended to send a signal to those in political power, the media and social groups in Europe that they should act against received stereotypes, prejudicial structures and all forms of exclusion.
Find out more at www.buergerrechtspreis.de and www.civilrightsprize.com
