Acampa Award for Human Rights Defence 2022

II International Recognition for the Defence of Human Rights Acampa 2022

The second edition of the International Recognition Acampa for the Defense of Human Rights in the international category will be awarded to the Spanish NGO Ca-minando Fronteras, an organization that has been working since 2002 to assist and defend the rights of migrants trying to reach Spain through the southern border (migration routes of Alboran, Algeria, the Strait of Gibraltar and the Canary Islands).

The aforementioned NGO offers telephone assistance to those who risk their lives in this transit, often in boats that are not even seaworthy. For this purpose, it has a 24-hour hotline, 365 days a year. After receiving any distress call, either from the people at risk themselves or from family or friends –and after verifying its veracity– they alert the maritime authorities in Spain, Morocco or Algeria in order to facilitate the rescue. This alert system has saved more than 100,000 lives.

Ca-minando Fronteras also provides legal, social and health support to displaced people and collaborates with families in the identification of missing and deceased people, a process that States do not carry out. They also document abuses. Their annual reports are an x-ray of the migratory necropolitics that every year causes thousands of deaths of people from countries all over the world, mainly African, in their attempt to reach our country.

The work of Ca-minando Fronteras makes the authorities of the countries involved uncomfortable. Its founder, journalist and writer Helena Maleno, has suffered numerous acts of violence over the years in an attempt to dissuade her from her work: assassination attempts, physical assaults and police set-ups. This harassment and persecution is increasingly suffered by activists and organizations that defend the rights of migrants and refugees. This criminalization has spread like wildfire across all borders.

María González, head of the Right to Life Axis of Ca-minado Fronteras, will receive the award in A Coruña during the VI International Meeting Acampa por la Paz y el Derecho a Refugio 2022 to be held on June 9, 10 and 11.

II Local Recognition (Galicia) for the Defence of Human Rights Acampa 2022

The recipient second edition of the International Recognition Acampa for the Defense of Human Rights in the in its Local category (Galicia) is the NGO Ecodesarrollo Gaia from A Coruña and its promoter, the activist Guillermo Fernández Obanza, Mito, with decades of work behind him in the defense of causes such as ecology, humanitarian aid and solidarity among peoples.

Ecodesarrollo Gaia has been working since 1992. One of its first projects was the training of immigrant fishermen living in Galicia to work on Spanish and European fishing boats. Most of them were from Senegal, a country which the NGO has been working with for almost two decades on collaborative projects such as the Escuela Coruña in Yoff-Tonghor, a fishing village north of Dakar, where children, women and young people receive training.

Ecodesarrollo Gaia is also the promoter of the health program “Coruña Cura”, which has brought medical personnel and medicines to the center of the aforementioned Senegalese city since 2007. It is a medical-health care program aimed primarily at the children and women of Yoff that transforms the Escuela Coruña into a field clinic for a few days. Since 2018, thanks to an agreement with the Multiópticas Foundation and the NGO Solidaridade Galega, the program also includes ophthalmological care once a year. In addition, Ecodesarrollo Gaia offers in Galicia, from its headquarters in A Coruña, assistance to the Senegalese population arriving in the city, providing them with initial reception, health care, accompaniment and advice on procedures with the Immigration Office or help and training to find employment.

Its top representative, Guillermo Fernández-Obanza (Mito) will receive the award in A Coruña during the VI International Meeting Acampa por la Paz y el Derecho a Refugio 2022 to be held on June 9, 10 and 11.