What are the Tulip Awards?

The Human Rights Tulip is an annual award of the Dutch government to support human rights defenders in their work advancing and protecting human rights around the world while highlighting related issues. Each year since 2008 the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has awarded the Human Rights Tulip to an outstanding human rights defender. GHRD had a meeting with the Tulip Award winner of 2023 as well as three other Human Rights defenders.

About the award:

The winner receives € 100,000 in prize money and a bronze sculpture in the shape of a tulip. The Dutch government hopes that the prize will enable the winner to: gain international visibility and recognition, further develop and expand the scale of their human rights work allowing them to reach more people in as many places as possible, and last but not least to inspire others.

Who won the Tulip Award this year?

The 2023 Human Rights Tulip has been awarded to Hülya Gülbahar, a feminist attorney from Türkiye and founder of the Equality Watch Women’s Group (EŞİTİZ) and the Women’s Platform for Equality Türkiye (EŞİK). EŞİTİZ and EŞİK publish legal analyses of legislative bills and amendments on feminist and LGBTIQ+ issues and conduct awareness-raising campaigns. For more than 40 years Hülya Gülbahar has been defending women’s rights and fighting injustice in Türkiye.

”Human rights are among the most important resources we have at our disposal to tackle the major problems of our time, such as war, poverty, and climate change. But without action, human rights are no more than words, just some sentences from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.” -Hülya Gülbahar, winner of the Tulip Award 2023

The meeting

The meeting began with an overview of Global Human Rights Defence, followed by presenting the ongoing campaign and emphasizing its significance and objectives. Next, we introduced our news channel GHRTV by providing insight into its role and contributions. Lastly, individual presentations were done by the Human Rights defenders. Mirza from Iraq, Sibusiso Magnificent Nhlasbatsi from South Africa, Linn Thant from Myanmar, and Hülya Gülbahar from Türkiye each discussed the importance of Human Rights within their own region of interest.

The meeting concluded with a positive outlook on collaboration and shared goals. Each participant expressed their commitment to advancing human rights causes, and follow-up actions were outlined for cooperation.