We Are Not Numbers was selected as one of five awardees worldwide to receive a 2024 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk. These awards are bestowed annually to honor human rights activists and defenders worldwide.
WANN was selected as the awardee representing the Middle East and North Africa region; the award was to WANN as an organization, while the other four awards were bestowed on individuals
Ahmed Alnaouq, cofounder of WANN, accepted the award on behalf of WANN at a May 31 ceremony at Trinity College, Dublin, which was attended by foreign diplomats and representatives of Irish government, civil society, and media organizations, among others.
Walaa Sabah, WANN project director, also attended the event and represented the organization at the week-long series of workshops and related events.
In his acceptance speech, Ahmed noted that Palestinians have “endured unimaginable pain” for more than 100 years. “But unfortunately, not only our human rights were violated, but also and most importantly, our stories were silenced…. The Western media never did justice to the Palestinian cause.
“And for that, We Are Not Numbers emerged 10 years ago in order to challenge the stereotypes about the Palestinian people, in order to tell our stories, in order to stop the dehumanization of the Palestinian people….
“We emerged to tell our stories and to share our stories with the world. To tell you that we are a Palestinian people, we are a proud people, we are resilient, we are lovely, we are talented, and we deserve to live.”
Ahmed dedicated the award to: the nearly 400 writers who have participated in WANN; Dr. Refaat Alareer, the academic and poet who was instrumental in helping launch WANN; the four WANN writers killed during the genocide (Maher Dawas, Mahmoud Alnaouq [Ahmed’s brother], Huda Al-Sosi, and Mohammed Zaher Hamo); all the journalists and human rights defenders who have been killed in the war (more than 140 to date); and the citizen journalists of Gaza.
According to the Front Line Defenders organization, the awards were established in 2005 to “honor the work of human rights defenders who are courageously making outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, often at great personal risk to themselves.
“The Award focuses international attention on the work and struggles of HRDs, providing a greater national and international platform to speak about and advocate for the human rights issues they are defending.”
Watch Ahmed’s full speech; read about the five awardees; and download the booklet featuring the award recipients.
