konknaijaboy | On 03, Oct 2014

The Human Rights Tulip is awarded once a year by the Minister of Foreign Affairs, who chooses the winner on the basis of the public vote and the advice of the international jury on the last six candidates. Of these six, three are selected by the public in the online voting process. There are three ‘wild card’ candidates chosen on the basis of the quality of their entries, making it easier for nominees with smaller networks to reach the final. The independent international jury is headed by the famous human rights lawyer and former UN Special Rapporteur Frank la Rue.

On 9 December the minister will award the winner the bronze Human Rights Tulip statue and a prize worth €100,000. The winner can use the funding to further develop his or her innovative contribution to strengthening human rights – and on such a scale that as many people and places benefit as possible.

The nomination round yielded almost 160 nominees from more than 50 countries. From these 160, 30 candidates went through to the online voting round. Public voting opens on Monday 29 September at 12.00 and will close on Friday 10 October at 24.00 (Dutch time).

Nigeria’s National Human Rights Commission & it’s Chairman, Chidi Odinkalu, have been long-listed for the International Human Rights Tulip Prize – an annual award presented in The Hague – for effective defense of human rights.

It’s the 1st time a National Human Rights Institution anywhere in the world is being so recognized. It shows despite our difficulties, we can make progress in building institutions. To get here, 165 nominations we pared down to a long list of 30.

These 30 nominees are now going through a voting process. Only the top 3 vote getters will make it into the final shortlist leading ultimately to selection of and announcement of the winner on 10 December. If we turn in the votes we can, then we’ll get there and with it leverage more positive attention to what we’re doing to build our country.

This is why we need your help: to participate in voting. The voting is easy & will take less than 30 seconds of your time.

Visit this link. 2014 HUMAN RIGHT TULIP CANDIDATES  to begin.

A précis of the submission they made and voting link can be found on this link: VOTE CHIDI ODINKALU

When you click, it will ask for your e-mail address. After submitting your vote, a message is sent to your e-mail asking you to confirm your vote. Open that e-mail and click to submit. You will receive a confirmation showing that your vote counts. Remember, If you don’t confirm, the vote doesn’t count.

In 3 clicks, you’re done. Voting ends 10 October 2014. It takes less than 30 seconds. You can also get your friends to vote by passing this message to them. You can vote using your phone or hand-held device or from your computer.

If you can’t vote, please help pass this message to others who can.

The prize winner will be announced ahead of and presented on International Human Rights Day, 10 December 2014.

You can, with your vote scale up positive attention to our dear country; NIGERIA