On 6 October 2015, it was announced that prominent human rights defender Ahmed Mansoor was selected as the laureate for the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders 2015. The award ceremony is to take place in Geneva on 6 October however, the UAE authorities have prevented him from travelling to the ceremony due to a travel ban imposed against him in 2011 when he was jailed as a direct result of his human rights work.

Ahmed Mansoor is on the Advisory Board of the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) and a member of the Advisory Committee of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East and North Africa Division. While the GCHR congratulates him for this achievement and for his continued work and bravery in the promotion and protection of human rights it condemns the action of the UAE authorities in preventing him from travelling to the ceremony.

The award is given to human rights defenders who have shown deep commitment and face great personal risk as a result of their human rights work. The jury, which is comprised of 10 global human rights organisations, issued a statement in September calling on the government to lift the travel ban and to allow him to travel to the ceremony. (For further information see GCHR appeal dated 15 September 2015 .) On the day of the award ceremony it repeated this call. Micheline Calmy- Rey, the Martin Ennals Foundation Chair, stated “Ahmed Mansoor continues to pay the price for speaking out on human rights issues in this country, we urge his government to lift the travel ban.”

The GCHR believes that the on-going targeting of Ahmed Mansoor by the authorities is directly related to his peaceful and legitimate human rights work and calls on the government in the UAE to immediately lift the travel ban and to honour Ahmed Mansoor for his work and achievements.