PROPOSITION DE CHRISTOPHE ROUILLON (Membre du Comité des Régions de l’Union Européenne) A L’ATTRIBUTION DU PRIX CENTRE NORD-SUD DU CONSEIL DE L’EUROPE

PROPOSITIONS POUR LE NORD Ahmed ABOUTALEB, Maire de Rotterdam (Hollande)

Mayor of Rotterdam Netherlands Dutch politician of the Labour Party (PvdA). He is the Mayor of Rotterdam since January 5, 2009. He served as State Secretary for Social Affairs and Employment from February 22, 2007 until December 12, 2008 in the Cabinet Balkenende IV. First Mayor of a large city in the Netherland who is of Moroccan, Muslim, and immigrant descent. He has taken charge of Rotterdam, Europe’s biggest port and e multiracial melting pot. No one doubts the high stakes Aboutaleb is playing for, or the expectations that’s his unprecedented appointment has engendered : inevitably he has already been dubbed “Obama on the Maas (river)” by one columnist. He said : “My job is to build bridges and Rotterdam is a good place to do that. This is the city of big projects where the sky is the limit, but also e city with high levels of poverty. My job is to be mayor for everyone from the businessmen to the kid from Surinam just trying to earn e living. “He has few illusions : “There are many who expect me to fail.” Geert Wilders, a right-wing politician with a history of provocation, has said he should be “mayor of Rabat”, the capital of Morocco. “If I can succeed, I will be a key element in persuading immigrant communities that they can have access to power ; if I fail, it will have huge consequences for those coming behind me afterwards,” the mayor said. Nathalie FUSTIER, Présidente de la fondation des femmes pour la Méditerranée (France) France

Nathalie Fustier is the President of the Wemen’s Foundation for the Mediterranean. The objective of this foundation is to render tangible and collectively build gender equality between men and women in the workplace, in politics and in society in the Mediterranean area. This foundation was conceived in 2009 in the context of the Union for the Mediterranean. It’s the first body that brings together various players, including institutions and ministries, research centres, NGOs, enterprises and associations, all fighting for the Mediterranean area. The first five antennas have offices in Amman (Jordan), Byblos (Lebanon), Marrakesh (Morocco), Ramallah (Palestine) and Paris. The Ffm President further explained that “Above all the Foundation promotes training and education, pillars of human emancipation. Consequently we will have to set up projects whose aim it is to strengthen women’s rights in the context of politics, law, medicine, family and culture, in addition to offering support to their participation in the economic, social and cultural life”. Monica HAUSER , Gynécologiste (Suisse)

Switzerland Monika Hauser (born 24 May 1959) is e gynaecologist and the director of the women’s aid association Madica Mondiale. In 1992, in the middle of the Bosnian war, she opened e therapy centre in the city of Zenica for victims of rape and war trauma. Now more than 80 Bosnian women doctors, nurses, therapists, and other professionals work there. She also founded projects for victims of sexual violence in Kosovo, Albania, and Afghanistan. Medica Mondiale supports local women’s organizations in other countries, including Indonesia, Iraq, and Congo. Monika Hauser is the founder of Medica Mondiale, an association that works to prevent and punish sexual violence against women and girls in wartime and to assist the survivors. Hauser and her colleagues have helped over 70,000 traumatised women and girls in war and post-war crisis zones in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo, DR Congo, Liberia and Afghanistan. Hauser has received e number of awards for her work such as Woman of the Year 1993, and the Peter Beier Award.

Lidia YUSUPOVA, Juriste activiste des droits de l’Homme (Russie)

Russia Lidia Muhtarovna Yusupova (born 15 September 1961) is the Coordinator of the Moscow-based human rights organisation « Memorial ». Yusupova was born of ethnically Russian parents in the Chechen capital of Grozny. During the first Chechen war, she witnessed the tragedy of war, and suffered the loss of several friends, neighbours, colleagues, and family members. In 2000, during the second Chechen war, she decided to devote her life to human rights, using her legal expertise and personal experience during both wars to help others. Yusupova gathers testimony from victims of human rights abuses, and presses their cases with law enforcement and military agencies. She not only provides the victims with legal assistance but she also informs the rest of the world of human rights violations committed by Russian armed forces and Chechen rebels alike. Yusupova was awarded the 2004 Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, the 2005 Professor Thorolf Rafot Memorial Prize and was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. George CLOONEY, Acteur (Etats-Unis) a United States of America Born on 6 May 1961 in the United States of America, George Clooney is an actor, film director, prouducer, and screenwriter. For his work as an actor, he has received two Golden Globe Awards and an Academy Award. George Clooney is also noted for his social activism and has served as one of the United Nations Messengers of Peace since January 2008. Mr. Clooney has been active in advocating a resolution of the Darfur conflict in 2006. He spent ten days in Chad and Sudan in order to make a film on the dramatic situation of Darfur’s refugees. In September 2006, he spoke in front of the Security Council of the UN with Nobel Prize-winner Elie Wiesel to ask the Un to find a solution to the conflict and to help the people of Darfur. Clooney is also involved with Not On Our Watch, an organization that focuses global attention and resources to shop and prevent mass atrocities.

PROPOSITIONS POUR LE SUD

Saudi Arabia Manal al-Sharif is a 32 year old activist from Saudi Arabia who helped start a campaign on women’s right to drive. Manal al-Sharif graduated from King Abdulaziz University with a Bachelor of Science in computing in 2002. She was arrested in May 2011 by the local authorities after having filmed herself driving. Amnesty International stated that Manal al-Sharif is following tradition of women activists around the world who have put themselves at risk to expose and challenge discriminatory laws and policies.

Nadia EL FANI, réalisatrice (Tunisie)

Asma GUENISFI, activiste, Présidente de l’association des femmes Euro-méditerranéennes contre les inégalités et l’intégrisme (Algérie) Nadia El Fani was born in Paris in 1960 to a Tunisian father and a French mother. She grew up in Tunis and moved often, shifting from one shore of the Mediterranean to the other. In 1990, she settled in Sidi Bou, as small village perched on a hill overlooking the bay of Carthage. Filmmaker, Nadia El Fani is also known for her political engagement on issues that are at the same time controversial. Her latest film Ni Allah ni maître (Neither Allah nor Master) focuses on secularism in Tunisia, a majority Muslim country, at the height of the revolutions taking place in North Africa. With the release of the film, she has been the object of rather vicious Internet attacks. In opposition to these attacks, an online petition in support of Nadia El Fani outlines its position on the issue of secularism and freedom on conscience. Her crime ? To openly declare she does not believe in god. Following her public statements on Hannibal television, filmmaker Nadia EL Fani has been the object of an extensive campaign of verbal and physical threats on certain Facebook pages. She was honored by the Internationl Federeation of Human Rights, and received the International Award of Secularism for her controversial “Ni Allah ni Maître” (Neither Allah, nor Master).

Aung SAN SUU KYI (Birmanie)

Burmese opposition politician and the General Secretary of the National League for Democraty. In the 1990 generalelection, Aung San Suu Kyi’s National League for democraty party won 59 % of the national votes and 81 % (392 of 484) of the seats in Parliament. She had, however, already been detained under house arrest before the elections. She remained under house arrest in Burma for almost 15 of the 21 years from 20 July 1989 until her release on 13 November 2010. Primarily in response to her detention, Aung San Suu Kyi received the Rafto Prize and the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought in 1990 and the Novel Peace Prize in 1991 for her non-violent struggle for democraty and human rights and her restless fight against oppression. Ai WEIWEI, Artiste et dissident (Chine)

Ai Weiwei (born 18 Mai 1957) is a Chinese artist and political activist, who is also active in architecture, curating, photography, film, and social and cultural criticism. As a political activist, he has been highly and openly critical of the Chinese government’s stance on democracy and human rights. In 2011, following his arrest at Beijing airport on 3 April, he was held for over two months without any official charges being filed ; officials alluded to their allegations of “economic crimes” (tax evasion). He has drawn the world’s attention to the vibrancy of contemporary Chinese culture. His famous Sunflower seeds are installed at the Tate Modern. Weiwei has also shown compassion for his citizen and spoken out for victims of government abuses, calling for political reforms to better serve the people. In fact he is an outspoken critic of the Chinese legal authorities released Ai Weiwei on bail after close to three months’ detention, after being charged for alleged tax evasion.