Parliamentarians for Global Action (PGA) is pleased to present the 2016 Defender of Democracy Awards to Hon. Moustapha Niasse, MP, Speaker of the National Assembly of Senegal and Ms. Cecilia Michelini Delle Piane on behalf of the Fundación Zelmar Michelini of Uruguay.

The awards ceremony is hosted by the National Assembly of the Republic of Senegal, on the evening of 9 December 2016 in conjunction with PGA’s 38th Annual Forum and 9th Consultative Assembly of Parliamentarians for the International Criminal Court and the Rule of Law. Support for this event is generously provided by the European Union Delegation in Senegal.

The Defender of Democracy Award is presented to individuals who, through their own commitment and active engagement, have made significant progress in strengthening democracy and human rights. Past recipients include Judge Navanethem Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights; H.E. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of Liberia; Ms. Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights; Mr. Lakhdar Brahimi, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Afghanistan and Mr. Kailash Satyarthi, Nobel Peace Prize winner in 2014.

This year, PGA is pleased to present the 21st Annual Defender of Democracy Award to Hon. Moustapha Niasse, Speaker of the National Assembly of Senegal. Hon. Niasse started his political career as President of the National Union of Students of Senegal and as the political secretary of the Socialist Party. In 1979 he became Minister of Foreign Affairs for Senegal, where he served until 1984. During this period he also served briefly as Prime Minister prior to the abolition (through constitutional amendment) of that position.

Between 1993 and 1998 Moustapha Niasse again served as Minister of Foreign Affairs. In 1999 Niasse formed his own party, the Alliance of the Forces of Progress (AFP) and stood as a candidate in the 2000 Presidential election. After coming third in the primaries, he helped secure the Presidency for long-time opposition leader Abdoulaye Wade who, after taking office in 2000, appointed Niasse as his Prime Minister.

He held this position for a year before resigning to stand as an AFP candidate in the April 2001 parliamentary election, at which he was elected to the National Assembly. Niasse resigned his seat in the National Assembly in 2006 in opposition to the proposed extension of the National Assembly's term beyond its five-year mandate. He then stood, unsuccessfully, in the 2007 presidential elections as a candidate of Alternative 2007, a coalition of ten opposition parties. During this period, Moustapha Niasse was elected President of two Extraordinary Sessions of the UN General Assembly and appointed to the position of Special Representative of the Secretary General of the United Nations for the Great Lakes region. In 2002, United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed Niasse to be his envoy to the Democratic Republic of Congo in attempts to form a national unity government there.

He has represented Senegal on a number of international and Africa organizations, including the Organization of African Unity (OAU), the Organization for the Islamic Conference (OIC), and the Movement of Non-Aligned Nations at the United Nations.

PGA is pleased to also honor Ms. Cecilia Michelini Delle Piane of Uruguay with the Defender of Democracy Award in her capacity as Executive Director of the Fundación Zelmar Michelini. Ms Michelini, an activist and daughter of Elisa Delle Piane and Zelmar Michelini, was forced into exile in 1975. In exile, she joined other Latin American exiles in the struggle against the dictatorship that devastated her country. She returned to Uruguay with the return of democracy in 1985.

The Foundation was created in 2009 to honor the memory of her father Zelmar Michelini, a Uruguayan reporter, politician and human rights advocate, who was assassinated in Buenos Aires in 1976 as part of Operation Condor. Zelmar Michelini was a man of ideas and action, with an unwavering commitment to democratic ideals. A believer in truth and freedom, he used those values as weapons in the struggle for human rights and social justice.

The Fundacion seeks to strengthen freedom, democracy, equality, human rights and peace. It’s objectives are to gather, organize, preserve and make available materials related to Zelmar's life and thought; to advance the cause of human rights and increase awareness of the role of citizens in a democracy, through pluralistic reflection and dialogue about the future; and to participate, alongside other organizations, in the struggle against impunity and on behalf of truth and justice, by seeking full disclosure and discussion regarding our recent past.