Vian Dakhil
Being the only Yazidi female member of the Iraqi Parliament, Vian Dakhil is a wholeheartedly dedicated advocate campaigning for the safety of Yazidis, an ethno-religious group concentrated in the Northwest of Iraq. Vian Dakhil as a world-renowned activist courageously stands up against genocidal activities in which the Islamic State is targeting the Yazidi minority, calling for worldwide assistance to protect those under ISIL captivity. Day by day, through multiple actions, Vian Dakhil adds strength to the whispering voices of captivated Yazidi women and girls, enhancing their efforts to escape back to their homes. This notable representative of the Yazidi minority has been unstoppable in her attempts to bring the dramatic situation of religious minorities in Iraq to the world's attention, asking for an intervention that would foil the ongoing atrocities. In 2014 for her invaluable contribution to the protection of the Yazidi community, Vian Dakhil received the Anna Politkovskaya Award.
Marijana Grandits
Marijana Grandits started her engagement for human rights already as a student, fighting for minority rights and the right to development for the Global South. Having served as a former Green deputy to the Austrian National Council (Nationalrat) Marijana Grandits is now a member of a regional commission at the Ombudsman Board in Vienna (Volksanwaltschaft) and a dedicated human rights consultant. As an educator Marijana Grandits raises human rights awareness through her lectures both in the Viennese and Venetian academic environments. Between 2000 and 2012 Marijana Grandits was a member of the Human Rights Commission at the Federal Ministry of the Interior. Marijana Grandits has been an expert in Twinning Projects for Human Rights in Turkey, Croatia and BiH as well as a consultant for the United Nations Economic and Social Council and for a variety of other organisations. As a director of the Working Table on Democratisation and Human Rights, Marijana Grandits was previously involved in the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe. She was a founder of the Verona Forum, an initiative for peace and reconciliation in former YU and she has been supporting a peace project in Srebrenica with the Alexander Langer Foundation. Her commitment for gender equality has been going on for several decades now; mainly implemented in different active roles at the Kosmos Theater in Vienna.
neighbors in Vienna
This young organisation was founded in Vienna by a tandem of the internist Christine Scholten and the social worker Renate Schnee. Their admirable project "Nachbarinnen" (The Neighbours) addresses multidimensional aspects of the integration of immigrants into Austrian society. The organisation is a fully practical response to the needs of immigrant families, encouraging their participation in social life in Austria and instructing them on essential systemic issues related to health and education so that they can efficiently benefit from the available opportunities. The projects aims not only to help meet the core needs of immigrants but goes further, sparking potential ideas of how to enrich the life of an immigrant with positive experiences and to enable full integration in order to avoid the phenomenon of "parallel societies". The Neighbours are female facilitators who speak Turkish, Arabic, Somalian and Chechen. The project is a clear manifestation of solidarity in its most humane form. At the heart of it lies the remarkable idea of helping others to self-help.