World Press Freedom Day, on 3 May, will see the launch of a world-wide competition to find a human rights logo.

Federal Foreign Minister Westerwelle will join jury members Waris Dirie and Erik Spiekermann in introducing the initiative on Tuesday (3 May) at Radialsystem, an arts and event space in Berlin. Comedian Michael Mittermeier, who is acting as special patron of the human rights logo initiative, will moderate the event.

Background

The online competition platform www.humanrightslogo.net was created by ten countries representing different regions of the world and various cultural and social traditions: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Canada, the Czech Republic, Chile, Germany, Indonesia, Mauritius, Senegal, Singapore and Uruguay. Everyone is welcome to join the competition by suggesting a logo or rating and commenting on others’ submissions until 31 July 2011.

The initiative is supported by a high-profile celebrity jury. Jury members include the Foreign Ministers of the ten partner countries, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navanethem Pillay (South Africa) and four Nobel Peace Prize winners – Aung San Suu Kyi (Myanmar), Shirin Ebadi (Iran), Muhammad Yunus (Bangladesh) and Mikhail Gorbachev (Russia) – as well as Ai Weiwei (artist, China), Angelina Acheng Atyam (children’s rights activist, Uganda), Waris Dirie (supermodel and women’s rights activist, Somalia), Roland Emmerich (Hollywood director and producer, Germany), Carolyn Gomes (human rights activist, Jamaica), Juanes (pop star and peace activist, Colombia), Somaly Mam (human rights activist, Cambodia), Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu (human rights activist, Sri Lanka), Jimmy Wales (Wikipedia founder, USA), and internationally renowned design experts such as Ahmad Humeid (Jordan), Javier Mariscal (Spain) and Erik Spiekermann (Germany).

The winning logo will be presented at the end of September alongside the meeting of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The competition’s winner will be awarded