You can find detailed information in our annual letters.
Rüdiger Nehberg |
|||
1977 |
Danakil expedition |
Rüdiger Nehberg and two friends trek for four months with camels through the Danakil Desert / Ethiopia. Civil war. During two raids, Muslim hosts save Nehberg's life with their bodies. Since then, he has felt a connection to Islam. He meets the nomad Aischa and learns about Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) from her for the first time. |
|
1980-2000 |
Fight for the survival of the Yanomami Indians in Brazil |
Nehberg witnesses an impending genocide: 65,000 gold prospectors against 20,000 indigenous people. He decides to help. His life changes from confectioner to human rights activist. In 1990, he sold his pastry shop and undertook spectacular campaigns for the rights of the indigenous people. When the Yanomami receive an acceptable peace in 2000, he looks for a new challenge.
This becomes campaigning for an end to female genital mutilation. |
|
|
|
|||
TARGET |
|||
1999 |
Start of the commitment to end female genital mutilation |
The fate of the author of the book "Desert Flower" makes Nehberg realize the full extent of the crime. He decides to confront the custom. His experiences in the 20-year fight against the genocide of the Yanomami in Brazil and his knowledge of Islam come to his aid. |
|
|
|
|||
2000 |
TARGET foundation |
Existing human rights organizations cannot show solidarity with Nehberg's strategy of ending FGM with Islam as a partner. Nehberg and his partner Annette Weber therefore founded TARGET e. V. Rüdiger Nehberg with five friends. |
|
|
|
|||
2001 |
First research |
Nehberg and Weber begin their research in Ethiopia. They document mutilations to make the horror clear to those responsible. |
|
|
Pro-Islamic alliance |
Foundation of the "Pro-Islamic Alliance against Female Genital Mutilation" to counter the millennia-old crime of FGM with Islam as a partner. Most of the victims are Muslim women, the most frequently heard false justification: "It's in the Koran". | ||
|
|
|||
2002 |
Tribal conference |
First visit to Sultan Ali Mirah Hanfary, religious leader of the Afar people in the Danakil Desert (Ethiopia). He lifts the ban on FGM and allows TARGET to hold a conference with all of its 60 tribal leaders. | |
|
1st TARGET Desert Conference with the Afar in Ethiopia |
After two days of discussions, the tribal leaders decide to end FGM on February 1, 2002. They declare the practice a sin and enshrine it in Sharia law. | ||
|
Letter of thanks |
The Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs in Afar recognizes the conference as a historic turning point for its people with a letter of thanks to Nehberg and Weber. |
||
|
Patronage |
Nehberg and Weber sponsor Amina, a young girl who has lost her speech as a result of the mutilation. |
||
|
Federal Cross of Merit |
Nehberg receives the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon for his 20 years of commitment to the survival of the Yanomami and cooperation with Islam against female genital mutilation. |
||
|
Conversation with Minister Zakzouk and Grand Sheikh Tantawi |
Germany's embassy in Cairo arranges the initial contact with the Egyptian Minister of Religious Affairs, Prof. Dr. Zakzouk. He facilitates a meeting with the highest representative of Azhar University, Grand Sheikh Prof. Dr. Mohamed Sayyid Tantawi. He declares FGM to be un-Islamic in writing and to the camera. He writes the first fatwa (legal opinion) to TARGET on 13.7.02. . |
||
|
Wide view price |
Nehberg receives the Farsightedness Award in Frankfurt for his commitment to the Yanomami and to ending FGM |
||
|
|
|||
2003 |
Waiãpi |
Construction and inauguration of an infirmary for the Waiãpi indigenous people in the Amazon rainforest (northern Brazil) in the protected area, village of Comunidade Triângulo Amaparí (CTA). |
|
|
Mobile infirmary |
As a thank you for the success of the 1st TARGET Desert Conference, TARGET is donating a mobile health center to the Afar in Ethiopia. It consists of two off-road vehicles, a German doctor and an Ethiopian medical team. The headquarters will be located in the town of Mekele. | ||
|
|
|||
2004 |
Mauritania: |
Grand Mufti Hamden Ould Tah and his advisors join the ban on FGM and write the second fatwa to TARGET on July 28, 2004. |
|
|
Banner demonstration in front of the shrine |
In front of the pilgrim mosque of Chinguetti, the seventh largest Islamic shrine in the world, TARGET is allowed to hoist the fatwa on a large banner. |
||
|
Honorary citizen |
Nehberg and Weber become honorary citizens of Chinguetti |
||
|
Jibouti: |
On August 8, 2004, the Afar Djiboutis join the decision of their compatriots from Ethiopia. Sultan Abdelkader Mohamed Humad writes the third fatwa. |
||
|
Press conference in Hamburg for the "Caravan of Hope" |
Hamden Ould Tah and three companions come to Hamburg in December 2004 to present the "Caravan of Hope" planned in Mauritania with a caravan through the city center. Patronage: Hamburg's First Mayor Ole von Beust, CDU |
||
|
|
|||
2005 |
"Caravan of hope" |
With 14 camels and ten Mauritanian companions, Nehberg and Weber travel from oasis to oasis on behalf of the Grand Mufti of Mauritania to spread the new message against FGM. It is written in white on green flags. |
|
|
Important Federal Court of Justice ruling |
The Federal Court of Justice makes an important ruling (as a result of a TARGET initiative): If girls with foreign citizenship living in Germany are threatened with mutilation in their home country, the parents' right of residence must be withdrawn (AZ: XII ZB 166/03). |
||
|
|
|||
2006 |
President of Mauritania |
The new president, Ely Ould Mohamed Vall, invites Nehberg to a meeting and bans FGM by decree. |
|
|
Sewing machine project Mauritania |
TARGET launches a pilot project with seven former mutilated women as tailors to offer them a new professional basis for securing their income |
||
|
Relocation of godchild |
Godchild Amina and a friend are relocated to Addis Ababa for a better education. |
||
|
Breakthrough conference in Cairo |
Under the patronage of the Grand Mufti of Egypt, Prof. Dr. Ali Gom'a, the highest Sunni Islamic jurist, TARGET may convene an international conference of scholars against FGM with the highest Islamic representatives in the world at the Azhar Conference Center. |
||
|
Fatwa against FGM |
On 24.11.2006these scholars declared FGM to be a "punishable crime that violatesthe highest values of Islam" and thus a sin. The event is unprecedented in the entire history of religion. |
||
|
Afar honorary citizen |
The Afar appoint Nehberg and Weber as honorary citizens of their people. |
||
|
Book "Caravan of Hope" |
Rüdiger Nehberg and Annette Weber's book "Karawane der Hoffnung - Mit dem Islam gegen den Schmerz und das Schweigen" is published on the second day of the Cairo conference. |
||
|
|
|||
2007 |
Hamburg Citizen Award |
Nehberg receives the "Citizens' Award" of the City of Hamburg |
|
|
Two awards for TARGET film |
GOLD AWARD and SPECIAL AWARD at the World Media Festival for the documentary "The 'Cause' - Campaign against a Taboo" about TARGET's fight against FGM. |
||
|
B.A.U.M. Award |
Nehberg is awarded the international B.A.U.M. Special Prize in Berlin. Federal President Horst Köhler receives Nehberg and Weber and honors their success against female genital mutilation. | ||
|
|
|||
2008 |
Federal Crosses of Merit |
For outstanding commitment in the fight against FGM, Rüdiger Nehberg is awarded the Federal Cross of Merit 1st Class and Annette Weber the Federal Cross of Merit on Ribbon. |
|
|
Book distribution against FGM |
Egypt's Minister of Religious Affairs, Prof. Dr. Zakzouk, has a pamphlet against FGM distributed in 90,000 Egyptian mosques as a consequence of TARGET's scholars' conference. |
||
|
"The Golden Book" |
TARGET produces "The Golden Book". It contains the message that FGM is a sin and incompatible with Islam (Fatwa of Cairo). With a deliberately high-quality design, it is a piece of jewelry that can stand alongside other writings of Islam. It will form the basis of TARGET's FGM awareness work. |
||
|
|
|||
2009 |
Sheikh Prof. Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi |
Reception with Sheikh Prof. Dr. Yusuf Al-Qaradawi (Qatar), Chairman of the International Association of Muslim Legal Scholars. On TARGET's initiative, he formulated an unequivocal fatwa in March in which he called for the abolition of female genital mutilation and even described it as the work of the devil. |
|
|
"The Golden Book" for East Africa |
In April, over 100 high-ranking participants from East Africa will attend the conference
50,000 "Golden Books" will be delivered to Ethiopia. |
||
|
"reddot" design award |
"The Golden Book" is awarded the "reddot" design prize |
||
|
TV documentary |
The ProSieben TV documentary "Caravan of Hope" about TARGET's awareness campaign "The Golden Book" will be broadcast in December ("Galileo Special"). |
||
|
Wedding |
Annette and Rüdiger Nehberg "dare" each other. |
||
|
|
|||
2010 |
Obstetrics clinic |
Start of construction of the obstetrics clinic in Ethiopia's Danakil Desert in the Afar region. |
|
|
"The Golden Book" |
Production of 60,000 companion books to the "Golden Book" in the Ethiopian national language Amharic and the tribal languages Afaraf and Somali. |
||
|
TV documentary |
The ProSieben TV documentary "Caravan of Hope" is awarded the Adolf Grimme Prize and the Rose d'Or. |
||
|
|
|||
2011 |
Special exhibition |
TARGET special exhibition at the Hamburg Ethnological Museum. |
|
|
"The Golden Book" for Djibouti |
TARGET organizes two conferences in the important Issa cities of Arta and Ali Sabieh. |
||
|
Sheikh Prof. Dr. Muhammad Said Ramadan Al-Buti |
Conversation with Sheikh Prof. Dr. Muhammad Said Ramadan Al-Buti in Damascus, Syria. The highest scholar of the Shafiite school of law writes a fatwa from a Shafiite perspective on the protection of endangered girls. |
||
|
Vision Mecca |
Rüdiger travels to Saudi Arabia for the first time for his "Vision Mecca", the proclamation at the shrine in Mecca during pilgrimage time, the Hajj, that female genital mutilation is a sin and violates the highest values of Islam. |
||
|
|
|||
2012 |
"The Golden Book" for Guinea-Bissau |
Conference to prepare the distribution of the "Golden Book" in Guinea-Bissau. |
|
|
Waiãpi jungle clinic |
Construction and ceremonial opening of the Waiãpi jungle clinic in the Amazon rainforest of Brazil. |
||
|
|
|||
2013 |
Danakil Desert Obstetric Clinic |
Construction work at the obstetrics clinic is progressing and the vision is taking shape: German specialists and craftsmen are being added to the operations team. Nevertheless, it is still a rocky and hot road to the opening. Ethiopian contractors and a lack of national infrastructure are delaying progress and require new planning and restructuring. |
|
|
Mobile infirmary |
The mobile infirmary celebrates its 10th anniversary. With 15,000 patients a year and working under extremely deprived conditions in the outback of Ethiopia's Danakil Desert, TARGET's pioneering project is a complete success. |
||
|
"The Golden Book" for Ethiopia |
The distribution of the "Golden Book" continues in 2013 and we can finally visit the Ethiopian Somali region again after armed conflicts and distribute the "Golden Book" to Imams. |
||
|
Honored by GSA |
The German Speakers Association (GSA) e.V. honors Rüdiger Nehberg and TARGET with the GSA Award in the "Lifetime Achievement" category. |
||
|
"The Golden Book" for Guinea-Bissau |
The Golden Book is printed in Portuguese with the fatwa and photos of the Bissau conference (2012). |
||
|
|
|||
2014 |
Danakil Desert Obstetric Clinic |
The obstetrics clinic construction project is also fraught with complications this year: After an involuntary halt to construction in January, we are not giving up and will resume work in February. Sewage pipes, building installations and the pump electronics are completed. At the end of the year, the interior fittings will begin. |
|
|
"The Golden Book" for Ethiopia |
The distribution campaign of the "Golden Book" in Ethiopia is successful. |
||
|
Waiãpi |
More than 4,000 treatments have been carried out at the jungle clinic. The need for the clinic is more important than ever. |
||
|
|
|||
|
|
|||
2015 |
Danakil Desert Obstetric Clinic |
A historic day for TARGET e.V.: The obstetrics clinic opens on June 13. The construction work took over four years. 400 guests, including representatives from the central government, the health authorities and high-ranking sheiks, celebrate the opening for the Afar people in Ethiopia together with TARGET e.V. and the German Ambassador Joachim Schmidt. |
|
|
Further training for imams |
Novum in the project "The Golden Book for Guinea Bissau": Training days by imams for imams on the topic of "Ending genital mutilation of girls and women with the power of Islam." . |
||
|
Urania Medal |
Annette and Rüdiger Nehberg receive the Urania Medal on April 21, 2015 for their unparalleled commitment to human rights, presented by former German President Prof. Dr. Horst Köhler. |
||
|
80th birthday |
On the occasion of Rüdiger Nehberg's 80th birthday, Dietrich Wersich, First Vice-President of the Hamburg Parliament, is hosting an information event in the venerable Hamburg City Hall. International speakers and companions will present TARGET's strategy to end FGM with Islam as a partner to the invited guests and journalists. |
||
|
|
|||
2016 |
Danakil Desert Obstetric Clinic |
The clinic is becoming increasingly popular: 200 to 400 patients a year for prenatal care and gynaecological treatments, 30 to 50 bed occupancies, around 100 ambulance trips and 30 to 60 medical emergencies. |
|
|
10 years of the Azhar Fatwa |
November 24, 2016 marked the tenth anniversary of the Azhar Fatwa. Since then, we have been able to win over many imams as fellow campaigners. The clerics are supported by women's rights activists, teachers and doctors. However, it is and remains an arduous task to get the message across to the imams and thus into the communities. |
||
|
Waiãpi |
Both our small jungle clinic and the CTA infirmary are central points in the lives of the Waiãpi. Here they receive medical help and health education. The main medical issue in the forest in 2016 was malaria. There have never been so many cases since the projects were set up. The course of the disease is particularly life-threatening for children and pregnant women. Fortunately, births continue to take place in the traditional way in the forest under a canopy of leaves. The clinic mainly provides prenatal care and follow-up care for mother and child. |
||
|
"The Golden Book" for Guinea-Bissau |
TARGET's Imam team reaches 826 mosques and over 12,000 people as part of the awareness campaign to end FGM |
||
|
Vision Mecca |
German Ambassador Boris Ruge facilitates an invitation and meeting at the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in Riyadh. Afterwards, the gates to the closely guarded halls of the Mufti's office are even opened for a meeting with the Secretary General. Another step towards Mecca. |
||
|
|
|||
2017 |
TARGET Brasil |
After two years of intensive preparations, negotiations and dealing with the authorities, we were finally able to officially register TARGET Ruediger Nehberg Brasil. Under the Brazilian flag and German management, this association, as an indirect offshoot of TARGET e. V. Germany, is subject to Brazilian law and at the same time enjoys its protection. This was absolutely necessary due to changes in the country's legislation with regard to foreign organizations in order to be able to continue our activities for the health of the indigenous people and the protection of the jungle. |
|
|
"The Golden Book" for Guinea-Bissau |
TARGET produces an FGM brochure in the local language Kreolo. It complements the ongoing awareness campaign. |
||
|
Danakil Desert Obstetrics Clinic |
Volunteer doctors and medical assistants continue to work with the Ethiopian team to ensure safe births for mother and child. |
||
|
|
|||
2018 |
Waiãpi |
After intensive preparation, an agreement was reached with the Indigenous Health Secretariat (Secretaria de Saúde Indígena - SESAI) to build and operate a health center deep inside the Waiãpi protected area in Brazil's Amazon rainforest: In the village of Ytuwasu.
The jungle clinic and CTA infirmary are now the only medical facilities in the area. |
|
|
Danakil Desert Obstetrics Clinic |
The clinic is the centerpiece for medical assistance and education as well as the hub of the FGM discussion and prevention on site. |
||
|
"The Golden Book" for Guinea-Bissau |
TARGET's committed imam teams are also fully engaged in structurally weak regions of Guinea-Bissau |
||
|
|
|||
2019 |
TARGET Brasil |
After intensive efforts with the Brazilian government, we are able to sign an extended cooperation agreement: It enables TARGET to work with health projects among all indigenous peoples in Brazil. |
|
|
Waiãpi |
Construction and inauguration of the infirmary in the village of Ytuwasu.
Together with the Waiapi, a border protection project is launched.
TARGET provides free internet access for educational purposes and communication in the central village of Aramirã, where TARGET's jungle clinic is located. |
||
|
Award "The Blue Tongue" |
Rüdiger Nehberg receives the "Blue Tongue" award for his life's work from GEDANKENtanken in front of 15,000 guests in the LANXESS Arena, Cologne, with a magnificent laudatory speech by memory trainer Markus Hofmann. |
||
|
Danakil Desert Obstetrics Clinic |
The clinic is in operation 365 days a year. German Ambassador Brita Wegener visits the project in November. |
||
|
"The Golden Book" for Guinea-Bissau |
A new off-road vehicle can be purchased for the awareness campaign. |
||
|
Vision Mecca |
Through the mediation of Carsten Wilms, Head of the Middle East Division at the Federal Foreign Office, Saudi Arabia's ambassador Prince Faisal Fahren al-Saud receives Rüdiger Nehberg in Berlin. Nehberg is able to hand over his letter of request to King Salman to the prince. |
||
|
|
|||
2020 |
April 1 |
TARGET's founder, human rights activist and Germany's number one adventurer "Sir Vival" Rüdiger Nehberg dies at home in Rausdorf,
His commitment to the well-being of people and nature will be continued by his wife Annette Nehberg-Weber, daughter Sophie and son Roman.
Posthumously, Rüdiger Nehberg's book "Dem Mut ist keine Gefahr gewachsen", which TARGET e. V. is highlighting as his legacy, will be published on April 6, 2020. |
|
|
Board of Directors |
Rüdiger and Annette Nehberg's children Roman and Sophie are elected to the association's board and, together with Annette Nehberg-Weber, continue their father's life's work. |
||
|
Clinic anniversary |
TARGET's gynecology and obstetrics clinic in Ethiopia's Danakil Desert celebrates its fifth anniversary - a place of hope for the Afar people |
||
|
FGM education |
Start of workshops for young people, women, imams and medical staff in Guinea-Bissau to spread knowledge about the consequences of FGM and build protective structures |
||
|
COVID protective measures |
To protect the Waiãpi from the coronavirus pandemic, TARGET is equipping the infirmaries with protective equipment, building a first aid station, securing access to the area with a gate and enabling people to retreat with radios. |
||
|
|
|||
2021 |
Clinic evacuation |
Armed conflicts in the Afar region force TARGET to first put the obstetrics clinic into emergency operation and then to evacuate it. |
|
|
Start multipliers |
Local multipliers are being trained in Guinea-Bissau to raise awareness of FGM in the villages and protect girls from mutilation. |
||
|
Renovation of Waiãpi |
TARGET's medical stations in the Amazon rainforest are being repaired |
||
|
|
|||
2022 |
Destruction of the clinic |
The fighting escalates: Assault rifles, grenade launchers and tanks leave destruction in their wake. Large parts of the gynecology and obstetrics clinic are devastated. |
|
|
Expansion Brazil |
TARGET opens the first health center outside the Waiãpi area among the Guarani-Kaiowá and builds wells for clean drinking water for the Huni Kuin, together with Fernanda Brandão. |
||
|
FGM media campaign |
A nationwide campaign in Guinea-Bissau via radio, TV and social media is reaching thousands of people to address and resolve various justifications for FGM . |
||
|
Kassel conference |
TARGET invites you to an FGM event in Kassel to strengthen the protection of girls in Somalia and to connect international networks |
||
|
|
|||
2023 |
Saami project |
TARGET joins forces with the Saami to launch a project to protect Europe's last indigenous territories from industrial exploitation in Swedish Lapland |
|
|
Multiplier project grows |
The team of multipliers in Guinea-Bissau is growing - more and more communities are being sensitized to the protection of girls |
||
|
Return to the clinic |
After the fighting subsides, the medical team returns. The gynecology and obstetrics clinic reopens its doors and begins its first treatments. |
||
|
Munduruku |
TARGET launches the construction of health centers among the Munduruku people in the Brazilian Amazon rainforest to ensure medical care even in remote regions |
||
|
|
|||
2024 |
New clinic start |
Large parts of the Danakil clinic are being repaired after the destruction. Regular treatments are possible, 398 babies are born safely. |
|
|
FGM campaign in Guinea-Bissau |
With posters in health centers and a poetry competition, TARGET is creatively mobilizing the population in Guinea-Bissau against FGM. |
||
|
Opening at the Munduruku |
Three new wards are ceremoniously opened and are available to the communities. |
||
|
Saami process |
TARGET supports the Saami's historic court case to stop mining operations on their land |
||
|
Yanomami |
TARGET launches the construction of a hospital for the Yanomami people |
||
|
|
|||
2025 |
25 years of TARGET |
TARGET celebrates a quarter of a century of advocacy to end female genital mutilation, improve health and protect indigenous peoples |
|
|
|
Yanomami Hospital |
Opening of Brazil's first indigenous hospital. 13,000 Yanomami receive a modern medical center in the heart of the Amazon rainforest. For TARGET, it is a journey back to the origins, to where Rüdiger Nehberg's commitment began in the 1980s. |
|