The United Nations Prizes in the Field of Human Rights were instituted by

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

in 1966. They are intended to "honour and commend people and organizations which have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the

human rights Human rights are Morality, moral principles or Social norm, normsJames Nickel, with assistance from Thomas Pogge, M.B.E. Smith, and Leif Wenar, 13 December 2013, Stanford Encyclopedia of PhilosophyHuman Rights Retrieved 14 August 2014 for ce ...

embodied in the

Universal Declaration of Human Rights The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal De ...

and in other

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

human rights instruments". The UN first awarded the prize to six recipients at a ceremony on 10 December 1968the 20th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the UN has designated Human Rights Day. They have been given out at five-year intervals since then, with the exception of 1983, to individuals, groups and organizations. , 64 awards have been presented, including nine awards presented posthumously (four to recipients who had been murdered while pursuing human rights for others). The recipients are selected by a committee composed of the presidents of the UN General Assembly, the UN Economic and Social Council and the UN Human Rights Council (which replaced the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2006), and the chairs of the

UN Commission on the Status of Women The Commission on the Status of Women (CSW or UNCSW) is a functional commission of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), one of the main United Nations System, UN organs within the United Nations. CSW has been described as the U ...

and of the Advisory Committee of the UN Human Rights Council (which replaced the UN

Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights The Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights (before 1999, known as the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities) was a think tank of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights. It was wou ...

in 2006). Since 1998, the awards are announced by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, which was created a few days after the 1993 ceremony. The physical token of the award is a metal plaque bearing the UN seal and an artistic design, and engraved with an appropriate citation. In contrast to the Nobel prizeswhose list of prizewinners of the

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Swedish industrialist, inventor and armaments (military weapons and equipment) manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Chemi ...

shares much common ground with the UN Prize in the Field of Human Rightsthe UN's awards are non-monetary in nature.

1968 Prizewinners

FIRST AWARD: December 1968 – 20th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: René Cassin nobel

*, chairman of the

Inter-American Commission on Human Rights The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the IACHR or, in the three other official languages Spanish, French, and Portuguese CIDH, ''Comisión Interamericana de los Derechos Humanos'', ''Commission Interaméricaine des Droits de l'Homme'', ...

(Chile) * René Cassin, member of the UN Commission on Human Rights (

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

) *

Albert Luthuli Albert John Mvumbi Luthuli ( – 21 July 1967) was a South African anti-apartheid activist, traditional leader, and politician who served as the President-General of the African National Congress from 1952 until his death in 1967. Luthuli wa ...

(posthumously), president of the

African National Congress The African National Congress (ANC) is a Social democracy, social-democratic political party in Republic of South Africa, South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when ...

(South Africa) * Mehrangiz Manouchehrian, attorney and senator (Iran) *, member of the UN Commission on Human Rights (Ukraine) *

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

(posthumously), president of the UN Commission on Human Rights (United States)

1973 Prizewinners

SECOND AWARD: December 1973 – 25th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: *

Taha Hussein Taha Hussein (, ar, طه حسين; November 15, 1889 – October 28, 1973) was one of the most influential 20th-century Egyptian writers and intellectuals, and a figurehead for the Nahda, Egyptian Renaissance and the modernism, modernist movem ...

(posthumously), professor of literature (Egypt) *

C. Wilfred Jenks C. Wilfred Jenks (7 March 1909 – 9 October 1973) was an international lawyer and director-general of the International Labour Organization (1970–1973).Elihu Lauterpacht, "Jenks, Clarence Wilfred (1909–1973)", Oxford Dictionary of Nat ...

(posthumously), director-general of the

International Labour Office The International Labour Organization (ILO) is a United Nations agency whose mandate is to advance social and economic justice by setting international labour standards. Founded in October 1919 under the League of Nations, it is the first and ol ...

(United Kingdom) *

María Lavalle Urbina María Lavalle Urbina (Campeche, Campeche, Campeche, Campeche, May 24, 1908 - Mexico City, April 23, 1996) was a Mexican lawyer and politician who served as the first female President of the Senate (Mexico), president of the Senate of Mexico, ...

, lawyer and lecturer (Mexico) * Abel Muzorewa, president of the United African National Council (Rhodesia) *

Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam (in traditional Hindi: Shivsagar Ram Gulam) (18 September 1900 – 15 December 1985; often referred to as ''Chacha Ramgoolam'' or ''SSR'') was a Mauritian physician, politician, and statesman. He served as the island's o ...

, prime minister (Mauritius) * U Thant, UN secretary-general (Burma)

1978 Prizewinners

THIRD AWARD: December 1978 – 30th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: HelenSuzman

* Begum Ra'Ana Liaquat Ali Khan, active in the social, educational and cultural uplift of women (Pakistan) *

Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan ( ar, صدر الدين آغا خان, , 1933 – 2003) was a statesman and activist who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1966 to 1977, during which he reoriented the agency's focus beyond ...

United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integrati ...

, later a Special Rapporteur of the

UN Human Rights Commission The United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) was a functional commission within the overall framework of the United Nations from 1946 until it was replaced by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2006. It was a subsidiary body of t ...

(Iran) * Martin Luther King Jr. (posthumously), assassinated leader of the American

civil rights movement The civil rights movement was a nonviolent social and political movement and campaign from 1954 to 1968 in the United States to abolish legalized institutional Racial segregation in the United States, racial segregation, Racial discrimination ...

(United States) * Helen Suzman, anti-apartheid activist and politician (South Africa) *

International Committee of the Red Cross The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC; french: Comité international de la Croix-Rouge) is a humanitarian organization which is based in Geneva, Switzerland, and it is also a three-time Nobel Prize Laureate. State parties (signato ...

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says it has more than ten million members and sup ...

Vicariate of Solidarity The Vicariate of Solidarity (La Vicaría de la Solidaridad) was a human rights organization in Chile during the military dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Background On 11 September 1973 a military junta toppled Chilean President Salvador Al ...

(Chile) *

National Union of Tunisian Women The National Union of Tunisian Women (Arabic: الاتحاد الوطني للمراة التونسية; French: Union Nationale de la Femme Tunisienne, UNFT) is a non-governmental organization in Tunisia founded in 1956. The current UNFT president ...

(Tunisia)

1988 Prizewinners

FOURTH AWARD: December 1988 – 40th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Winnie Mandela00

* Baba Amte, human rights lawyer (India) *

John Peters Humphrey John Peters Humphrey (April 30, 1905 – March 14, 1995) was a Canadian legal scholar, jurist, and human rights advocate. He is most famous as the principal author of the first draft of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Childhood, ...

, principal drafter of the UN's

(Canada) *, president of the Supreme Court (Poland) * Leonidas Proaño, Roman Catholic bishop (Ecuador) *

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela (; ; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist who served as the President of South Africa, first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1 ...

, lawyer and statesman (South Africa) *

Winnie Mandela Winnie Madikizela-Mandela (born Nomzamo Winifred Zanyiwe Madikizela; 26 September 1936 – 2 April 2018), also known as Winnie Mandela, was a South African anti-apartheid activist and politician, and the second wife of Nelson Mandela. She serv ...

, medical social worker (South Africa)

1993 Prizewinners

FIFTH AWARD: December 1993 – 45th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: *

Hassib Ben Ammar Hassib Ben Ammar ( ar, حسيب بن عمار) (11 April 1924 – 15 December 2008) was a leading Tunisian politician and journalist/editor. He was a powerful campaigner for human rights. Life Politician As a young man he participated actively ...

, president of the Tunisian Human Rights League and of Arab Organization for Human Rights (Tunisia) * Erica-Irene Daes, chair of the UN's Working Group on Indigenous Populations (Greece) *

James P. Grant James Pineo Grant (May 12, 1922 – January 28, 1995) was an American diplomat and children's advocate. Grant served for 15 years (from January 1980 to January 1995) as the third executive director of the United Nations Children's Fund, United Nat ...

, executive director of

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

(United States) *

International Commission of Jurists The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. It is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists—including senior judges, attorneys and academics—who work to develop national and inte ...

(based in Geneva) *Medical personnel of the Central Hospital of

Sarajevo Sarajevo ( ; cyrl, Сарајево, ; ''see Names of European cities in different languages (Q–T)#S, names in other languages'') is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its a ...

* Sonia Picado Sotela, vice-president of the

Inter-American Court of Human Rights The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR or IACtHR) is an international court based in San José, Costa Rica. Together with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, it was formed by the American Convention on Human Rights, a huma ...

(Costa Rica) *

Ganesh Man Singh Ganesh Man Singh ( Nepali:गणेशमान सिंह) (November 9, 1915 – September 18, 1997) was the leader of the democratic movement of 1990 in Nepal. He is revered as the Father of Democracy and the Iron-man of Nepali politic ...

, supreme leader of Nepal * Sudanese Women's Union (Sudan) *

Julio Tumiri Javier Julio is the Spanish equivalent of the month July and may refer to: *Julio (given name) *Julio (surname) *Júlio de Castilhos, a municipality of the western part of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil * Julio (album), ''Julio'' (album), a 1983 co ...

, founder of the

Permanent Assembly for Human Rights The Permanent Assembly for Human Rights (in Spanish, La Asamblea Permanente por los Derechos Humanos (APDH)) is an Argentine non-governmental human rights organization; founded in 1975. According to its official website the organization is the pr ...

(Bolivia)

1998 Prizewinners

SIXTH AWARD: December 1998 – 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: JimmyCarterPortrait2

Sunila Abeysekera Sunila Abeysekera (September 4 1952 – September 9, 2013) was a Sri Lankan human rights campaigner. She worked on women's rights in Sri Lanka and in the South Asia region for decades as an activist and scholar. Quitting a career as a singer, Abeyse ...

, executive director of

INFORM Inform is a programming language and design system for interactive fiction originally created in 1993 by Graham Nelson. Inform can generate programs designed for the Z-code or Glulx virtual machines. Versions 1 through 5 were released between ...

(Sri Lanka) * Angelina Acheng Atyam, founder of the Concerned Parents Association (Uganda) *

Jimmy Carter James Earl Carter Jr. (born October 1, 1924) is an American politician who served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he previously served as th ...

, statesman and former president (United States) * José Gregori, inaugural Secretary, National Human Rights Secretariat (Brazil) * Anna Šabatová, founder of Charter 77 (Czech Republic) *All human rights defenders, "thousands of courageous individuals worldwide"

2003 Prizewinners

SEVENTH AWARD: December 2003 – 55th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: * Enriqueta Estela Barnes de Carlotto, president of the

Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo ( es, italic=no, Asociación Civil Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo) is a human rights organization with the goal of finding the children stolen and illegally adopted during the 1976–1983 Argentine military dicta ...

(Argentina) * Mano River Women's Peace Network (Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea) *Family Protection Project Management Team (Jordan) * Deng Pufang, chairman of the

China Disabled Persons' Federation The China Disabled Persons' Federation, also known as the CDPF, is a people's organization for individuals with disability in China established in Beijing, China in March 1988, aiming to represent and safeguard the rights and interests of disabled ...

(People's Republic of China) *, executive director of the People's Movement for Human Rights Education (United States) * Sérgio Vieira de Mello (posthumously), UN Special Representative murdered in Iraq (Brazil)

2008 Prizewinners

EIGHTH AWARD: December 2008 – 60th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: Benazir Bhutto

* Louise Arbour, former UN

High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, commonly known as the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) or the United Nations Human Rights Office, is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nati ...

(Canada) *

Benazir Bhutto Benazir Bhutto ( ur, بینظیر بُھٹو; sd, بينظير ڀُٽو; Urdu ; 21 June 1953 – 27 December 2007) was a Pakistani politician who served as the 11th and 13th prime minister of Pakistan from 1988 to 1990 and again from 1993 t ...

(posthumously), assassinated former

prime minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

and

leader of the opposition The Leader of the Opposition is a title traditionally held by the leader of the largest political party not in government, typical in countries utilizing the parliamentary system form of government. The leader of the opposition is typically se ...

(Pakistan) * Ramsey Clark, former

Attorney General In most common law jurisdictions, the attorney general or attorney-general (sometimes abbreviated AG or Atty.-Gen) is the main legal advisor to the government. The plural is attorneys general. In some jurisdictions, attorneys general also have exec ...

(United States) *Dr.

Carolyn Gomes ''The Honourable'' Carolyn Gomes, O.J. (born 30 March 1958 in Kingston, Jamaica) is a Jamaican human rights activist. She is also the co-founder and now the past executive director of Jamaicans for Justice. Gomes resigned as the executive dir ...

Jamaicans for Justice Jamaicans for Justice (JFJ) is a non-profit, non-partisan human rights organization in Jamaica. JFJ was founded in 1999 in Kingston, Jamaica. The group was co-founded by Jamaican human rights activist Dr. Carolyn Gomes who in 2008 was awarded the ...

*Dr. Denis Mukwege, co-founder of the General Referral Hospital of Panzi (Democratic Republic of the Congo) *Sr. Dorothy Stang (posthumously), murdered Roman Catholic nun (Brazil) *

Human Rights Watch Human Rights Watch (HRW) is an international non-governmental organization, headquartered in New York City, that conducts research and advocacy on human rights. The group pressures governments, policy makers, companies, and individual human r ...

2013 Prizewinners

NINTH AWARD: December 2013 – 65th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: *

Biram Dah Abeid Biram Ould Dah Ould Abeid ( ar, بيرام ولد الداه ولد اعبيدي; born 12 January 1965) is a Mauritanian politician and advocate for the abolition of slavery. He was listed as one of "10 People Who Changed the World You Might Not ...

, son of a freed slave who works to eradicate slavery (Mauritania) *

Hiljmnijeta Apuk Hiljmnijeta Apuk (born 1956) is a Kosovar campaigner for the rights of people of short stature. In 2013, she was a recipient of the United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights. Biography Hiljmnijeta Apuk was born in 1956 in the city of Mit ...

, a campaigner for the rights of people of short stature (Kosovo) *

Liisa Kauppinen Liisa Kauppinen née Salokorpi (born 12 May 1939, Nurmo, Finland) is a Finnish human rights activist who lost her hearing as a child. After serving as executive director of the Finnish Association of the Deaf, in 1995 she became the first woman to b ...

, President Emeritus of the

World Federation of the Deaf The World Federation of the Deaf (WFD) is an international non-governmental organization that acts as a peak body for national associations of Deaf people, with a focus on Deaf people who use sign language and their family and friends. WFD aims ...

(Finland) *

Khadija Ryadi Khadija Ryadi ( ar, خديجة الرياضي; born 1960 in Taroudant) is a Moroccan Human rights, feminist activist and former president of the Morocco Association for Human Rights (AMDH). In December 2013, she won the United Nations Prize in t ...

, former President of the

Morocco Association for Human Rights The Moroccan Association for Human Rights ( ar, الجمعية المغربية لحقوق الإنسان, french: Association marocaine des droits humains, abbreviated AMDH) is one of the biggest Moroccan human rights non-governmental organizat ...

(Morocco) *

Supreme Court of Justice A supreme court is the highest court within the hierarchy of courts in most legal jurisdictions. Other descriptions for such courts include court of last resort, apex court, and high (or final) court of appeal. Broadly speaking, the decisions of ...

(Mexico) * Malala Yousafzai, schoolgirl shot by the Taliban for attending school (Pakistan)

2018 Prizewinners

TENTH AWARD: December 2018 – 70th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: * Asma Jahangir (posthumously), human rights lawyer (Pakistan) * Rebeca Gyumi, activist for the rights of women and girls (Tanzania) *

Joênia Wapixana Joênia Wapichana (officially Joênia Batista de Carvalho; born 20 April 1974) is the first indigenous lawyer in Brazil and a member of the Wapixana tribe of northern Brazil. After taking a land dispute to the Inter-American Commission on Human ...

, activist for the rights of indigenous communities (Brazil) *

Front Line Defenders Front Line Defenders, or The International Foundation for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, is an Irish-based human rights organisation founded in Dublin, Republic of Ireland, Ireland in 2001 to protect those who work non-violently to uph ...

, organization advocating and working for the protection of human rights defenders (Ireland)

References

{{Human Rights Awards, state=expanded Human rights awards United Nations awards Awards established in 1968