The Civil Courage Prize is a human rights award which recognizes "steadfast resistance to evil at great personal risk—rather than military valor." The prize was founded in 2000 by the Northcote Parkinson Fund. The goal of the prize is not to create a "ranking", but "to draw attention individually to some extraordinary heroes of conscience." It was inspired by the example of

Soviet dissident Soviet dissidents were people who disagreed with certain features of Soviet ideology or with its entirety and who were willing to speak out against them. The term ''dissident'' was used in the Soviet Union in the period from the mid-1960s until ...

History

In 2007, the Northcote Parkinson Fund's name was changed to The Train Foundation in recognition of the contributions of the family of investment advisor John Train, the fund's primary donor. In 2022, the board of trustees consisted of seven members: *John Train (chair) *George C. Biddle, Trustee and Co-Chairman; Chairman, World Connect (co-chair) *Louis N. Bickford, CEO of MEMRIA.ORG (treasurer) *Ariadne Calvo-Platero, journalist (president) *Musa T. Klebnikov, Paul Klebnikov Fund Executive Director *The Hon. Nicholas Platt, Former U.S. Ambassador *Ann Brownell Sloane, The Eisenhower Foundation Since 2000, the foundation has awarded the Civil Courage Prize one or two activists each year. The prize comes with a $25,000 honorarium. Nominations are accepted from international non-governmental organizations, while unsolicited nominations are discouraged. The award ceremony is held in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

in October of each year. Keynote speakers have included British historian Michael Howard, US journalist

Jon Meacham Jon Ellis Meacham (; born May 20, 1969) is an American writer, reviewer, historian and presidential biographer who is serving as the current Canon Historian of the Washington National Cathedral since November 7, 2021. A former executive editor ...

, British Home Secretary

Douglas Hurd Douglas Richard Hurd, Baron Hurd of Westwell, (born 8 March 1930) is a British Conservative Party politician who served in the governments of Margaret Thatcher and John Major from 1979 to 1995. A career diplomat and political secretary to P ...

, and Chilean President

Michelle Bachelet Verónica Michelle Bachelet Jeria (; born 29 September 1951) is a Chilean politician who served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2018 to 2022. She previously served as President of Chile from 2006 to 2010 and 2014 to 201 ...

. Seven posthumous award winners have also been named, ranging from Swedish businessman Raoul Wallenberg, who worked to save the lives of Hungarian Jews during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, to Indonesian human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, assassinated in 2004. In 2004 and 2005, the Foundation also awarded "Certificates of Distinction in Civil Courage" to selected prize finalists. The certificates included honorariums of $1,000 apiece.

Honorees

Posthumous honorees

Certificates of Distinction in Civil Courage

References

External links

Official website
{{Civil Courage Prize laureates Human rights awards Awards established in 2000 Humanitarian and service awards Courage awards