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 moral principles or 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 certain standards of hu ...

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 rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN committee chaired by Eleanor Roosevelt ...

and in other

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

human rights instruments International human rights instruments are the treaties and other international texts that serve as legal sources for international human rights law and the protection of human rights in general. There are many varying types, but most can be clas ...

". 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 Human Rights Day is celebrated annually around the world on 10 December every year. The date was chosen to honor the United Nations General Assembly's adoption and proclamation, on 10 December 1948, of the Universal Declaration of Human Right ...

. 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 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 ...

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 UN organs within the United Nations. CSW has been described as the UN organ promoting gend ...

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 in 2006). Since 1998, the awards are announced by the Office of the

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 ...

, 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 Chemistry, Physics, Physiolo ...

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 René Samuel Cassin (5 October 1887 – 20 February 1976) was a French jurist known for co-authoring the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. Born in Bayonne, Cassin served as a soldier in the First Wo ...

, member of the

(

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-democratic political party in South Africa. A liberation movement known for its opposition to apartheid, it has governed the country since 1994, when the first post-apartheid election install ...

(South Africa) *

Mehrangiz Manouchehrian Mehrangiz Manouchehrian (1906 – 5 July 2000) was an Iranian lawyer, musician, feminist, and appointed Senator. She was involved in the Women's Organization of Iran. She was involved in drafting the Family Protection Act - a set of laws extendin ...

, attorney and senator (Iran) *, member of the

(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

(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 Egyptian Renaissance and the modernist movement in the Middl ...

(posthumously), professor of literature (Egypt) * C. Wilfred Jenks (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 o ...

(United Kingdom) * María Lavalle Urbina, lawyer and lecturer (Mexico) *

Abel Muzorewa Abel Tendekayi Muzorewa (14 April 1925 – 8 April 2010), also commonly referred to as Bishop Muzorewa, was a Zimbabwean bishop and politician who served as the first and only Prime Minister of Zimbabwe Rhodesia from the Internal Settlement to ...

, 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 Thant (; ; January 22, 1909 – November 25, 1974), known honorifically as U Thant (), was a Burmese diplomat and the third secretary-general of the United Nations from 1961 to 1971, the first non-Scandinavian to hold the position. He held t ...

UN secretary-general The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary- ...

(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 (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, discrimination, and disenfranchisement throughout the Unite ...

(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 s ...

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 All ...

(Chile) * National Union of Tunisian Women (Tunisia)

1988 Prizewinners

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

Baba Amte Murlidhar Devidas Amte, popularly known as Baba Amte, (26 December 1914 – 9 February 2008) was an Indian social worker and social activist known particularly for his work for the rehabilitation and empowerment of people suffering from leprosy ...

, 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 anti-apartheid activist who served as the first president of South Africa from 1994 to 1999. He was the country's first black head of state and the ...

, 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 ser ...

, 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 active ...

, president of the Tunisian Human Rights League and of

Arab Organization for Human Rights The Arab Organization for Human Rights ( ar, المنظمة العربية لحقوق الإنسان) is a Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) that works on human rights issues in the Arab World. It was founded with a resolution agreed on in Hamm ...

(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 Emergency Fund ...

, 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 humanitarian and developmental aid to c ...

(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 in other languages'') is the capital and largest city of Bosnia and Herzegovina, with a population of 275,524 in its administrative limits. The Sarajevo metropolitan area including Sarajevo ...

* 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 hum ...

(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, 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, Abe ...

, 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 betwe ...

(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 defender A human rights defender or human rights activist is a person who, individually or with others, acts to promote or protect human rights. They can be journalists, environmentalists, whistleblowers, trade unionists, lawyers, teachers, housing camp ...

s, "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 Deng Pufang () (born 16 April 1944) is the eldest son of former Chinese Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping.Pearson, Veronica. Royal College of Psychiatrists. 995(1995). RCPsych Publications. . pg 88 He is mostly known for being injured by the Red Guar ...

, 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 disable ...

(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 Louise Bernice Arbour (born February 10, 1947) is a Canadian lawyer, prosecutor and jurist. Arbour was the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, a former justice of the Supreme Court of Canada and the Court of Appeal for Ontario and a former ...

, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (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 ...

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 William Ramsey Clark (December 18, 1927 – April 9, 2021) was an American lawyer, activist, and federal government official. A progressive, New Frontier liberal, he occupied senior positions in the United States Department of Justice under Pres ...

, 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 di ...

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 ...

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 No ...

, son of a freed slave who works to eradicate slavery (Mauritania) * Hiljmnijeta Apuk, a campaigner for the rights of people of

short stature Short stature refers to a height of a human which is below typical. Whether a person is considered short depends on the context. Because of the lack of preciseness, there is often disagreement about the degree of shortness that should be called ' ...

(Kosovo) * Liisa Kauppinen, President Emeritus of the World Federation of the Deaf (Finland) * Khadija Ryadi, former President of the Morocco Association for Human Rights (Morocco) * Supreme Court of Justice (Mexico) *

Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai ( ur, , , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997), is a Pakistani female education activist and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate. Awarded when she was 17, she is the world's youngest Nobel Prize laureate, and the second P ...

, 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 Asma Jilani Jahangir ( ur, , ''ʿĀṣimah Jahāṉgīr''; 27 January 1952 – 11 February 2018) was a Pakistani human rights lawyer and social activist who co-founded and chaired the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan. Jahangir was known ...

(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, Ireland in 2001 to protect those who work non-violently to uphold the human rights ...

, 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