Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights

Nonprofit organization

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Robert F. Kennedy Human RightsFounded| 1968; 56 years ago (1968)

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Founder| Ethel Kennedy
Type| Operating public charity
(IRS exemption status): 501(c)(3)
Focus| Human rights
Location|

* Washington, D.C.

Method| advocacy, awards, education

Key people

* Kerry Kennedy (President)
* Lynn Delaney (Executive Director)
* Robert F. Smith (Chairman)

Website| www.rfkhumanrights.org

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights (formerly the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, or RFK Center)[1] is an American 501(c)(3) nonprofit human rights advocacy organization.[2][better source needed] It was named after United States Senator Robert F. Kennedy in 1968, a few months after his assassination. The organization of leading attorneys, advocates, entrepreneurs and writers is dedicated to a more just and peaceful world, working alongside local activists to ensure lasting positive change in governments and corporations. It also promotes human rights advocacy through its RFK Human Rights Award, and supports investigative journalists and authors through the RFK Book and Journalism Awards. It is based in New York and Washington, D.C.[3]

## History[edit]

The Robert F. Kennedy Memorial was originally established as a non-profit organization in Washington, D.C., in October, 1968. The Kennedy family and friends looked to memorialize Robert Kennedy's public service following his assassination on June 5, 1968, in Los Angeles, California. Fred Dutton, a long-time friend and Kennedy ally, was named executive director, and Peter B. Edelman, a member of Kennedy's senatorial staff, became associate director. The chairman of the executive committee was former U.S. Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara.[citation needed]

The Memorial was announced during a press conference at Hickory Hill in McLean, Virginia, on Tuesday, October 29, 1968. Kennedy's brother Ted led the press conference, stating that the organization would be a "living memorial" that would work in areas of poverty, crime, and education in America. He went on to say the Memorial would be "an action-oriented program that we think will carry on his concerns, his actions, his efforts to work on so many of the problems in this country that have no solutions". He was joined at the press conference by his sisters, Patricia Kennedy Lawford and Jean Kennedy Smith, as well as dozens of Kennedy family friends and aides.[4]

Kennedy's widow Ethel Kennedy did not attend the press conference, but was nearby, in a second-floor bedroom of Hickory Hill on doctor's orders, awaiting the birth of her eleventh child. She issued a statement saying it was the hope of her husband's family and friends that the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial would carry forward the ideals he worked for during his lifetime: "He wanted to encourage the young people and to help the disadvantaged and discriminated against both here and abroad, and he wanted to promote peace in the world. These will be the goals of the memorial."[5]

The memorial and other projects started in Kennedy's memory were later collectively renamed Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.[6][better source needed]

## Awards[edit]

### Human Rights Award[edit]

Main article: Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was created by Kathleen Kennedy Townsend in 1984 to honor individuals around the world who show courage and have made a significant contribution to human rights in their country.[citation needed]

In addition to receiving a financial award, laureates work with the organization on human rights-related projects. Since 1984, awards have been given to 43 individuals and organizations from 25 different countries.[citation needed] The 2009 award was presented by President Barack Obama.[7] In 2009, the RFK Human Rights began a partnership with the California International Law Center (CILC) at the University of California, Davis School of Law focusing on the crisis in Darfur.[8][better source needed]

#### Laureates[edit]

Year  | Laureate[9][10][11] | Country or organization

|
|

2022  | Maximilienne C. Ngo Mbe |  Cameroon
Felix Agbor Nkongho (Balla)
2021  | Guerline Jozef  |  United States
2020  | Alessandra Korap Munduruku |  Brazil
2019  | La Unión del Pueblo Entero  |  United States
Angry Tías & Abuelas of the Río Grande Valley
Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee
2018  | Color of Change |  United States
International Indigenous Youth Council
March For Our Lives
United We Dream
2017  | Alfredo Romero |  Venezuela
2016  | Just Leadership USA |  United States
Andrea C. James
2015  | Natalia Taubina |  Russia
2014  | Adilur Rahman Khan |  Bangladesh[12]
2013  | Ragia Omran |  Egypt
2012  | Librada Paz |  United States
2011  | Frank Mugisha |  Uganda
2010  | Abel Barrera Hernández |  Mexico
2009  | Magodonga Mahlangu |  Zimbabwe
Women of Zimbabwe Arise
2008  | Aminatou Haidar |  Western Sahara
2007  | Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah |  Sudan
2006  | Sonia Pierre |  Dominican Republic
2005  | Stephen Bradberry |  United States
2004  | Delphine Djiraibe |  Chad
2003  | Coalition of Immokalee Workers |  United States
2002  | Loune Viaud |  Haiti
2001  | Darci Frigo |  Brazil
2000  | Martin Macwan |  India
1999  | Michael Kpakala Francis |  Liberia
1998  | Berenice Celeyta |  Colombia
Gloria Florez
Jaime Prieto
1997  | Sezgin Tanrikulu |  Turkey
Senal Sarihan
1996  | Anonymous  |  Sudan
Nguyen Dan Que |  Vietnam
1995  | Kailash Satyarthi |  India
Doan Viet Hoat |  Vietnam
1994  | Wei Jingsheng |  China
Ren Wanding
1993  | Bambang Widjojanto |  Indonesia
1992  | Chakufwa Chihana |  Malawi
1991  | Avigdor Feldman |  Israel
Raji Sourani |  State of Palestine
1990  | Amilcar Mendez Urizar |  Guatemala
1989  | Fang Lizhi |  China
1988  | Gibson Kamau Kuria |  Kenya
1987  | Kim Geun-tae |  South Korea
In Jae-keun
1986  | Zbigniew Bujak |  Poland
Adam Michnik
1985  | Allan Boesak |  South Africa
Beyers Naude
Winnie Madikizela-Mandela
1984  | CoMadres |  El Salvador

### Book Award[edit]

The Robert F. Kennedy Book Award was founded in 1980, with the proceeds from Arthur Schlesinger, Jr.'s biography, Robert Kennedy and His Times. Each year, the organization presents an award to the book which "most faithfully and forcefully reflects Robert Kennedy's purposes – his concern for the poor and the powerless, his struggle for honest and even-handed justice, his conviction that a decent society must assure all young people a fair chance, and his faith that a free democracy can act to remedy disparities of power and opportunity."[13][better source needed]

#### Winners[edit]

* 2022 - The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together by Heather McGhee and America on Fire: The Untold History of Police Violence and Black Rebellion Since the 1960s by Elizabeth Hinton
* 2021 – Unworthy Republic:The Dispossession of Native Americans and the Road to Indian Territory by Claudio Saunt
* 2020 – Dying of Whiteness: How the Politics of Racial Resentment Is Killing America's Heartland by Jonathan Metzl
* 2019 – American Prison: A Reporter's Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment by Shane Bauer
* 2018 – Not a Crime to Be Poor: The Criminalization of Poverty in America by Peter Edelman / The Blood of Emmett Till by Timothy Tyson
* 2017 – Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Matthew Desmond
* 2016 – Once in a Great City: A Detroit Story by David Maraniss
* 2015 – The Crusades of Cesar Chavez by Miriam Pawel
* 2014 – The Great Dissent by Thomas Healy and special recognition to March: Book One by John Lewis, Andrew Aydin, and Nate Powell
* 2013 – The Price of Inequality by Joseph Stiglitz
* 2012 – The Justice Cascade by Kathryn Sikkink
* 2011 – The Big Short by Michael Lewis
* 2010 – Ordinary Injustice by Amy Bach
* 2009 – The Dark Side by Jane Mayer
* 2008 – Going Down Jericho Road by Michael Honey
* 2007 – The Great Deluge by Douglas Brinkley
* 2006 – Mirror to America by John Hope Franklin
* 2005 – Perilous Times by Jeffrey Stone and We Are All the Same by Jim Wooten
* 2004 – Ultimate Punishment by Scott Turow
* 2003 – At the Hands of Persons Unknown by Philip Dray and A Problem from Hell by Samantha Power
* 2002 – American Patriots by Gail Buckley
* 2001 – Without Sanctuary by James Allen and Blood of the Liberals by George Packer
* 2000 – Mandela: The Authorised Biography by Anthony Sampson and No Shame in My Game by Katherine Newman
* 1999 – Walking with the Wind by John Lewis and Michael D'Orso
* 1998 – Race, Crime and the Law by Randall Kennedy and The Soldiers' Tale by Samuel Hynes
* 1997 – Worse Than Slavery by David M. Oshinsky
* 1996 – Circumstantial Evidence: Death, Life, and Justice in a Southern Town by Pete Earley and The Politics of Rage: George Wallace, the Origins of the New Conservatism, and the Transformation of American Politics by Dan T. Carter
* 1995 – Speak Now Against the Day by John Egerton
* 1994 – Taming the Storm: The Life and Times of Judge Frank M. Johnson, Jr., and the South's Fight Over Civil Rights by Jack Bass and special recognition to Herbert Block for Herblock: A Cartoonist's Life
* 1993 – Earth in the Balance: Ecology and the Human Spirit by Vice President Al Gore
* 1992 – Praying for Sheetrock by Melissa Fay Greene
* 1991 – The Long Haul by Myles Horton and Herbert and Judith Kohl and The Burning Season: The Murder of Chico Mendes and the Fight for the Amazon Rain Forest by Andrew Revkin
* 1990 – Among Schoolchildren by Tracy Kidder and Big Sugar by Alec Wilkinson
* 1989 – A Bright Shining Lie by Neil Sheehan and Rachel and Her Children by Jonathan Kozol
* 1988 – Beloved by Toni Morrison and Song in a Weary Throat by Pauli Murray
* 1987 – Bearing the Cross: Martin Luther King, Jr., and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, by David J. Garrow
* 1986 – Common Ground: A Turbulent Decade in the Lives of Three American Families by J. Anthony Lukas and Reaping the Whirlwind: The Civil Rights Movement in Tuskegee by Robert Norrell
* 1984 – Children of War by Roger Rosenblatt
* 1983 – Let the Trumpet Sound: The Life of Martin Luther King, Jr. by Stephen B. Oates
* 1982 – The Child Savers by Peter S. Prescott
* 1981 – Civilities and Civil Rights: Greensboro, North Carolina, and the Black Struggle for Freedom by William Chafe

### Journalism Award[edit]

Main article: Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award

The Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award was established in 1968 by a group of reporters covering Kennedy's presidential campaign and "honors those who report on issues that reflect Kennedy's concerns including human rights, social justice and the power of individual action in the United States and around the world."[14][better source needed] Entries include insights into the causes, conditions and remedies of injustice and critical analysis of relevant public policies, programs, attitudes and private endeavors.[citation needed]

Led by a committee of six independent journalists, the Awards are judged by more than fifty journalists each year. Previous winners include World News anchor Diane Sawyer.

## See also[edit]

* List of human rights organisations

## References[edit]

1. ^ James Santel (December 16, 2014). "Introducing Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights". rfkcenter.org (Press release). Archived from the original on 2015-02-18. Retrieved 2021-06-10.
2. ^ "Organization Overview". rfkcenter.org. Archived from the original on January 3, 2012.
3. ^ "Careers | RFK Human Rights". ROBERT F. KENNEDY HUMAN RIGHTS. Retrieved 2023-05-15.
4. ^ Staff Writer (October 30, 1968). "RFK Memorial Created" The Hartford Courant, p. 7.
5. ^ Nan Robertson (October 30, 1968). "New Fund Honors Robert Kennedy: Family Plans Foundation to Advance His Ideals". The New York Times. pp. 1, 21.(subscription required)
6. ^ "Explore the Life and Legacy of Robert F. Kennedy". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Archived from the original on 24 August 2016. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
7. ^ First Thoughts: No Pain, No Gain?, archived from the original on December 23, 2009, retrieved October 19, 2017
8. ^ "Partnership: RFK Center and the California International Law Center Search for Peace and Justice in Darfur | Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice & Human Rights". Archived from the original on 2011-01-08. Retrieved 2009-12-21.
9. ^ "Human Rights Award". Robert F Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights. Archived from the original on October 23, 2014.
10. ^ "Venezuela's Alfredo Romero named 2017 Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureate". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. 7 August 2017. Retrieved 3 February 2018.
11. ^ "Our Lareates". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. Retrieved 11 February 2021.
12. ^ Rights, Robert F. Kennedy Human. "Adilur Rahman Khan". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
13. ^ Rights, Robert F. Kennedy Human. "Book Award Winners". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights.
14. ^ "Journalism Winners". Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights. Retrieved 2019-04-19.

## External links[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Robert F. Kennedy

November 20, 1925 – June 6, 1968

* 64th United States Attorney General, 1961–1964
* United States senator from New York, 1965–1968

Life|

* 1948 Palestine visit
* Senate Committee investigation of Labor and Management
* Cuban Missile Crisis
* ExComm
* Civil rights
* Freedom Riders
* Voter Education Project
* Baldwin–Kennedy meeting
* 1964 Democratic National Convention
* Bedford Stuyvesant Restoration Corporation
* Mississippi Delta tour
* Kennedy Compound
* Hickory Hill home

Electoral|

* 1964 U.S. Senate election
* 1968 presidential campaign
* primaries
* Boiler Room Girls

Speeches|

* Law Day Address (1961)
* Day of Affirmation Address (1966)
* Conflict in Vietnam and at Home (1968)
* University of Kansas (1968)
* Ball State (1968)
* On the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. (1968)
* "On the Mindless Menace of Violence" (1968)

Books|

* The Enemy Within (1960)
* The Pursuit of Justice (1964)
* To Seek a Newer World (1967)
* Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis (1969)

Assassination|

* Sirhan Sirhan
* Ambassador Hotel
* Conspiracy theories
* Gravesite

Legacy and
memorials|

* Robert F. Kennedy Department of Justice Building
* Robert F. Kennedy silver dollar
* Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights
* Human Rights Award
* Journalism Award
* Book Award
* Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
* Brooklyn Memorial
* Landmark for Peace Memorial
* Kennedy–King College
* Robert F. Kennedy Community Schools
* Robert F. Kennedy Bridge

Popular
culture|

* Robert F. Kennedy in media
* Crisis: Behind a Presidential Commitment (1963 documentary)
* Robert Kennedy Remembered (1968 documentary)
* "Abraham, Martin and John" (1968 song)
* The Missiles of October (1974 docudrama)
* Kennedy (1983 miniseries)
* Blood Feud (1983 film)
* Prince Jack (1985 film)
* Robert Kennedy and His Times (1985 miniseries)
* Hoover vs. The Kennedys (1987 miniseries)
* Thirteen Days (2000 film)
* RFK (2002 film)
* Bobby (2006 film)
* RFK Must Die (2007 documentary)
* The Kennedys (2011 miniseries)
* Ethel (2012 documentary)
* Killing Kennedy (2013 film)
* Jackie (2016 film)
* Bobby Kennedy for President (2018 miniseries)

Family,
family tree|

* Ethel Skakel (wife)
* Kathleen Kennedy (daughter)
* Joseph Patrick Kennedy (son)
* Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (son)
* Michael LeMoyne Kennedy (son)
* Kerry Kennedy (daughter)
* Christopher G. Kennedy (son)
* Max Kennedy (son)
* Douglas Harriman Kennedy (son)
* Rory Kennedy (daughter)
* Maeve Kennedy McKean (granddaughter)
* Joseph P. Kennedy III (grandson)
* Max Kennedy Jr. (grandson)
* Joseph P. Kennedy Sr. (father)
* Rose Kennedy (mother)
* Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. (brother)
* John F. Kennedy (brother
* presidency)
* Rosemary Kennedy (sister)
* Kathleen Kennedy Cavendish (sister)
* Eunice Kennedy Shriver (sister)
* Patricia Kennedy Lawford (sister)
* Jean Kennedy Smith (sister)
* Ted Kennedy (brother)
* Patrick J. Kennedy (grandfather)
* Mary Augusta Kennedy (grandmother)
* John F. Fitzgerald (grandfather)

Category

* v
* t
* e

Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award laureates

* CoMadres (1984)
* Allan Boesak, Beyers Naudé, Winnie Mandela (1985)
* Zbigniew Bujak, Adam Michnik (1986)
* Kim Geun-tae, In Jae-keun (1987)
* Gibson Kamau Kuria (1988)
* Fang Lizhi (1989)
* Amílcar Méndez Urízar (1990)
* Avigdor Feldman, Raji Sourani (1991)
* Chakufwa Chihana (1992)
* Bambang Widjojanto (1993)
* Wei Jingsheng, Ren Wanding (1994)
* Kailash Satyarthi, Đoàn Viết Hoạt, Nguyễn Đan Quế (1995)
* Sezgin Tanrıkulu, Şenal Sarıhan (1997)
* Berenice Celeita, Gloria Florez, Jaime Prieto Mendez, Mario Calixto (1998)
* Michael Kpakala Francis (1999)
* Martin Macwan (2000)
* Darci Frigo (2001)
* Loune Viaud (2002)
* Coalition of Immokalee Workers (2003)
* Delphine Djiraibe (2004)
* Stephen Bradberry (2005)
* Solange Pierre (2006)
* Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah (2007)
* Aminatou Haidar (2008)
* WOZA (2009)
* Abel Barrera Hernández (2010)
* Frank Mugisha (2011)
* Librada Paz (2012)
* Ragia Omran (2013)
* Adilur Rahman Khan (2014)
* Natalia Taubina (2015)
* Andrea C. James, Glenn E. Martin (2016)
* Alfredo Romero (2017)
* United We Dream, March For Our Lives, International Indigenous Youth Council, Color of Change (2018)
* Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee, Angry Tias & Abuelas of the Rio Grande Valley, La Unión del Pueblo Entero (2019)
* Alessandra Korap Munduruku (2020)

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