Sakharov Prize

European award for human rights

For other uses, see Sakharov Prize (disambiguation).

The Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, commonly known as the Sakharov Prize, is an honorary award for individuals or groups who have dedicated their lives to the defence of human rights and freedom of thought.[1] Named after Russian scientist and dissident Andrei Sakharov, the prize was established in December 1988 by the European Parliament.

A shortlist of nominees is drawn up annually by the European Parliament's Committee on Foreign Affairs and Committee on Development. The MEPs who make up those committees then select a shortlist in September.[2] Thereafter, the final choice is given to The European Parliament's Conference of Presidents (President and political group's leaders) and the laureate's name is announced late in October. The prize is awarded in a ceremony at the Parliament's Strasbourg hemicycle (round chamber) in December.[3][2] The prize includes a monetary award of €50,000.[3]

The first prize was awarded jointly to South African Nelson Mandela and Russian Anatoly Marchenko. The 1990 award was given to Aung San Suu Kyi, but she could not receive it until 2013 as a result of her political imprisonment in Burma.[4] The prize has also been awarded to organisations, the first being the Argentine Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo in 1992. Five Sakharov laureates were subsequently awarded the Nobel Peace Prize: Nelson Mandela, Aung San Suu Kyi, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad.[5]

Razan Zaitouneh (2011) was kidnapped in 2013 and is still missing.[6] Nasrin Sotoudeh (2012) was released from prison in September 2013,[7] but is still barred from leaving Iran, along with fellow 2012 laureate Jafar Panahi.[8] The 2017 prize was awarded to the Democratic Opposition in Venezuela, under boycott of the European United Left–Nordic Green Left.[9][10]

## Laureates[edit]

Key  †  | Indicates a posthumous award

|

Year  | Image  | Recipient  | Nationality  | Notes  | Reference

|
|
|
|
|

1988  |  | Nelson Mandela |  South Africa | Anti-apartheid activist and later first President of South Africa | [11]
| Anatoly Marchenko †  |  Soviet Union | Soviet dissident, author, and human rights activist  | [12]
1989  |  | Alexander Dubček |  Czechoslovakia | Slovak politician, attempted to reform the communist regime during the Prague Spring | [11]
1990  |  | Aung San Suu Kyi |  Burma | At the time she received the award, Suu Kyi was an opposition politician and a former General Secretary of the National League for Democracy, known for her peaceful struggle against military rule in Myanmar. She personally accepted the award in 2013, after she was released from 15 years of house arrest. In 2020, the Conference of Presidents of the European Parliament formally suspended Suu Kyi from the Sakharov Prize Community due to her role in the atrocities against the Rohingya people, but did not revoke the prize itself.  | [13][14][15][16]
1991  |

| Adem Demaçi |  Yugoslavia | Kosovo Albanian politician and long-term political prisoner  | [11]
1992  |  | Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo |  Argentina | Association of Argentine mothers whose children disappeared during the Dirty War | [13]
1993  |  | Oslobođenje |  Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina | Popular newspaper that defended Bosnia and Herzegovina as a multi-ethnic state  | [13]
1994  |  | Taslima Nasrin |  Bangladesh | Feminist author and former doctor  | [13]
1995  |  | Leyla Zana |  Turkey | Politician of Kurdish descent from Southeastern Turkey, who was imprisoned for 15 years for being a member of the PKK | [11]
1996  |  | Wei Jingsheng |  China | Activist in the Chinese democracy movement | [13]
1997  |  | Salima Ghezali |  Algeria | Journalist and writer, activist for women's rights, human rights, and democracy in Algeria  | [13]
1998  |  | Ibrahim Rugova |  FR Yugoslavia | Kosovo Albanian politician and first President of Kosovo | [11]
1999  |  | Xanana Gusmão |  East Timor | Former militant and later first President of East Timor | [17]
2000  |

| ¡Basta Ya! |  Spain | Organisation uniting individuals of various political positions against terrorism  | [18]
2001  |  | Nurit Peled-Elhanan |  Israel | Peace activist  | [11]
| Izzat Ghazzawi |  Palestine | Writer and professor
| Dom Zacarias Kamwenho |  Angola | Archbishop and peace activist
2002  |  | Oswaldo Payá |  Cuba | Political activist and dissident  | [19]
2003  |  | Kofi Annan |  Ghana | Nobel Peace Prize recipient and seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations | [11]
| United Nations | International
2004  |

| Belarusian Association of Journalists |  Belarus | Non-governmental organisation "aiming to ensure freedom of speech and rights of receiving and distributing information and promoting professional standards of journalism"  | [20]
2005  |  | Ladies in White |  Cuba | Opposition movement, relatives of jailed dissidents  | [21]
| Reporters Without Borders | International  | France-based non-governmental organisation advocating freedom of the press  | [21]
| Hauwa Ibrahim |  Nigeria | Human rights lawyer  | [21]
2006  |  | Alaksandar Milinkievič |  Belarus | Politician chosen by United Democratic Forces of Belarus as the joint candidate of the opposition in the 2006 presidential election | [22]
2007  |  | Salih Mahmoud Osman |  Sudan | Human rights lawyer  | [13]
2008  |  | Hu Jia |  China | Activist and dissident  | [23]
2009  |

| Memorial |  Russia | International civil rights and historical society  | [24]
2010  |  | Guillermo Fariñas |  Cuba | Doctor, journalist, and political dissident  | [25]
2011[a] |  | Asmaa Mahfouz |  Egypt | Five representatives of the Arab people, in recognition and support of their drive for freedom and human rights  | [26]
| Ahmed al-Senussi |  Libya
| Razan Zaitouneh |  Syria
| Ali Farzat
| Mohamed Bouazizi †  |  Tunisia
2012  |  | Jafar Panahi |  Iran | Iranian activists, Sotoudeh is a lawyer and Panahi is a film director.  | [27][28]
| Nasrin Sotoudeh
2013  |  | Malala Yousafzai |  Pakistan | Campaigner for women's rights and education  | [29]
2014  |  | Denis Mukwege |  Democratic Republic of the Congo | Gynecologist treating victims of gang rape | [30]
2015  |  | Raif Badawi |  Saudi Arabia | Saudi Arabian writer, activist, and the creator of the website Free Saudi Liberals | [31][b]
2016  |  | Nadia Murad |  Iraq | Yazidi human rights activists and former abductees of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant | [32]
| Lamiya Aji Bashar
2017  |  | Democratic opposition in Venezuela |  Venezuela | Members of the country's National Assembly and all political prisoners as listed by Foro Penal Venezolano represented by Leopoldo López, Julio Borges, Antonio Ledezma, Daniel Ceballos [es], Yon Goicoechea, Lorent Saleh, Alfredo Ramos [es] and Andrea González. The award was seen as rewarding the "courage of student activists and protesters in face of repression by Nicolas Maduro's government"[33] and boycotted by the European United Left–Nordic Green Left parliamentary group.[10]

Further information: 2017 Venezuelan protests

| [34]
2018  |  | Oleg Sentsov |  Ukraine | Film director, symbol of the struggle for the release of political prisoners held in Russia and around the world  | [35]
2019  |  | Ilham Tohti |  China | Uyghur economist, scholar, and human rights activist  | [36]
2020  |  | Democratic opposition in Belarus |  Belarus | Democratic opposition of Belarus represented by the Coordination Council, an initiative of Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, Svetlana Alexievich, Maria Kalesnikava, Volha Kavalkova and Veranika Tsapkala, and political and civil society figures - Siarhei Tsikhanouski, Ales Bialiatski, Sergei Dylevsky, Stsiapan Putsila and Mikola Statkevich.  | [37][c][d]
2021  |  | Alexei Navalny |  Russia | Opposition politician and anti-corruption activist  | [39]
2022  |  | The Ukrainian people |  Ukraine | Awarded to Ukrainians who are "protecting democracy, freedom and rule of law" following the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine.[40] | [41]
2023  |  | Mahsa Jina Amini †  |  Iran | Mahsa Amini's death under suspicious circumstances led to widespread protests, often under the slogan Woman, Life, Freedom.[42] | [42]
| Woman, Life, Freedom movement

### Table notes[edit]

1. ^ The laureates were advocates of the Arab Spring
2. ^ Badawi founded and ran two online forums for discussions on religion and politics in his conservative country, namely Saudi Liberals and Free Saudi Liberals
3. ^ One of them is Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, the human rights activist and politician who participated in the 2020 presidential election as the main opposition candidate
4. ^ Due to infection control measures taken because of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of events related to the Sakharov Community were postponed in 2020, including the Sakharov Fellowship, One World in Brussels and the European Youth Event.[38]

## See also[edit]

* Nobel Peace Prize
* Gandhi Peace Prize
* Mosaddegh Prize

## References[edit]

1. ^ "1986: Sakharov comes in from the cold". BBC News. 23 December 1986. Archived from the original on 26 December 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
2. ^ a b "Sakharov Prize 2018: three finalists selected", News—European Parliament, 10 September 2018 Archived 10 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine.
3. ^ a b "Sakharov Prize". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 15 September 2017. Retrieved 29 October 2017.
4. ^ Cook, Annabel (22 October 2013). "Aung San Suu Kyi collects Sakharov prize 23 years on". Financial Times. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
5. ^ Boshnaq, Mona; Chan, Sewell; Dremeaux, Lillie; Karasz, Palko; Kruhly, Madeleine (6 October 2017). "Nobel Peace Prize Winners Throughout History". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 October 2017.
6. ^ "Razan Zaitouneh". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
7. ^ "Nasrin Sotoudeh". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
8. ^ "Jafar Panahi". Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
9. ^ Schreuer, Milan (26 October 2017). "Venezuelan Opposition Receives E.U.'s Sakharov Freedom Prize". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 31 October 2017.
10. ^ a b "Left to boycott politicised Sakharov Prize ceremony – GUE/NGL – Another Europe is possible". www.guengl.eu. Archived from the original on 1 February 2018. Retrieved 31 January 2018.
11. ^ a b c d e f g "20 years of the Sakharov Prize: Human rights and reconciliation". European Parliament. 28 October 2008. Archived from the original on 12 December 2010. Retrieved 22 October 2010.
12. ^ "Sakharov Prize at 20: For democracy - against oppression". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 3 January 2015. Retrieved 30 October 2021.
13. ^ a b c d e f g "Sakharov Network calls for immediate release of Aung San Suu Kyi, Sakharov Prize laureate 1990". Reporters Without Borders. 15 May 2009. Archived from the original on 16 October 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
14. ^ Merlin Sugue, EU Parliament suspends Aung San Suu Kyi from Sakharov Prize Community Archived 9 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Politico (10 September 2020).
15. ^ Press release, Aung San Suu Kyi suspended from the Sakharov Prize Community Archived 18 May 2021 at the Wayback Machine, European Parliament (10 September 2020).
16. ^ Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi suspended from rights prize community Archived 9 July 2021 at the Wayback Machine, Deutsche Welle (10 September 2020).
17. ^ "Gusmão receives EU Sakharov prize". BBC News. 15 December 1999. Archived from the original on 25 December 2018. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
18. ^ "Basque group wins peace prize". BBC News. 26 October 2000. Archived from the original on 1 April 2007. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
19. ^ "Cuban dissident collects EU prize". BBC News. 17 December 2002. Archived from the original on 7 May 2004. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
20. ^ "The Belarusian Association of Journalists – 2004, Belarus". European Parliament. 9 November 2004. Archived from the original on 18 February 2015. Retrieved 18 February 2015.
21. ^ a b c Gibbs, Stephen (14 December 2005). "Cuba 'bars women from prize trip'". BBC News. Archived from the original on 17 November 2006. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
22. ^ "Belarussian takes EU rights award". BBC News. 26 October 2006. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
23. ^ "China dissident wins rights prize". BBC News. 17 December 2008. Archived from the original on 30 December 2008. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
24. ^ "Russia rights group wins EU prize". BBC News. 22 October 2009. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
25. ^ "Cuba dissident Farinas awarded Sakharov Prize by EU". BBC News. 21 October 2010. Archived from the original on 22 October 2010. Retrieved 21 October 2010.
26. ^ "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought 2011". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 23 October 2011. Retrieved 27 October 2011.
27. ^ Dehghan, Saeed Kamali (26 October 2012). "Nasrin Sotoudeh and director Jafar Panahi share top human rights prize". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 30 October 2012. Retrieved 26 October 2012.
28. ^ "Nasrin Sotoudeh and Jafar Panahi – winners of the 2012 Sakharov Prize" (PDF). European Parliament. Archived (PDF) from the original on 22 December 2015. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
29. ^ Jordan, Carol (10 October 2013). "Malala wins Sakharov Prize for freedom of thought". CNN. Archived from the original on 15 October 2013. Retrieved 10 October 2013.
30. ^ "DR Congo doctor Denis Mukwege wins Sakharov prize". BBC News. 21 October 2014. Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 22 October 2014.
31. ^ "Raif Badawi wins Sakharov human rights prize". The Guardian. Brussels. Associated Press in. Archived from the original on 29 October 2015. Retrieved 29 October 2015.
32. ^ "Sakharov prize: Yazidi women win EU freedom prize". BBC News. 27 October 2016. Archived from the original on 27 October 2016. Retrieved 27 October 2016.
33. ^ "Venezuela's opposition awarded Sakharov Prize for championing human rights". The Independent. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 28 October 2017.
34. ^ "Parliament awards Sakharov Prize 2017 to Democratic Opposition in Venezuela". European Parliament. 26 October 2017. Archived from the original on 28 October 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2017.
35. ^ "Sakharov Prize 2018 goes to Oleg Sentsov". European Parliament. Archived from the original on 4 March 2021. Retrieved 25 October 2018.
36. ^ "Ilham Tohti awarded the 2019 Sakharov Prize". European Parliament. 24 October 2019. Archived from the original on 30 December 2019. Retrieved 24 October 2019.
37. ^ "The 2020 Sakharov Prize awarded to the democratic opposition in Belarus". europarl.europa.eu. 22 October 2020. Archived from the original on 5 February 2021. Retrieved 15 November 2020.
38. ^ "Sakharov Prize Community Newsletter No. 3" (PDF). European Parliament. 2020. Archived (PDF) from the original on 12 April 2021. Retrieved 12 April 2021.
39. ^ "Alexei Navalny awarded the European Parliament's 2021 Sakharov Prize". europarl.europa.eu. 20 October 2021. Archived from the original on 21 October 2021. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
40. ^ "Ukrainian people win European parliament's Sakharov prize". The Guardian. 19 October 2022. Archived from the original on 31 October 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
41. ^ "The Ukrainian people awarded the European Parliament's 2022 Sakharov Prize". europarl.europa.eu. 19 October 2022. Archived from the original on 19 November 2022. Retrieved 19 October 2022.
42. ^ a b "Jina Mahsa Amini and Iranian women protest movement win the 2023 Sakharov Prize". europarl.europa.eu. 19 October 2023. Archived from the original on 19 October 2023. Retrieved 19 October 2023.

## External links[edit]

* Freedom of speech portal

* "Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought". European Parliament. 14 August 2021. Retrieved 21 October 2016.
* "20 years of the Sakharov Prize: rewarding courage, self-sacrifice". European Parliament. 1 December 2008. Retrieved 22 October 2010.

* v
* t
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Sakharov Prize recipients

* Mandela / Marchenko (1988)
* Dubček (1989)
* Aung San Suu Kyi (1990)
* Demaçi (1991)
* Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo (1992)
* Oslobođenje (1993)
* Nasrin (1994)
* Zana (1995)
* Wei Jingsheng (1996)
* Ghezali (1997)
* Rugova (1998)
* Gusmão (1999)
* ¡Basta Ya! (2000)
* Peled-Elhanan / Ghazzawi / Kamwenho (2001)
* Payá (2002)
* Annan / United Nations (2003)
* Belarusian Association of Journalists (2004)
* Ladies in White / Reporters Without Borders / Ibrahim (2005)
* Milinkievič (2006)
* Osman (2007)
* Hu Jia (2008)
* Memorial (2009)
* Fariñas (2010)
* Mahfouz / Senussi /  Zaitouneh / Farzat / Bouazizi (2011)
* Sotoudeh / Panahi (2012)
* Yousafzai (2013)
* Mukwege (2014)
* Badawi (2015)
* Murad / Bashar (2016)
* Democratic Opposition in Venezuela: Julio Borges / Leopoldo López / Antonio Ledezma / Daniel Ceballos [es] / Yon Goicoechea / Lorent Saleh / Alfredo Ramos [es] / Andrea González (2017)
* Sentsov (2018)
* Tohti (2019)
* Democratic opposition in Belarus: The Coordination Council / Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya / Svetlana Alexievich / Maria Kalesnikava / Volha Kavalkova / Veronika Tsepkalo / Siarhei Tsikhanouski / Ales Bialiatski / Sergei Dylevsky / Stsiapan Putsila / Mikola Statkevich (2020)
* Navalny (2021)
* Ukrainian people (2022)
* Mahsa Amini and the Woman, Life, Freedom movement (2023)

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