The William D. Zabel Human Rights Award

Every year for more than three decades, a courageous activist on the frontlines of the struggle for freedom and dignity has received our Human Rights Award, now named for longtime Human Rights First Board member and champion, William D. Zabel.

This year we honored Grupa Granica, a Polish organization leading a grassroots effort uniting 14 NGOs in conducting life-saving work on the Polish-Belarusian border, documenting human rights violations, and providing legal and social services to refugees.

Learn more about Grupa Granica here.

Past recipients of the award include:

Karapatan (The Philippines); ALQST for Human Rights (Saudi Arabia); Miroslava Cerpas Hernandez of CIPRODEH (Honduras); Marta Pardavi (Hungary); Friar Tomás González (Mexico); Khaleel Aldakhi and Ameena Saeed Hasan (Iraq); Dr. Denis Mukwege (Congo); Ludmilla Alexeeva (Russia); Saad Eddin Ibrahim (Egypt); Asma Jahangir and Hina Jilani (Pakistan) and Albie Sachs (South Africa).