Human Rights First Calls for Nominations for 27th Annual Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award

Washington, D.C. – Human Rights First today announced that nominations are now open for the 2016 Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award.  The 2016 award will go to an individual or organization outside of the United States who has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to human rights advocacy in areas such as human trafficking, religious freedom, LGBT rights, refugee protection, and defense of civil society, among others. The winner will be selected by a distinguished jury and will receive a trip to the United States to engage in advocacy and a $25,000 prize. Nominations for the 2016 award are due by March 10.

Named in honor of the principal founder of the American Civil Liberties Union and the International League for Human Rights, the Roger N. Baldwin Medal of Liberty Award was established in 1989 and is presented in alternating years by Human Rights First (awarded to international human rights advocates) and the ACLU (awarded to advocates in the United States). This year marks the 27th anniversary of the award. Previous winners of the Baldwin Medal of Liberty include Egyptian activist Kholoud Saber Barakat, the Bahrain Center for Human Rights, and Guatemalan activist Jesús Tecú Osorio. Additional information about the award, the nomination form, and the full list of past awardees is available on the award webpage.

Nominations can be made by an individual or an organization. Nominees will be judged based on the following criteria:

• The nominee’s work is unique or particularly distinctive;
• The nominee’s work has been effective in advancing human rights in a country other than the United States;
• The nominee faces risk or insecurity as a result of their work; and
• The nominee would benefit significantly from receiving the Baldwin Award, in the form of enhanced protection, or in any other way.