The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), in partnership with the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation, has issued a call for nominations for the 2025 Václav Havel Human Rights Prize.
The Prize, created in 2013, aims to reward outstanding civil society action in defending human rights in Europe and beyond. Candidates should have made a real difference to the human rights situation of a given group, been instrumental in uncovering large-scale systemic violations, or have successfully mobilised public opinion or the international community for a particular cause.
The deadline for submitting nominations for the 2025 edition of the Prize is 30 April 2025.
Nominations should be sent to the Parliamentary Assembly by e-mail to the following address: [email protected], using the form available on the Prize web page. They should be signed by at least five sponsors and submitted in either English or French.
The Prize, which will be awarded in October 2025 in Strasbourg, consists of a sum of €60,000, a trophy and a diploma.
Since its creation, the Prize has been awarded to María Corina Machado (Venezuela), Osman Kavala (Türkiye), Vladimir Kara-Murza (Russian Federation), Maria Kalesnikava (Belarus), Loujain Alhathloul (Saudi Arabia), jointly to Ilham Tohti (China) and the Youth Initiative for Human Rights (Balkans), Oyub Titiev (Russian Federation), Murat Arslan (Türkiye), Nadia Murad (Iraq), Ludmilla Alexeeva (Russian Federation), Anar Mammadli (Azerbaijan) and Ales Bialiatski (Belarus)
For further information, please contact:
- PACE: Isild Heurtin, tel. +33 3 90 21 41 00, [email protected]
- Václav Havel Library: Sabina Tancevova, +420 605 089 599, [email protected]
- Charta 77 Foundation: Gabriela Švagrová, tel. +420 224 214 452, [email protected]
Individuals or non-governmental institutions active in the defence of human rights can be nominated for the Prize.
The Selection Panel of the Prize is composed of the President of the Assembly (or a person designated by him/her) and six independent persons (who cannot be current members of the Assembly) with recognised moral standing in the field of human rights.
The Panel will examine the nominations, submit a shortlist of three nominees to the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly for information and, subsequently, designate the Prizewinner for the year in question.
Three Panel members are appointed by the Bureau of the Parliamentary Assembly and three Panel members by the Václav Havel Library and the Charta 77 Foundation. The six independent experts are appointed for a two-year period, renewable twice.
The Panel is chaired by the President of the Assembly or the person designated by him/her.
The Prize is awarded at a ceremony which takes place in Strasbourg on the Monday of the Autumn Session of the Parliamentary Assembly, usually in late September or early October.
The name of the Prizewinner is announced by the President of the Parliamentary Assembly.
The former Czech First Lady, Dagmar Havlová, is invited to honour the ceremony with her presence.
The Václav Havel Library will organise, at a later date, an international conference in Prague in honour of the Prizewinner.
2024: Akif Gurbanov and Babutsa Pataraia
2023: Justyna Wydrzynska and Yevgeniy Zakharov
2022: Rainbow Coalition and 5 AM Coalition
2021: Reporters Sans Frontières and Germain Rukuki
2020: The nuns of the Drupka Order and Julienne Lusenge
2018: Rosa María Payá and Nabeel Rajab
2017: The Hungarian Helsinki Committee and Father Georg Sporschill
2016: Gordana Igrić and the International Institute of Human Rights/René Cassin Foundation
2015: Women for Afghan Women and The Youth Initiative for Human Rights
2014: The B’Tselem Israeli Information Center for Human Rights and Malta’s Jesuit Refugee Service
2013: The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association and the Rights Defence Network from China