Nominations open for Human Rights Recognition Awards

Deadline: 23-Nov-2026

The Human Rights Recognition Awards 2026 honor individuals and organizations demonstrating exceptional courage and resilience in protecting human rights during armed conflict, occupation, and insecurity. Three award categories offer CHF 1,000 prizes, while the Humanitarian Response Award is honorary and non-monetary, with all recipients gaining greater visibility and opportunities to connect with other human rights advocates. The Human Rights Recognition Awards recognize individuals and organizations that take exceptional action to protect human dignity and human rights in challenging crisis situations. The 2026 edition highlights the courage and resilience of people defending human dignity and safety in some of the world’s most difficult crisis zones.

The recognized crisis contexts include:

The awards highlight practical action, innovative ideas, and tangible results that help affected populations remain safe and have their rights respected during crises. The awards aim to recognize exceptional efforts to uphold human dignity and promote human rights under difficult conditions. They recognize people and organizations working in conflict and crisis environments to: The Human Rights Recognition Awards 2026 feature four categories.

The categories are:

The first three categories each carry a CHF 1,000 prize, while the Humanitarian Response Award is honorary and does not include a monetary prize. This category recognizes efforts to protect and defend human rights in situations involving armed conflict, occupation, and insecurity. It can recognize practical work such as advocacy, legal assistance, monitoring, prevention, and direct support for people facing human rights risks. This category recognizes work focused on documenting violations and advancing justice and accountability.

Relevant activities may include:

The award highlights initiatives that help ensure violations are documented and affected people have access to appropriate justice and protection mechanisms. This category recognizes initiatives that strengthen human dignity and resilience within communities affected by conflict.

Recognized activities may include:

The category highlights efforts that help communities withstand crisis conditions and rebuild their ability to live with dignity and resilience. The Humanitarian Response Award is an honorary, non-monetary award. It recognizes humanitarian leadership and exceptional responses to crisis situations. The award highlights individuals or organizations whose humanitarian leadership contributes to protecting affected populations and responding to severe humanitarian challenges. Three award categories carry monetary prizes. The CHF 1,000 prize is approximately $1,100 USD. Beyond the monetary prize, recipients can benefit from increased visibility through the Geneva Centre’s platforms and networks. Awardees also have opportunities to connect with other human rights advocates. These opportunities can help recognized individuals and organizations increase awareness of their work and strengthen connections within the wider human rights community. The awards are open to a broad range of individuals and organizations whose work contributes to protecting and defending human rights.

Eligible nominees include:

Nominees can be working in any country. The awards recognize a wide range of human rights and humanitarian activities.

Examples include:

The common focus is on meaningful action that protects human dignity, supports affected people, or strengthens human rights in crisis settings. Nominations can be submitted by any individual or organization. Self-nominations are also permitted. This means that an individual or organization does not necessarily need to be nominated by an external institution to be considered for recognition. Nominations are open to work from all countries. The awards are therefore international in scope and can recognize human rights and humanitarian efforts carried out in different conflict-affected and crisis contexts around the world. Nominations must include information demonstrating the nominee’s achievements and impact.

The submission must contain:

The supporting evidence should help demonstrate the significance and results of the nominee’s work. A strong nomination should clearly explain what the nominee has achieved and why the work deserves recognition. Applicants or nominators should highlight: The statement of achievements and supporting evidence should provide a clear picture of the nominee’s contribution. The 2026 awards place particular emphasis on courage and resilience in crisis environments. The programme recognizes people and organizations that continue defending human rights and human dignity despite armed conflict, occupation, insecurity, displacement, and other severe challenges. The awards therefore highlight not only the scale of a crisis but also the practical efforts made to protect people and uphold their rights. Human rights defenders, humanitarian leaders, communities, and organizations often work under extremely difficult conditions. Their work can include protecting vulnerable people, documenting violations, supporting victims, providing legal assistance, strengthening community resilience, and delivering humanitarian support. The Human Rights Recognition Awards provide a platform to recognize these efforts while increasing the visibility of people and organizations working to protect human dignity during crises. They are international awards recognizing individuals and organizations that demonstrate courage and resilience in protecting human rights and human dignity during armed conflict, occupation, and insecurity. There are four categories. Three categories each provide a prize of CHF 1,000, approximately $1,100 USD. No. The Humanitarian Response Award is honorary and non-monetary. Individuals, NGOs, organizations, networks, and communities can be nominated. Yes. Nominations are open to work from all countries. An