The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award is presented to individuals who stand up to oppression in pursuit of respect for human rights both in the United States (US) and internationally. Each year, The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights awards an individual whose courageous activism is at the heart of the human rights movement and in the spirit of Robert F. Kennedy’s vision and legacy.


The award, presented each November in Washington, carries a US$30,000 cash prize. The award also brings a commitment from The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights to work with the laureates to provide policy support for their human rights activities. By establishing effective relationships with the award laureates, the organisations with which they are affiliated, and other activists in their countries, the Center strives to enhance awareness of and support for their work. The Award ceremony will be held in Washington, DC, US, on a date in November as close as possible to November 20, the birthday of Robert F. Kennedy.

Anyone can nominate for the RFK Human Rights Award. The RFK Center will seek nominations from the Global Advocacy Team and from a wide spectrum of individuals likely to know of appropriate candidates. While the RFK Human Rights Award judges may not nominate candidates for the award, they may, before their first meeting, renominate candidates who were nominated but not selected in the previous year. There is no limit to the number of nominations an individual can make, but no self-nominations will be accepted. The RFK Center will request and collect nominations and assemble supporting materials for presentation to the judges. Those nominations clearly not falling within the established criteria will not be presented to the judges.

Click here for on online nomination form.

Click here to read about previous winners.

Email from Jeffrey Buchanan to The Communication Initiative on March 10 2009.