Winner of Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity announced

LOS ANGELES - The 2024 Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity Laureate was announced Thursday night at UCLA.

The winner was announced as Dr. Denis Mukwege.

The Promise Institute for Human Rights helped organize events leading up to the ceremony.

The Aurora Humanitarian Initiative was founded by three men—the late Vartan Gregorian, Noubar Afeyan and Ruben Vardanyan who envisioned building a global humanitarian movement.

The Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity is the flagship program of the Aurora Humanitarian Initiative, founded on behalf of the survivors of the Armenian Genocide and in gratitude to all those who helped them. This global humanitarian award recognizes and supports the world’s unsung heroes who risk their lives to help those suffering from humanitarian crises and human rights violations.

Three humanitarians were chosen from more than 700 submissions from 75 countries.

The 2024 Aurora Humanitarians nominees were:

Abdulhadi Al-Khawaja (Bahrain/Denmark), a human rights advocate who has been fearlessly defending the most vulnerable communities in Bahrain, especially those who have been subject to systemic violations of their human rights. Mr. Al-Khawaja has been arrested several times for this work, including in 2011, for peaceful protests during the Bahraini Uprising, which resulted in him being sentenced to life in prison by a military tribunal.

Denis Mukwege (Democratic Republic of the Congo), a gynecologist and human rights activist who has been working since 1999 to provide medical, legal, and psychosocial aid to women subjected to sexualized and gender-based violence and to advocate for gender equality and the elimination of rape as a weapon of war in the DRC and worldwide. Dr. Mukwege has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.

Nasrin Sotoudeh (Iran), a human rights defender who has been working as an attorney since 2003, representing Iranian opposition activists, young prisoners, and women’s rights activists, including women who were arrested for protesting compulsory headscarves (hijab) in Iran. Due to her work, Mrs. Sotoudeh has been frequently imprisoned, including in solitary confinement.

Aurora prize Laureates each receive $1 million. Of that sum, $800,000 goes to grassroots humanitarians and organizations that the Laureate selects.

To date, the Initiative has benefited over 2.7 million people affected by war, conflict, displacement, persecution, and other issues worldwide.