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Freedom Award

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Humanitarian award for freedom and refugees Not to be confused with IRI Freedom Award, Association of Former Intelligence Officers Freedom Award, or Secretary of Defense Employer Support Freedom Award.
Freedom Award
Awarded for"extraordinary contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom"
CountryUnited States
Presented byInternational Rescue Committee
First awarded1957
Last awarded2013
WebsiteIRC Freedom Award

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) bestows its Freedom Award for extraordinary contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom. According to the IRC, "The Freedom Award reveals the remarkable ability of an individual to shape history and change for the better a world moving toward freedom for all."

The IRC was founded in 1933 at the request of Albert Einstein, and made its first Freedom Award in 1957, to German politician Willy Brandt, who went on to win the Nobel Peace Prize. The following year, the award was presented to Winston Churchill, British prime minister during the Second World War, for his "dedicated and devoted service to the cause of human liberty". The first joint recipients of the award were Lane Kirkland and his wife Irena who won the prize in 1981. Lane was honored for his "long devotion to the cause of refugees" while Irena was described as "very much a human rights activist". Chinese dissidents Li Shuxian and Fang Lizhi were jointly honored in 1991; two American Presidents, George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton took the prize as a pair in 2005, and film actress Angelina Jolie and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees High Commissioner António Guterres received the award together in 2007.

Since the first award presentation in 1957, the IRC has made it to 46 recipients, 24 of which were American; the majority of awards have been to politicians. The 1995 presentation was made in absentia to Burmese pro-democracy campaigner and leader of the opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party, Aung San Suu Kyi. The 2011 award ceremony was held in New York City, at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in November, where the presentation was made to the Brokaw family. In 2012, John C. Whitehead received the prize for a second time, the only person to do so.

Recipients

Year Image Recipient Nationality References
1957 A smiling, older man in a dark suit with a narrow-striped shirt and wide-striped tie. He has receding but long, wavy hair. Willy Brandt  German
1958 Winston Churchill  British
1959 William Joseph Donovan  American
1960 Richard Evelyn Byrd  American
1965 George Meany  American
1966 David Dubinsky  American
1967 David Sarnoff  American
1969 Lucius D. Clay  American
1970 Jacob K. Javits  American
1975 Bruno Kreisky  Austrian
1976 Leo Cherne  American
1977 Hubert Humphrey  American
1978 Joseph Buttinger  Austrian
1979 Mary Pillsbury Lord  American
1981 Lane Kirkland
Irena Kirkland
 American
 American
1987 Elie Wiesel  Romanian
1987 John C. Whitehead  American
1989 Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan  French
 Iranian
  Swiss
1989 Lech Wałęsa  Polish
1990 Violeta Chamorro  Nicaraguan
1991 Fang Lizhi
Li Shuxian
 Chinese
 Chinese
1991 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar  Peruvian
1992 Cyrus Vance  American
1993 George Soros  Hungarian
1993 Dwayne Andreas  American
1994 Theodore J. Forstmann  American
1994 Felix Rohatyn  Austrian
1995 Aung San Suu Kyi  Burmese
1995 Sadako Ogata  Japanese
1995 Richard Holbrooke  American
1997 Robert P. De Vecchi  American
1999 Madeleine Albright  American
2001 John McCain  American
2002 Reynold Levy  American
2002 Hamid Karzai  Afghan
2003 Václav Havel  Czech
2004 Roméo Dallaire  Canadian
2005
George H.W. Bush
Bill Clinton
 American
 American
2006 Ellen Johnson Sirleaf  Liberian
2007
António Guterres
Angelina Jolie
 Portuguese
 American
2008 Kofi Annan  Ghanaian
2011 Brokaw family  American
2012 John C. Whitehead  American
2013 George Soros  Hungarian
2014 The humanitarian aid worker
2015 Shimon Peres  Israeli
2016 Spyros Galinos  Greek
2017 Leopoldo López  Venezuelan

Notes

  • A Lord's award was made posthumously.
  • B Distinguished Humanitarian Award
  • C Distinguished Public Service Award
  • D Special Freedom Award Recipient, in absentia

References

  1. ^ "IRC Freedom Award". International Rescue Committee. Archived from the original on 2010-10-25. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  2. "IRC at a glance". International Rescue Committee. Archived from the original on 2012-09-08. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  3. "The Nobel Peace Prize 1971". Nobel Foundation. Archived from the original on 2008-10-24. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  4. ^ "Give Churchill Freedom Award". Gettysburg Times. 1958-05-30. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  5. ^ Krebs, Albin (1981-04-07). "Notes on people; Kirklands to Get Awards". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2019-04-25. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  6. "Statements by Chinese Dissidents and Beijing". The New York Times. 1990-06-26. Archived from the original on 2018-11-24. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  7. ^ "High Commissioner and Angelina Jolie to receive IRC Freedom Award". United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. 2007-11-06. Archived from the original on 2012-10-12. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  8. "Profile: Aung San Suu Kyi". BBC News. 2009-08-11. Archived from the original on 2009-05-14. Retrieved 2010-05-01.
  9. ^ "UN refugee agency, Angelina Jolie receive Freedom Award". United Nations. 2007-11-08. Archived from the original on 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  10. ^ "2011 Freedom Award: Honoring the Brokaw Family". International Rescue Committee. 2011-11-10. Archived from the original on 2013-07-20. Retrieved 2013-03-27.
  11. ^ "Walesa says West to blame if Poland fails". Times-News. 1989-11-17. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2023-11-24. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  12. ^ "Madeleine Albright receives International Rescue Committee's Freedom Award". International Rescue Committee. 1999-11-10. Archived from the original on 2010-08-02. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  13. "Austria's Kreisky Will Get Freedom Award". The Daytona Beach News-Journal. 1975-04-10. p. 35. Archived from the original on 2023-11-24. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  14. "Press Release – SG/SM/7625". United Nations. 2000-11-15. Archived from the original on 2015-09-06. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  15. "Social Events". The New York Times. 1991-11-03. Archived from the original on 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  16. ^ "Benefits". The New York Times. 1994-11-20. Archived from the original on 2019-02-07. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  17. "Remarks of Senator John McCain – The International Rescue Committee's 2001 Freedom Award Dinner". U.S. Senator John McCain – Arizona. 2001-11-14. Archived from the original on 2016-08-27. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  18. "2008 UPS Lecture on Nonprofit Leadership, Governance and Economic Stewardship". Georgia State University. Archived from the original on 2010-06-30. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  19. "His Excellency President Hamed Karzai". The Embassy of Afghanistan – Tokyo. Archived from the original on 2018-10-04. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  20. "Samantha Power – IRC Freedom Award Dinner – November 10, 2004" (PDF). Harvard University. Archived from the original (pdf) on June 30, 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  21. "IRC Honors Former Presidents Bush and Clinton for Tsunami, Katrina Relief Efforts". International Rescue Committee. 2005-11-10. Archived from the original on 2010-10-27. Retrieved 2010-05-14.
  22. "Biographical Brief of Ellen Johnson Sirleaf". Government of the Republic of Liberia – Executive Mansion. Archived from the original on 2010-04-23. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  23. Lunn, Stephen; Harris, Bret (2008-12-09). "Give 'til it hurts". The Australian. Retrieved 2010-05-19.
  24. Anderson, Monika (2012-11-08). "Kissinger, Bloomberg Honor IRC at Freedom Award Dinner". Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2019-02-27. Retrieved 2013-09-06.
  25. International Rescue Committee. "Freedom Award: Honoring George Soros". Rescue.org. International Rescue Committee. Archived from the original on 2015-02-03. Retrieved 22 March 2015.
  26. Honoring the humanitarian aid worker Archived 2015-09-06 at the Wayback Machine, Rescue, 2014
  27. "International Rescue Committee honors Mayor Spyros Galinos of Lesbos and the Mack family at annual Rescue Dinner benefit". Archived from the original on 27 December 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2016.
  28. "Governor Scott Joins Venezuelan Expats In Doral; Says Maduro, 'Thugs' Have To Go". Archived from the original on 2017-05-09. Retrieved 2017-05-08.
  29. "Freedom Award: Leopoldo López fue homenajeado con el Freedom Award en Miami". Archived from the original on 2017-05-11. Retrieved 2017-05-08.

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