Freedom Award

Freedom Award
Awarded for"extraordinary contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom"
CountryUnited States
Presented byInternational Rescue Committee
First award1957
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[A] 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 and Li Shuxian Chinese
Chinese
1991 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar Peruvian
1992 Cyrus Vance American
1993 George Soros[B] Hungarian
1993 — Dwayne Andreas[C] American
1994 — Theodore J. Forstmann[B] American
1994 Felix Rohatyn[C] Austrian
1995 Aung San Suu Kyi[D] 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[B] 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[B] Hungarian
2014 The humanitarian aid worker
2015 Strive Masiyiwa Zimbabwean
2016 Spyros Galinos Greek
2017 Michael Bloomberg American
2018 Diane von Fürstenberg Belgian
2020 Samantha Power Irish American
2021 Bryan Stevenson American
2022 Syrian American Medical Society Foundation
2023 Amartya Sen Indian
2024 Denis Mukwege Congolese
2025 Lynsey Addario American

Notes

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 "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. 1 2 "Give Churchill Freedom Award". Gettysburg Times. 1958-05-30. p. 2. Archived from the original on 2016-03-07. Retrieved 2010-04-22.
  5. 1 2 3 4 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. 1 2 3 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 "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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 3 4 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 "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. 1 2 "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. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "The IRC Freedom Award". International Rescue Committee. Retrieved 2026-05-20.
  28. ↑ "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.
  29. ↑ "Highlights from the IRC's Rescue Dinner 2017". International Rescue Committee. 2017-11-03. Retrieved 2026-05-05.