# Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award

The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award was created in 1984 by the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, now known as Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights, to honor individuals around the world who have shown great courage and have made a significant contribution to human rights in their country.
In addition to receiving a financial award, laureates can partner with the RFK Center on projects to advance their human rights work, benefiting from the resources and technologies at the foundation's disposal. Some have achieved their goals, some are in exile from their home country. The majority continue to live in their home country and work with the support of the center to establish the human rights they are working for.
Since 1984, awards have been given to 37 individuals and organizations, from 24 countries.
The Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights foundation also presents Ripple of Hope Awards annually to business, entertainment, and activist leaders. The name of the award is inspired by Kennedy's Ripple of Hope speech in 1966. They first presented the award in 2007.

## Laureates

| Year | Laureate or organization | Country |
| 2023 | Parlamento del Pueblo Xinka | Guatemala |
| 2022 | Maximilienne Ngo Mbe | Cameroon |
| 2022 | Felix Agbor Balla | Cameroon |
| 2021 | Guerline Jozef | United States |
| 2020 | Alessandra Korap | Brazil |
| 2019 | La Unión del Pueblo Entero | United States |
| 2019 | Angry Tías & Abuelas of the Río Grande Valley | United States |
| 2019 | Detained Migrant Solidarity Committee | United States |
| 2018 | Color of Change | United States |
| 2018 | International Indigenous Youth Council | United States |
| 2018 | March For Our Lives | United States |
| 2018 | United We Dream | United States |
| 2017 | Alfredo Romero | Venezuela |
| 2016 | Just Leadership USA | United States |
| 2016 | Andrea C. James | United States |
| 2015 | Natalia Taubina | Russia |
| 2014 | Adilur Rahman Khan | Bangladesh |
| 2013 | Ragia Omran | Egypt |
| 2012 | Librada Paz | United States |
| 2011 | Frank Mugisha | Uganda |
| 2010 | Abel Barrera Hernández | Mexico |
| 2009 | Magodonga Mahlangu | Zimbabwe |
| 2009 | Women of Zimbabwe Arise | Zimbabwe |
| 2008 | Aminatou Haidar | Western Sahara |
| 2007 | Mohammed Ahmed Abdallah | Sudan |
| 2006 | Sonia Pierre | Dominican Republic |
| 2005 | Stephen Bradberry | United States |
| 2004 | Delphine Djiraibe | Chad |
| 2003 | Coalition of Immokalee Workers | United States |
| 2002 | Loune Viaud | Haiti |
| 2001 | Darci Frigo | Brazil |
| 2000 | Martin Macwan | India |
| 1999 | Michael Kpakala Francis | Liberia |
| 1998 | Berenice Celeyta | Colombia |
| 1998 | Gloria Florez | Colombia |
| 1998 | Jaime Prieto | Colombia |
| 1998 | Mario Calixto | Colombia |
| 1997 | Sezgin Tanrıkulu | Turkey |
| 1997 | Şenal Sarıhan | Turkey |
| 1996 | Anonymous | Sudan |
| 1995 | Kailash Satyarthi | India |
| 1995 | Nguyen Dan Que | Vietnam |
| 1995 | Doan Viet Hoat | Vietnam |
| 1994 | Wei Jingsheng | China |
| 1994 | Ren Wanding | China |
| 1993 | Bambang Widjojanto | Indonesia |
| 1992 | Chakufwa Chihana | Malawi |
| 1991 | Avigdor Feldman | Israel |
| 1991 | Raji Sourani | Palestine |
| 1990 | Amilcar Mendez Urizar | Guatemala |
| 1989 | Fang Lizhi | China |
| 1988 | Gibson Kamau Kuria | Kenya |
| 1987 | Kim Geun-tae | South Korea |
| 1987 | In Jae-keun | South Korea |
| 1986 | Zbigniew Bujak | Poland |
| 1986 | Adam Michnik | Poland |
| 1985 | Allan Boesak | South Africa |
| 1985 | Beyers Naude | South Africa |
| 1985 | Winnie Madikizela-Mandela | South Africa |
| 1984 | CoMadres | El Salvador |

## Ripple of Hope Award

| Year | Laureate | Country |
| 2023 | Edwin Barbey Charitable Trust (Peter and Pamela Barbey, and their son Matt) | United States |
| 2023 | Fran Drescher | United States |
| 2023 | January 6th Select Committee (Representatives Aguilar, Cheney, Kinzinger, Lofgren, Luria, Murphy, Raskin, Thompson, and Schiff) | United States |
| 2022 | Frank Baker | United States |
| 2022 | Brian Moynihan | United States |
| 2022 | Michael Polsky | Ukraine United States |
| 2022 | Bill Russell | United States |
| 2022 | Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex & Meghan, Duchess of Sussex | United Kingdom United States |
| 2022 | Volodymyr Zelenskyy | Ukraine |
| 2021 | Stacey Abrams | United States |
| 2021 | José E. Feliciano | United States |
| 2021 | Deven Parekh | United States |
| 2021 | Hans Vestberg | Sweden |
| 2020 | Anthony Fauci | United States |
| 2020 | Dolores Huerta | United States |
| 2020 | Colin Kaepernick | United States |
| 2020 | Dan Schulman | United States |
| 2020 | Dan Springer | United States |
| 2019 | Nancy Pelosi | United States |
| 2019 | J. K. Rowling† | United Kingdom |
| 2019 | Wendy Abrams | United States |
| 2019 | Glen Tullman | United States |
| 2018 | Barack Obama | United States |
| 2018 | David Zaslav | United States |
| 2018 | Phil Murphy | United States |
| 2018 | Bruce D. Broussard | United States |
| 2017 | Harry Belafonte | United States |
| 2017 | Alex Gorsky | United States |
| 2017 | Hamdi Ulukaya | Turkey |
| 2016 | Howard Schultz | United States |
| 2016 | Joe Biden | United States |
| 2016 | Scott Minerd | United States |
| 2015 | Roger Altman | United States |
| 2015 | Marianna Vardinoyannis | Greece |
| 2015 | Tim Cook | United States |
| 2015 | John Lewis | United States |
| 2014 | Donato Tramuto | United States |
| 2014 | Hillary Clinton | United States |
| 2014 | Robert De Niro | United States |
| 2014 | Tony Bennett | United States |
| 2013 | Muhammad Yunus | Bangladesh |
| 2013 | John Boyer | United States |
| 2012 | Taylor Swift | United States |
| 2012 | Vincent Mai | United States |
| 2011 | Al Gore | United States |
| 2011 | Dennis Mathisen | United States |
| 2010 | George Clooney | United States |
| 2010 | Robert F. Smith | United States |
| 2010 | Marc Spilker | United States |
| 2009 | Bono | Ireland |
| 2009 | Wyclef Jean | Haiti |
| 2008 | Desmond Tutu | South Africa |
| 2008 | Clive Davis | United States |
| 2008 | Afsaneh Beschloss | Iran |
| 2007 | Bill Clinton | United States |
| 2007 | Bob Pittman | United States |
†=Recipient returned their award.