A recently freed anti-death penalty campaigner from Iran, a feminist pro-participatory democracy defender from Angola, a jailed student activist opposing anti-Muslim legislation in India, a trans Black quilombola woman leader from Brazil and a feminist peacebuilder from Serbia are this year's laureates.

Front Line Defenders is pleased to announce the five laureates of its prestigious 2026 Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk, which was presented at a special ceremony in Dublin this morning:

• Africa: Laurinda Manuel Gouveia (Angola)
• Americas: Adda Vyctoria Caetano (Brazil)
• Asia and the Pacific: Umar Khalid (India)
• Europe and Central Asia: Ljiljana Nešić (Serbia)
• Middle East and North Africa: Ahmadreza Haeri (Iran)

Download the photo and story booklet

"There is a powerful wave of people who believe there is a better path despite the worrying state of affairs for human rights defenders (HRDs) around the world today; a wave of those who believe in a brighter future. This year's laureates are emblematic of this wave of positive change," said Alan Glasgow, CEO of Front Line Defenders.

"These laureates represent the defenders from every corner of the world who are courageously and peacefully standing up for justice and equality. Arbitrary detention, torture, death threats, judicial harassment, smear campaigns: these are some of the hazards of standing up for human rights and, still, these laureates have refused to stay silent."

The Annual Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk was established in 2005 to honour HRDs who make outstanding contributions to the promotion and protection of the human rights of others, often at great personal risk. The Award focuses international attention on their work and struggles, giving them a greater national and international platform to speak about the issues they defend.

The 2026 laureates are the latest of over 50 brave HRDs that Front Line Defenders has celebrated since the first award in 2005.

This year’s laureates were selected from among hundreds of candidates put forward in a secure, public nomination process carried out between November 2025 and January 2026.

The winners receive support to bolster their protection, including digital and physical security, advocacy, visibility, wellbeing and more. The laureates received the Award at a ceremony at Trinity College Dublin today, which was attended by foreign diplomats and representatives of the Irish government and Department of Foreign Affairs, civil society and media organisations among others.

The 2026 Front Line Defenders Award winners

View a photo booklet of the Award winners

Africa

Laurinda Manuel Gouveia is an Angolan woman human rights defender who has promoted women's rights, fundamental freedoms and participatory democracy for over a decade. In 2021 she co-founded the Balumukenu Association, which trains young people, documents violations and builds civic participation. Her School of Human Rights and Community Leadership has helped seed at least four new youth movements. Arrested several times for her work, she once spent 73 hours in a police cell with her seven-month-old baby. Despite this, what keeps Laurinda going is a belief that Angola can change, and that every generation bears responsibility for its own moment. She has helped secure the release of four activists imprisoned for exercising their freedoms and civic participation and is now campaigning for Inácio Pessela, a 15-year-old paralysed after being shot by police at 14 during the 2025 taxi drivers' strike.

"When young people know their rights, organise themselves and get involved, they cease to be mere spectators to reality and become agents of change." – Laurinda Manuel Gouveia

Americas

Adda Vyctoria Caetano is a trans Black quilombola woman, artist, cultural producer and leader of her community, the Quilombo Conceição dos Caetanos in Brazil's northeastern state of Ceará. As National Coordinator of CONAQ's LGBTQIAPN+ Collective, she works to strengthen the political organisation and visibility of LGBTQIAPN+ people within the quilombola movement (the term ‘quilombolo’ refers to communities of Black ancestry linked to the resistance of slavery in Brazil), alongside her role in CONAQ's National Collective of Quilombola Women. Facing threats, intimidation, online attacks and attempts to discredit her public leadership roles, she has built support networks and turned individual threats into collective protection. Her advocacy for the LGBTQIAPN+ community and defence of quilombola rights are steadfast.

"I fight for ownership of our territories because territory is life, ancestry and the future. I fight so that no one has to hide who they are in order to have the right to belong." – Adda Vyctoria Caetano

Asia and the Pacific

Umar Khalid is a well known name in India today. To those who try to silence his work, he is an “enemy of the state’’ and an “anti-national”, but to others, he is a national hero, a voice of the people, and a human rights defender. For the last six years, Umar Khalid has been shackled behind bars for his leadership in the peaceful and democratic civil movement against the unconstitutional and anti-Muslim amendments to India’s citizenship laws. The law, which accompanied an increasingly hostile climate of growing Hindu nationalism, threatens to disproportionately strip Muslims of documentation and legal status. Umar Khalid, with a steady trajectory defending students', minorities’ and citizens' rights, is seen as one of the key voices speaking out against this injustice. Several major international human rights organisations, as well as the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, have highlighted the illegality of his arrest and detention.

"We won't respond to violence with violence. We won't respond to hate with hate. If they spread hate, we will respond to it with love." – Umar Khalid

*Because he remains jailed, Umar Khalid was unable to travel to Dublin to receive his Award.

Europe and Central Asia

Ljiljana Nešić is a Serbian human rights defender, feminist, and peace activist who has advanced and protected women’s rights for more than 33 years. Throughout her career, she has been dedicated to supporting women victims of domestic and intimate partner violence (including that perpetrated by soldiers who returned from the Yugoslav wars), advocating for gender equality, women’s safety, and access to justice, with a particular focus on women living in rural and marginalised communities in southern Serbia. She is now the President of Žene za mir (Women For Peace). She has faced detention, defamation, threats, including threats of sexual violence, and hacking. The threats have increased significantly in the last few years, and in December 2025 her home was broken into and ransacked in what is believed to be an act of intimidation. She says she has never felt as unsafe in her work as she does now, but she continues.

"Let your courage be gentle. Let your word be a bridge. And let your heart never settle for a world where women are silent and peace is a privilege." – Ljiljana Nešić

Middle East and North Africa

Ahmadreza Haeri is an Iranian Kurdish human rights defender and anti-death penalty campaigner who has dedicated his life to defending the dignity and fundamental rights of others. On 9 September 2026, he was released after over three and a half years of imprisonment, during which neither physical assault, solitary confinement nor judicial harassment succeeded in silencing his courageous defence of prisoners’ rights, including their right to life. Ahmadreza is one of the initiators of the “No to Death Penalty on Tuesdays” campaign, a grassroots, prisoner-led movement against prisoner executions in Iran. For years, Iran has typically been among the world’s most prolific state executioner, and executions spiked in 2025, with at least 2,159 people hanged, according to Amnesty International. Prisoners across tens of prisons now participate in the weekly hunger strikes each Tuesday (executions are often scheduled on Wednesdays) despite severe consequences.

"They are seeking death, while we are fighting for life. I am certain that in our struggle for the right to life, there is no defeat." – Ahmadreza Haeri

*Despite being recently released, Ahmadreza Haeri remains in Iran and was also unable to travel to Dublin to receive his Award due to security reasons.

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