Martin Ennals Award 2025 Laureate and Finalists Announced
The 2025 Martin Ennals Award recognises three outstanding human rights defenders who have spearheaded justice initiatives in Brazil, Uganda and Tunisia against racism and corruption in public institutions. The UN High Commissioner for human rights will award the selected laureate during the ceremony to take place on 26 November 2025 in Geneva, Switzerland.
For this 31st edition, ten of the world’s leading human rights NGOs composing the Jury of the Martin Ennals Award – Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, FIDH, HURIDOCS, Bread for the World, Human Rights First, World Organisation Against Torture, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), International Service for Human Rights (ISHR), and Front Line Defenders – have selected, after much deliberation, three human rights defenders for their exceptional contribution to the human rights movement.
The 2025 Laureate is Ana Paula Gomes de Oliveira (Brazil), who has co-founded the collective Mothers of Manguinhos to fight for justice after the killing of her son, a 19-year-old Black man,who was shot in the back by a military police officer in the favelas of Rio on his way back from his girlfriend’s house. The Jury also recognized two Finalists Aloikin Praise Opoloje (Uganda), a 26-year-old Ugandan student who has become a leading voice against corruption, social injustice, and human rights abuses in Uganda; and Saadia Mosbah (Tunisia) a prominent human rights activist in the fight against racism and racial discrimination who remains arbitrarily detained after an intense smear campaign against her calls for the respect of migrant and refugee rights in Tunisia.
"Ana Paula Oliveira has given so much, despite having lost everything. We are exceptionally proud to have her as our Laureate. The racist violence in Brazilian streets merits the full attention of the federal government and the international community." - Hans Thoolen, Chair of the Martin Ennals Award Jury
The 2025 Laureate and the two Finalists
Ana Paula Oliveira (Laureate): In May 2014, Ana Paula Oliveira tragically lost her son Johnatha, a 19-year-old black man in Manguinhos, a favela of Rio de Janeiro, when he was fatally shot by police on his way home from his girlfriend’s house. Ever since, Ana Paula’s turned her grief and indignation into a powerful quest for justice against police violence. She co-founded the collective Mothers of Manguinhos as a front for resistance and advocacy, but also as a network of emotional support and solidarity between women who share stories of similar loss. These women, in their majority Black, many of whom have lost children and other family members to violent actions by law enforcement officials, came together to demand rights and denounce violence in the favelas, especially police violence that disproportionately affects poor Black youth. The collective fights for truth, memory, justice, freedom and, for the guarantee of the human rights of Black, poor, and peripheral lives.
“When we are born black and raised in the favelas, we are targeted by a racist system that is also reinforced by public security policies based on death and imprisonment.” Ana Paula Oliveira told Martin Ennals Foundation staff. According to the UN, killings by police have more than doubled in the last ten years in Brazil, with more than 6000 killings every year over the past six years. Black people, overwhelmingly men, are three times more likely to be killed by police than others, and represent a shocking rate of 82,7% of the killings by police in 2023.
Aloikin Praise Opoloje (Finalist) is a 26-year-old Ugandan student who has become a leading voice against corruption, social injustice, and human rights abuses in Uganda. Inspired by the dire living and educational conditions in her home district of Palisa, she has mobilised thousands through social media and organised major peaceful protests, including the Marchto Parliament and the Nude Protest against government mismanagement, which prompted official accountability for the Kiteezi landfill tragedy. Despite repeated arrests in 2024 and ongoing legal charges, Aloikin went on to create the We The People movement, which informs young Ugandans about their civic rights and non-violent resistance.
Saadia Mosbah (Finalist) is a leading Tunisian human rights activist and co-founder of Mnemty (“My Dream” in Arabic), the main organization dedicated to the fight against racism and racial discrimination in Tunisia. She has spearheaded initiatives through education, awareness raising and legislative advocacy, which have led to the 2016 national debate on systemic racism, the adoption of the Anti-Racism Law No. 50 (2018), and the declaration of 23 January as the National Day for the Abolition of Slavery for Tunisia (since 2019). Her work has also focused on combatting prejudice against migrant and promoting migrant and refugee rights.Despite her legitimate activism, Saadia Mosbah and Mnemty have faced intense smear campaigns. She was arrested on 6 May 2024 on false accusations of financial crimes and remains since in pre-trial detention without a set trial date.
The Martin Ennals Award
Every year, the Martin Ennals Award (MEA) gives recognition to outstanding human rights defenders at risk or from under-reported contexts. It culminates in a public ceremony co-hosted with the City of Geneva (Ville de Genève). The 2025 ceremony will take place on November 26th, 2025, at 6.30pm at the Salle communale de Plainpalais in Geneva. It is also livestreamed. Many local and international human rights supporters join this public celebration of the achievements and commitment of exceptional human rights defenders.
"As the beating heart of multilateralism and the promotion of human rights, the City of Geneva isproud to support the Martin Ennals Award for this 31st edition, which amplifies the voice of acourageous and tireless human rights defender in her quest for justice.” concludes Alfonso Gomez,Administrative Counselor of the City of Geneva.
Find out more about the Martin Ennals Award
