When asked how a farmer’s daughter who became a Catholic nun ended up as one of Brazil’s most influential refugee advocates, Sister Rosita Milesi, 79, offers a simple answer: determination. Sister Rosita was awarded the Nansen Prize by the U.N. High Commission for Refugees for her exceptional work with refugees and migrants over the past…

Forced to flee Colombia, she has managed to rebuild her life in Ecuador. Now she defends the human rights of migrants and in particular of women, who often suffer violence and have fewer opportunities. Some stories keep hope alive, especially when, despite enormous initial difficulties, they reveal the possibility of significant changes that alter the…

He led a successful community campaign that saved 445,000 acres of biodiversity-rich forests from 21 planned coal mines in the central Indian state of Chhattisgarh. In July 2022, the government cancelled the 21 proposed coal mines in Hasdeo Aranya, whose pristine forests – popularly known as the lungs of Chhattisgarh – are one of the…

She blocked the development of the Waratah coal mine, which would have accelerated climate change in Queensland, destroyed the nearly 20,000-acre Bimblebox Nature Refuge, added 1.58 billion tons of CO2 to the atmosphere over its lifetime, and threatened Indigenous rights and culture. Murrawah’s case, which overcame a 2023 appeal, set a precedent that enables other…

Activists Nonhle Mbuthuma and Sinegugu Zukulu have stopped destructive seismic testing for oil and gas off South Africa’s Eastern Cape, in an area known as the Wild Coast. Organizing their community, Nonhle and Sinegugu secured their victory by asserting the rights of the local community to protect their marine environment. By halting oil and gas…

A Palestinian transplanted to the United States committed to peace and dialogue, and founder of the Salam Institute, he is the winner of the 2024 Niwano Prize, the “Nobel of Religions”. A professor in International Peace and Conflict Resolution at the American University in Washington, Mohammed Abu-Numer stood out for his “contribution to the cause…

For more than twenty-five years, Sr. Nelly Leòn Correa from Chile has accompanied inmates in and outside the prison and created the “Mujer, Levántate” (Woman, Stand Up) Foundation for them. A testimony of faith and courage. An open smile and eyes that exude sweetness. A sweetness that she inherited from her mother. But at the…

Two young leaders from the A’i Cofán community of Sinangoe in Ecuador led a movement to protect their people’s ancestral territory from gold mining. Their leadership resulted in a historic legal victory in October 2018, when Ecuador’s courts cancelled 52 illegal gold mining concessions, which were illegally granted without the consent of their Cofán community.…

He has inherited the legacy of his father, one of the few survivors of the genocide half a century ago, and represents a “people” that today numbers only 59 people. Adriano and his few companions are so attached to his land that they have taken its name: Karipuna,  is a segment of the immense Brazilian…

She is a Kichwa Indigenous leader of the Sarayaku people in Ecuador. “When you begin a fight against global economic interests, your life is always at risk. I knew staying quiet was not the better option; I had to keep going. If they wanted to drive me away through fear, they didn’t succeed.” She tells.…

In the aftermath of disastrous oil spills in Nigeria, environmental lawyer Chima Williams worked with two communities to hold Royal Dutch Shell accountable for the resultant widespread environmental damage. On January 29, 2021, the Court of Appeal of the Hague ruled that not only was Royal Dutch Shell’s Nigerian subsidiary responsible for the oil spills,…

December 10, 2023, marks the 75th anniversary of the universal promulgation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and its adoption by the United Nations General Assembly through resolution 217A during its third session in Paris on December 10, 1948. It was a torn and destroyed world after WWII that was reeling after the destruction,…