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Lantos Foundation Announces Bryan Stevenson as the 2020 Lantos Human Rights Prize Recipient
Founder of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of “Just Mercy” becomes first Lantos Prize laureate whose work focuses primarily on U.S. domestic human rights issues
December 10, 2020 – On Human Rights Day, the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice announced that Bryan Stevenson will receive the 2020 Lantos Human Rights Prize for his powerful advocacy work urging the United States to apply the rule of law equally and to deal more honestly and openly with its history of inequality. Additionally, Mr. Stevenson has worked tirelessly for more than three decades on behalf of incarcerated people who have been wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced.
“We are thrilled to honor Bryan Stevenson as our 2020 Lantos Prize laureate,” said Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation. “His perseverance and dedication to the cause of equality serves as a powerful reminder that the fight for human rights must begin here at home. To maintain the United States’ legitimacy and moral authority as a human rights leader globally, we must be willing to confront our own shortcomings and work with vigor to address them. Mr. Stevenson’s life’s work offers an example of how to do this with dignity and compassion, and the Lantos Prize honors him for more than the pursuit of civil rights – it honors him for a truly defining work of human rights.”
The Lantos Human Rights Prize is awarded annually to raise awareness about human rights issues and to highlight the brave individuals who are committed to fighting for them throughout the world. The Prize also serves to commemorate Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a prominent advocate for human rights worldwide during his nearly three decades in office. Mr. Stevenson joins a distinguished list of Lantos Prize recipients, including His Holiness the Dalai Lama, Professor Elie Wiesel, Israeli President Shimon Peres, “mother” of the Uyghurs Rebiya Kadeer, “Hotel Rwanda” hero Paul Rusesabagina, Hong Kong Democracy activist Joshua Wong, and Bill Browder, the moving force behind the global Magnitsky movement, among others.
“It is an incredible honor to receive the Lantos Human Rights Prize and to have my work recognized alongside that of so many inspiring human rights figures,” said Mr. Stevenson. “At a moment when our nation faces many challenges but also many opportunities for progress in the long fight for equality, it is both affirming and motivating to know that the Lantos Foundation, an organization with an incredible legacy and vital mission, believes my work is symbolic of the struggle for human rights. Through this Prize, I am grateful to have the fight for equality and justice here in America acknowledged as having a place in the global human rights movement.”
Since 1989, Mr. Stevenson has been executive director of the Equal Justice Initiative (EJI), a private, nonprofit law organization he founded that focuses on social justice and human rights in the context of criminal justice reform in the United States. EJI litigates on behalf of condemned prisoners, juvenile offenders, people wrongly convicted or charged, poor people denied effective representation, and others whose trials are marked by racial bias or prosecutorial misconduct. Mr. Stevenson’s work has won him national and international acclaim, including the MacArthur Fellowship Award Prize, the Reebok Human Rights Award, the 1991 ACLU National Medal of Liberty, the Olaf Palme Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, the Award for Courageous Advocacy from the American College of Trial Lawyers, and the Lawyer for the People Award from the National Lawyers Guild. In 2006, he was named the Public Interest Lawyer of the Year by the National Association of Public Interest Lawyers. He is the author of the New York Times Bestseller Just Mercy, which won the 2015 Carnegie Medal for Best Non-Fiction, the Dayton Literary Peace Prize, and the NAACP Image Award for Best Non-Fiction.
Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the 2020 Lantos Human Rights Prize ceremony will be postponed until 2021, and more information will be shared with members of the media as details become available.
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About the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice: The Lantos Foundation was established in 2008 to carry forward the legacy of Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a leading human rights champion. The Lantos Foundation works with a range of partners and often in cooperation with the U.S. Government on issues that span the globe. The Foundation’s key areas of focus include human rights issues related to religious freedom, rule of law, internet freedom and activist art. The Foundation also administers the Lantos Congressional Fellows Program, supports human rights advocates, activists and artists through its Front Line Fund grant program, and awards the annual Lantos Human Rights Prize to honor and bring attention to heroes of the human rights movement.
