The Stefanus Prize is a human rights prize awarded to individuals for their outstanding contributions to defending
freedom of religion or belief as defined by the Article 18 of the
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is an international document adopted by the United Nations General Assembly that enshrines the Human rights, rights and freedoms of all human beings. Drafted by a UN Drafting of the Universal D ...
.
History
The Stefanus Prize was established in 2005 by the Norwegian NGO
Stefanus Alliance International, and has been awarded biennially since 2008. The award ceremony takes place in November in
Oslo
Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...
,
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
.
The first recipient of the Stefanus Prize was the
Coptic Orthodox
The Coptic Orthodox Church (), also known as the Coptic Orthodox Patriarchate of Alexandria, is an Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Christian church based in Egypt. The head of the church and the Apostolic see, See of Alexandria i ...
Bishop Thomas of
Egypt
Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...
. He received the award on November 11, 2005 for his "fearless and courageous commitment to freedom of belief and human rights in Egypt."
Selection Committee
The laureates are chosen by a committee appointed by the
Stefanus Alliance International. The committee was composed of following members in 2020: Ingvill Thorson Plesner (researcher at HL-senteret), Erling Rimehaug (editor and writer), Anne Beathe Kristiansen Tvinnereim (politician]), and Ingunn Yri Øystese (board member of the
Stefanus Alliance International).
Recipients of the Stefanus Prize
* 2005: Bishop Thomas, Egypt
* 2008:
Tim A. Peters, Korea/China
* 2010: Victor Biak Lian, Burma/Myanmar
* 2012: Samuel L.S. Salifu, Nigeria
* 2014:
Asma Jilani Jahangir, Pakistan
* 2016:
Mine Yildirim and
Aykan Erdemir, Turkey
* 2018: Ameer Jaje and Saad Salloum, Iraq
* 2020: Nguyen Bac Truyen, imprisoned Vietnamese lawyer, released 2023
* 2022
Wagma Feroz Pakistan
* 2024:
Aiman Umarova, lawyer from Kazakhstan
References
{{reflist
External links
Stefanus Alliance International, official web site
Human rights awards
Norwegian awards
Freedom of religion