The United Nations on Thursday announced the winners of the prestigious United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights for 2013. In addition to the Moroccan activist, the list of winner included Biram Dah Abeid (Mauritania), Hiljmnijeta Apuk (Kosovo), Liisa Kauppinen (Finland), the Supreme Court of Justice of Mexico and Malala Yousafzai (Pakistan).
The Prize, which was established by the General Assembly in 1966 and awarded for the first time on 10 December 1968, has been awarded every five years since 1968.
The award ceremony for the 2013 United Nations Human Rights Prize will take on December 10th at the United Nations headquarters in New York. The ceremony will be part of the annual commemoration of the Human Rights Day, which takes place every year on December 10th.
"The award is given to individuals and organizations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms. Previous recipients have included Nelson Mandela, Amnesty International, Jimmy Carter, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Reverend Dr. Martin L. King," according to a UN press release.
Khadija Ryadi (Former President of the Morocco Association for Human Rights) has been a human rights activist since 1983 when she joined the Moroccan Association for Human Rights. She has been at the forefront of several human rights causes, including the fight against impunity, full equality between men and women, self-determination and freedom of expression regardless of sexual orientation. She is a coordinator of a network of 22 human rights non-governmental organizations in Morocco.