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The jury of the fourth edition of the “Graciela Fernández Meijide Award for the Defence of Human Rights” reviewed nominations highlighting the lives and arbitrary detention of citizens from Azerbaijan, North Korea, Cuba, China, Equatorial Guinea, Morocco and Venezuela. These cases were submitted to CADAL by human rights organisations and relatives.
The jury members, Vicente Palermo, Inés Pousadela, Eduardo Ulibarri and Rubén Chababo, unanimously expressed their deep respect for the courage and integrity of all those nominated. They also condemned the unjust persecution and imprisonment these individuals face for peacefully defending the principles that underpin democratic life.
In the official minutes of this fourth edition, the jury stated:
“Each and every nomination received, from Africa, Asia and Latin America, concerns citizens living in countries where civic space is severely restricted. In these contexts, authoritarian or totalitarian regimes have violated the most basic civic freedoms, forcing their societies to live under fear and repression. For this reason, each of these activists deserves recognition and admiration from the members of this jury.”
After careful deliberation, the jury decided that the 2026 Award would recognise:
ANACLETO MICHA NDONG, activist, human rights defender and lawyer, known for defending activists and politicians arrested for criticising the dictatorial regime of Teodoro Obiang Nguema in Equatorial Guinea. He has been accused of organising social media campaigns and peaceful protests to denounce extrajudicial executions, arbitrary detentions and the persecution of dissidents. He has also advocated for a peaceful transition to democracy and the rule of law in his country.
Because of his public denunciations of government abuses, he has been repeatedly detained and harassed. He was arrested in Malabo in January 2024 and sent to Black Beach prison. He was later transferred to Oveng Azem prison in Mongomo. His current whereabouts are unknown.
The jury also highlighted “the extremely limited visibility of the social and political tragedy that Equatorial Guinea has endured for decades, a country whose state violence has been, and continues to be, shamefully tolerated by many governments within the democratic world.”
YALQUN ROZI, a respected Uyghur literary critic, writer and former editor at the state-run Xinjiang Education Press, focused his work on protecting and promoting the Uyghur language, culture and identity within the official education system before his detention by the Chinese authorities.
His peaceful intellectual and cultural commitment was criminalised as part of the broader campaign against the Uyghur population. He was detained in Urumqi in October 2016. In January 2018, he was sentenced to 15 years in prison for allegedly “inciting subversion of state power” after being publicly labelled a separatist.
According to the jury, “His case exemplifies the repression of non-violent cultural advocacy and the systematic persecution of Uyghur intellectuals for defending the cultural and human rights of their people. As various human rights organisations have reported, systematic persecution and the Chinese government’s plan to eradicate Uyghur identity have intensified since 2017. Since then, nearly three million Uyghurs have been arbitrarily detained and sent to camps where they have faced political indoctrination, torture, rape, forced sterilisation, forced labour and other forms of inhumane treatment. Thousands of children have been placed in state-run boarding schools, while the Uyghur birth rate has been reduced by half due to forced sterilisation and compulsory intrauterine device insertions.”
KIM JUNG-WOOK, CHOI CHUN-GIL and KIM KOOK-KIE, South Korean missionaries, were detained and sentenced to life imprisonment in North Korea for assisting North Korean refugees at risk of forced repatriation by Chinese authorities in Dandong and other areas.
Since the 1990s, thousands of North Koreans have fled to China because of economic hardship and political repression in their country. However, the Chinese government classifies them as “illegal economic migrants” and does not recognise them as refugees. As a result, they are forcibly returned to North Korea, even though they face torture and severe punishment for crossing the border without authorisation. Many are accused of treason, a capital offence, particularly if they are suspected of attempting to defect to South Korea.
The jury recognised that the three missionaries “have assisted many starving and desperate refugees, providing shelter, food and support in secret, at considerable personal risk to their own lives.”
In 2014, the United Nations Commission of Inquiry on human rights concluded that the gravity, scale and nature of human rights violations in North Korea “reveal a state without parallel in the contemporary world.”
The jury reiterated its solidarity with each of the individuals recognised and condemned human rights repression in any country.
The Graciela Fernández Meijide Award for the Defence of Human Rights was established in 2023 to recognise the activism of individuals, groups and organisations defending human rights in authoritarian contexts, or in countries that, despite being democratic, are experiencing setbacks in civil and political freedoms or where activists’ lives are at risk, according to reports by reputable international organisations. In 2025, the award focused on individuals imprisoned for political reasons in Latin America. In 2026, it expanded to a global scope.
Over its four editions, the award has recognised individuals and organisations from Colombia, Korea, Cuba, China, Guatemala, Equatorial Guinea, Mexico, Nicaragua and Venezuela.
Graciela Fernández Meijide was born in Buenos Aires on 27 February 1931. She worked as a French teacher until 1976, when her son Pablo was forcibly disappeared. She then began collaborating with the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights and, in 1983, joined the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP). She later served as a National Deputy, Constitutional Convention delegate, National Senator and Minister of Social Development.
She published several books, including The Intimate History of Human Rights in Argentina and They Were Human, Not Heroes: A Critique of Political Violence in the 1970s. A biography by Pablo Marmorato, titled Nenuca: The Story of Graciela Fernández Meijide, recounts her life. She served as president of the Argentine Political Club and received numerous distinctions, including the Order of Merit of Chile (Officer), the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic (Knight Grand Cross), recognition as Distinguished Citizen of the City of Buenos Aires, the Konex Platinum Award for her work as a social leader, an Honorary Doctorate from Universidad Siglo 21, and the rank of Commander in the National Order of the Legion of Honour awarded by France.
