Secretary of State Antony J. Blinken with the presence of First Lady Jill Biden hosted the annual International Women of Courage (IWOC) Awards ceremony at the White House.
Since March 2007, the Department of State has recognized more than 190 women from 90 countries with the IWOC Award. This year is 18th year.
The Secretary of State’s IWOC Award recognizes women from around the globe who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in advocating for peace, justice, human rights, gender equity and equality, and the empowerment of women and girls, in all their diversity – often at great personal risk and sacrifice, said the US State Department press note.
U.S. diplomatic missions overseas nominate one woman of courage from their respective host countries, and finalists are selected and approved by senior Department officials.
Following the IWOC ceremony, the awardees will participate in an in-person International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) and additional programming in Los Angeles, during which they will engage with American counterparts on strategies and ideas to empower women and girls around the globe.
According to the statement, the 2024 awardees are:
Benafsha Yaqoobi – Afghanistan
Benafsha Yaqoobi, who is visually impaired, worked for years as an attorney defending the rights of women who faced violence; founded the Rahyab Organization in 2008 with her husband to provide education and rehabilitation to visually impaired people in Afghanistan; hosted a daily live television show to raise awareness about disability rights; and later served as a Commissioner for the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission, where she focused on educating blind children. Ms. Yaqoobi is living in exile and is also working diligently to ensure that Afghan girls with disabilities are represented and continues to fight for their right to attend school.
Fawzia Karim Firoze – Bangladesh
Fawzia Karim Firoze is a Bangladeshi Supreme Court advocate who has fought for the rights of marginalized groups for more than three decades. Ms. Firoze has personally filed approximately 3,000 cases on behalf of garment workers against their employers and helped establish the Bangladesh Independent Garment Workers Union Federation (BIGUF) and the Domestic Workers Guidelines.
Volha Harbunova – Belarus
Volha Harbunova is a Belarusian human rights defender who has dedicated her life to advocating for the rights of women, children, the LGBTQI+ community, and other marginalized groups in Belarus.
Ajna Jusić – Bosnia and Herzegovina
Ajna Jusić is a psychologist and a feminist from Zenica, Bosnia and Herzegovina, who currently resides in Sarajevo.
Myintzu Win – Burma
Myintzu Win, a veteran criminal defense lawyer, champions the rights of marginalized communities in Burma in spite of significant obstacles in the legal landscape. Ms. Win’s dedication transcended individual cases to strengthen judicial capacity and empower legal professionals in Burma.
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello – Cuba
Martha Beatriz Roque Cabello has been a Cuban political dissident and leading proponent of human rights and religious freedom in Cuba for more than four decades, during which she has founded and led several prominent human rights and democracy organizations. As the only woman among 75 persons imprisoned during the Black Spring in 2003, Ms. Roque was sentenced to 20 years in prison, serving a portion before being released for medical reasons. As a result of her human rights work, the Cuban government has harassed and surveilled her daily for decades.
Fátima Corozo – Ecuador
Fátima Corozo is a tireless, dedicated community leader and youth advocate in Esmeraldas—Ecuador’s most violent city.
Fatou Baldeh – The Gambia
As Gambian parliamentarians currently debate repealing the 2015 ban on female genital mutilation and cutting (FGM/C), Fatou Baldeh, a survivor of FGM/C, waded into this highly contentious and polarizing issue as an unwavering advocate, defending critical protections that can mean life or death for women and girls.
Fariba Balouch – Iran
Fariba Balouch is a London-based Iranian human rights activist. She is from Iran’s Sistan and Baluchistan Province and a member of Iran’s marginalized Baluchi ethnic group. She is outspoken about women’s rights and the human rights crisis in Sistan and Baluchistan, which has been disproportionately affected by regime violence, executions, and systemic discrimination.
Rina Gonoi – Japan
At the age of 11, Rina Gonoi and her family were victims of the tragic triple disaster in Japan. When a female Japan Self-Defense Force (JSDF) officer assisted Rina and her family during the evacuation, Ms. Gonoi was inspired to follow in the officer’s footsteps and join the JSDF herself, which she did in 2020. Based on Ms. Gonoi’s push for meaningful reform, the JSDF is building a more secure workplace so that Japanese of any gender can defend their country with dignity.
Rabha El Haymar – Morocco
Rabha El Haymar is a courageous Moroccan woman who successfully navigated her country’s legal system and fought to obtain, through a recourse provided by Morocco’s family code reform of 2004, recognition of her traditional marriage to spare her daughter a life of marginalization and discrimination as an undocumented child.
Agather Atuhaire – Uganda
Agather Atuhaire is a renowned journalist, lawyer and social justice activist who advocates for human rights, public accountability, and the rule of law in Uganda. Her work as a journalist has brought to light parliamentary abuse of process and excess, threats to multi-party democracy and governance, health sector abuses, sexual harassment in the NGO sector, and violations of students’ rights.
Madeleine Albright Honorary Group Award
Recognizing the nine Nicaraguan women who were among the 222 political prisoners released from prison in February 2023 who continue to fight for democracy and human rights under a repressive regime in Nicaragua.
They represent a wide swath of civil society. Before their arrests, these women worked as human rights defenders, journalists, politicians, and women’s rights activists to fight for basic freedoms in President Daniel Ortega and his wife Vice President Rosario Murillo’s autocracy.
Now, all of them were exiled to the United States and stripped of Nicaraguan citizenship, rendering them effectively stateless.
Speaking at the function, Secretary Antony J. Blinken said the awardees are including those advocating for domestic workers in Bangladesh and people with disabilities in Afghanistan, exposing corruption in Uganda, combating sexual harassment in Japan, standing up for the children of war-torn – of wartime rape in Bosnia and Herzegovina, fighting for democracy in Belarus.
Ms. Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello, an unyielding defender of human rights in Cuba was absent at the function as Cuban authorities have prohibited her from traveling abroad.
The United States stands with every woman of courage working to build greater stability, greater equality, and greater opportunity. And we are committed to knocking down the barriers that prevent women and girls from reaching their full potential alongside them, the Secretary said, statement added.
“Last year, President Biden requested a doubling of foreign aid to promote gender equity abroad – an historic US $2.6 billion,” informed Secretary and added, “As we advance the rights and dignity of women and – around the world and of all people around the world, we will continue to look to, to learn from, to be inspired by our partners in government, the private sector, and civil society – including the women that we’re celebrating here today.”
