Freedom House Announces 2025 Award Recipients

The honorees were recognized at Freedom House's annual awards ceremony.

WASHINGTON, May 21, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Freedom House recognized a distinguished slate of advocates for democracy and freedom around the globe at its Annual Awards in Washington, DC, last night. Award recipients included Venezuelan democratic movement leader María Corina Machado, US Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Roger F. Wicker (R-MS), representatives from the government and civil society of Taiwan, and Server Mustafayev, an unjustly imprisoned Crimean Tatar human rights defender.

"The suppression of freedom anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere," said Freedom House interim Copresidents Gerardo Berthin and Annie Boyajian. "For almost 85 years, Freedom House has worked tirelessly around the world to expand and defend freedom and democracy. Our latest research has shown that we are in the midst of a nearly two-decade decline in global freedom. But there is hope. The courage and commitment of these groups and individuals in their defense of democratic principles are a powerful reminder that democracy only endures through the resolve of those who rise up to protect it. Freedom House is thrilled to honor our 2025 awardees."

The Freedom Award

María Corina Machado received the Freedom Award, which recognizes outstanding leaders in the cause of freedom and democracy. Machado, the leader of Venezuela's democratic movement, won more than 92 percent of the vote in an October 2023 presidential primary election. Despite her triumph, the illegitimate regime of Nicolás Maduro disqualified her from running for president in the 2024 general election. Machado unified democratic forces behind Ambassador Edmundo González Urrutia's candidacy in response, empowering nearly a million volunteers within Venezuela to safeguard the vote. Today, although she and her team remain under intense persecution by the regime, Machado continues to lead efforts alongside Venezuelans and the international community to achieve a democratic transition.

This year's award was presented by Russian human rights activist and Free Russia Foundation advocacy director Evgenia Kara-Murza, who is married to former political prisoner and 2023 Freedom Award winner Vladimir Kara-Murza. The award was accepted by Rafael de la Cruz, an advisor to María Corina Machado.

Past recipients of the Freedom Award, which was launched in 1943, include the women of Iran; His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama; Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.; Václav Havel, the playwright, dissident, and first postcommunist president of Czechoslovakia; Saudi activist Hala al-Dosari; journalist Edward R. Murrow; Uyghur activist Ilham Tohti; and Pablo Casals, the musician and opponent of Spanish dictator Francisco Franco.  

The Leadership Award

US Senators Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) and Roger F. Wicker (R-MS) each received Freedom House's Leadership Award, which recognizes outstanding dedication to principled US leadership on the world stage and support for those on the front lines of the struggle against tyranny, such as in Ukraine, Taiwan, and the prodemocracy movement of Belarus.

The Honorable Jeanne Shaheen has represented New Hampshire in the US Senate since 2009. As current ranking member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Shaheen champions a strong national defense and robust engagement with transatlantic allies, and has been a consistent advocate for democracy movements around the world. The Honorable Roger F. Wicker has represented Mississippi in the US Senate since 2007. He is currently serving as chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee and chairman of the US Helsinki Commission, and is a champion for democratic values and human rights across Europe and Eurasia.

Previous recipients of the Leadership Award include then–Vice President Joe Biden, Senator John McCain, Senator Bob Corker, then–House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi, and Senator Lindsey Graham. This year's award was presented by the Honorable Jane Harman, cochair emeritus of the Freedom House Board of Trustees.

The Beacon Award

The government and civil society of Taiwan received the inaugural Beacon Award for their steadfast efforts to protect their own vibrant democracy, and to support the global struggle for freedom, in the face of escalating pressure from the Chinese Communist Party. Representative Alexander Tah-Ray Yui, on behalf of the government of Taiwan, and civil society representative Chiang Min-yen accepted the award.

Alexander Tah-Ray Yui has been Taiwan's representative to the United States since December 2023. He has over 35 years of experience in diplomacy and previously served as Taiwan's vice minister of foreign affairs from 2021 to 2023. Chiang Min-yen is a nonresident fellow at the Taiwan Economic Democracy Union, where he focuses on Beijing's economic coercion toward Taiwan, and at the Research Institute for Democracy, Society, and Emerging Technology (DSET), where he specializes in economic security and the semiconductor industry. The award was presented by Ambassador Robert Tuttle, a member of the Freedom House Board of Trustees.

The Alfred Moses Liberty Award

Server Mustafayev received the Alfred Moses Liberty Award, which honors exemplary courage by political prisoners or outstanding efforts to secure their release.

Mustafayev, a Crimean Tatar human rights defender, cofounded the Crimean Solidarity movement to support victims of political persecution in Russian-occupied Crimea. He was arrested by Russian authorities seven years ago on May 21, 2018, for alleged involvement with the Islamist group Hizb ut-Tahrir—such charges are often fabricated by Moscow as a pretext to silence dissent. In 2020, he was sentenced to 14 years in prison alongside six codefendants. His detention is widely recognized as politically motivated and has been condemned by Amnesty International, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and Freedom House's Fred Hiatt Program to Free Political Prisoners. The award was accepted on Mustafayev's behalf by Ukrainian Ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova and presented by Norman Willox, chairman of the Freedom House Board of Trustees.

Key Supporters

Freedom House is grateful to the Event Chairs Karen and Norman Willox, Co-Chairs Rodger Desai and Dr. Susan Gauthier, The Honorable Jane Harman, Maurice Perkins, Collin and Joanna Roche, and the Event Underwriters of the 2025 Annual Awards, Aegon Transamerica Foundation, Rodger Desai and Dr. Susan Gauthier, William and Sheila Konar Foundation, Collin and Joanna Roche; Freedom Supporters — Eileen Donahoe, Thomas and Susana Kahn, Karen and Norman Willox; and Freedom Advocates — Anonymous in Memory of Former Freedom House Trustee, Congressman Jim Kolbe, The Honorable Goli Ameri, The Honorable Jane Harman, Conrad Kiechel and Nancy Savage, Pan American Energy, Susan and Thomas Staudt, Telecom Argentina SA, Carlotta and Wendell Willkie, and David Willkie.

Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free. We inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and support democracy's defenders.

SOURCE Freedom House