Ukrainian woman became laureate of prestigious international prize for human rights defenders

Onischenko Elena

Ukrainian feminist Marta Chumalo became the laureate of the international Swedish Olof Palme Prize, which is awarded for outstanding achievements in human rights activities.

As Rubryka writes, this was reported in the "Women's Perspectives" center and on the award's website.

Ukrainian Marta Chumalo received the Olof Palme human rights award from Sweden in 2023 for the protection of women's rights and freedoms. This is stated in the Olof Palme Memorial Foundation message.

Marta Chumalo is the first Ukrainian to receive this award.

As stated in the official announcement about the laureates, "Marta Chumalo is a feminist, gender expert, and psychologist."

As one of the founders of the "Women's Perspectives" center, she has been supporting women who have experienced violence for 20 years.

Since 2014, and especially after russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Marta Chumalo has been actively involved in raising awareness of the consequences of war and helping the victims.

In particular, human rights activist works on lobbying for the effective implementation of the Istanbul Convention to support victims of sexualized violence in war.

"For me, it is a great surprise and a great honor to receive such a prestigious award — the Olof Palme Award! And it is a great reason to speak at all levels about the fact that women's rights, especially in wartime, are often neglected and violated," Marta Chumalo herself commented on receiving the award.

Together with Marta Chumalo, the award received:

• Turkish human rights defender Eren Keskin
• and Iranian journalist Narges Mohammadi.

The official award ceremony will take place on February 1 at the Stockholm Concert Hall, where the Nobel Prize is awarded.

At one time, the laureates of the Olof Palme award were:

• Czech politician Vaclav Havel,
• russian opposition journalist Anna Politkovskaya,
• UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan,
• students of Sarajevo,
• the UN operation peacekeepers
• the Black Lives Matter movement.

Reference

The Olof Palme Award is an annual $100,000 award that honors human rights defenders worldwide.