Members of Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Development committees have chosen the three finalists for the 2024 Sakharov Prize in a vote on Thursday. Following the secret ballot, MEPs selected the three finalists for the 2024 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought. These are, in alphabetical order:

  • Dr Gubad Ibadoghlu, academic and anti-corruption activist in Azerbaijan;
  • María Corina Machado, as leader of the democratic forces in Venezuela and President-elect Edmundo González Urrutia, representing all Venezuelans inside and outside the country fighting to restore freedom and democracy;
  • “Women Wage Peace” and “Women of the Sun”, Israel/Palestine.

Find the biographies of the candidates and finalists by following this link.


Next steps

The Conference of Presidents (EP President Roberta Metsola and the leaders of the political groups) will choose the 2024 laureate of the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought on Thursday 24 October. The winner(s) will be announced immediately afterwards in the plenary session in Strasbourg.
The award ceremony, which foresees an endowment of €50,000 for the winner(s), will take place during the December plenary session in Strasbourg.


Background
Named after Soviet physicist and political dissident Andrei Sakharov, who agreed to his name being used, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought is the EU’s highest human rights award.
It has been awarded by Parliament to individuals or organisations every year since 1988, in recognition of their work in one of the following areas: the defence of human rights and fundamental rights, in particular freedom of expression, the safeguarding of minority rights, respect for international law, the development of democracy and the defence of the rule of law.
Many worthy winners have received the award, including Nelson Mandela and Anatoly Marchenko in the first edition, and also dissidents, political leaders, journalists, lawyers, civil society activists, the United Nations and a child activist for the right to education.
Several Sakharov Prize laureates have also won the Nobel Peace Prize, such as Nelson Mandela, Malala Yousafzai, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Mourad.

For a list of previous winners, click here. In 2023, the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought was awarded to Jina Mahsa Amini and the ‘Woman, Life, Freedom’ movement in Iran.