20th presentation of the Bruno Kreisky Awards for services to human rights

On 4 October 2024, the Bruno Kreisky Foundation for Services to Human Rights awarded the oldest and most prestigious human rights prize in Austria, named after former Federal Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, for the 20th time.

The jury of the Bruno Kreisky Prize for Services to Human Rights, which is made up of independent experts, has awarded the 2024 International Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize to Evgenia Kara-Murza and her husband Vladimir Kara-Murza.

Evgenia Kara-Murza as Advocacy Director of the Free Russia Foundation, is committed to exposing human rights violations in the Russian Federation. Through multilateral oversight mechanisms, the Russian government's international obligations with regard to human rights, democracy and the rule of law are demanded and Russian anti-war and democracy activists are supported.

The journalist Vladimir Kara-Murza received the award while he was still serving a 25-year prison sentence for treason in a politically motivated case after founding an anti-war committee in 2022 and was imprisoned in a penal colony in Siberia. Since the Death of Alexei Navalny  he is one of the most prominent critics of the policies of the Russian president Vladimir Putin. On 1 August 2024, he was released from prison as part of a major prisoner exchange and flown out of Russia.

In addition to Evegenia and Vladimir Kara-Murza, the doctor Dr. Gerald Rockenschaub for his decades of dedicated work for the World Health Organisation (WHO) As a doctor, he has repeatedly been at the centre of international conflicts. As a „health diplomat“ between the conflicting parties in health matters, he initiated acute humanitarian interventions or basic measures such as infection prevention, hygiene and the provision of healthcare.

In addition, one institution, the Association of Autonomous Austrian Women's Shelters (AÖF), The organisation was awarded the Bruno Kreisky Human Rights Prize. This umbrella organisation of 16 autonomous women's shelters in Austria has been active since 1988 and serves as an information hub, support, service and representation for all members in the prevention of violence against women and their children. The association AÖF is a member of WAVE - Women Against Violence Europe, a European network against violence against women, and endeavours to offer more protection for women and their children through numerous activities and intensive public relations work as well as political persuasion initiatives.

The award was presented at an event with prominent international and Austrian laudators on 4 October at the Bruno Kreisky Forum for International Dialogue.