The esteemed Moroccan human rights activist, Amina Bouayach, was awarded the 2023 North-South Prize by the Council of Europe this Tuesday in recognition of her outstanding contributions as a “champion of human rights.”
During a ceremony held at the Portuguese Parliament in Lisbon, Francesca Camilleri Vettiger, the President of the Executive Committee of the North-South Centre, commended Bouayach’s efforts in an era when the world is feeling increasingly divided and the future more uncertain than ever.
Amina Bouayach was lauded as a “visionary” in the field of human rights, with special emphasis on her dedication to combating torture and the death penalty, as well as promoting gender equality not only in Morocco but throughout the North African region.
The Moroccan activist and representatives of the Global Campus of Human Rights, who were also recipients of the same award, affirmed that this recognition would help to bring greater visibility to their work.
“Driven by the belief that we are all equal, it is our duty to remind those who have forgotten that life is the most precious thing,” Bouayach declared, highlighting that the world is currently more divided and polarized than ever between the North and the South.
In addition, Verónica Gómez, President of the Global Campus of Human Rights—a network of nearly a hundred universities offering specialized courses and master’s programs in human rights and democratization—remarked that “education is essential for achieving peace, democracy, the rule of law, social justice, development, and respect for individual and collective rights.”
