The IRC Freedom Award

The International Rescue Committee first bestowed its Freedom Award for extraordinary contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom to Willy Brandt. The year was 1957. The list of those who have received the Freedom Award reveals the remarkable ability of an individual to shape history and change for the better a world moving toward freedom for all.

1957

Willy Brandt

1958

Winston Churchill

1959

William Donovan

1960

Richard E. Byrd

1965

George Meany

1966

David Dubinsky

1967

David Sarnoff

1969

Lucius D. Clay

1970

Jacob K. Javits

1975

Bruno Kreisky

1976

Leo Cherne

1977

Hubert H. Humphrey

1978

Joseph Buttinger

1979

Mary Pillsbury Lord (postumously)

1981

Lane Kirkland and Irena Kirkland

1987

Elie Wiesel

1987

John C. Whitehead

1989

Sadruddin Aga Khan

1989

Lech Walesa

1990

Violetta Barrios de Chammorro

1991

Fang Lizhi and Li Shuxian

1991

Javier Perez de Cuellar

1992

Cyrus Vance

1993

George Soros - Distinguished Humanitarian Award

1993

Dwayne O. Andreas - Distinguished Public Service Award

1994

Theodore J. Forstmann - Distinguished Humanitarian Award

1994

Felix G. Rohatyn - Distinguished Public Service Award

1995

Daw Aung San Suu Kyi
- Special Freedom Award Recipent, in absentia

1995

Sadako Ogata

1995

Richard Holbrooke

1997

Robert P. DeVecchi

1998

Madeleine Albright

2001

John McCain

2002

Reynold Levy

2002		Hamid Karzai
2003		Vaclav Havel

2004		Romeo Dallaire - Distinguished Humanitarian Award
2005		George H.W. Bush and William J.Clinton
2006		Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf
2007		United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres and Angelina Jolie