International Rescue Committee

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

 2008

  

Kofi Annan