The 2020 Freedom Prize was awarded Friday, October 2, 2020 during the World Normandy Peace Forum, to Loujain Al-Hathloul, Saudi activist for women's rights. The young woman being imprisoned since 2018 in Saudi Arabia, it is these sisters, Lina and Alia Al-Hathloul, who were present to receive the prize. A ceremony rich in emotions to conclude a second edition of the Freedom Prize which once again mobilized young people from around the world at each of its stages.
The commitment of young people internationally
Thousands of young people of different nationalities got involved in this Freedom Prize.
• Call for proposals "Our Freedom Prize 2020"
Nearly 1,107 young people from 7 countries (France, Colombia, Burkina Faso, Spain, Canada, United States and Madagascar) participated in the call for proposals "Our Freedom Prize 2020".
A total of 238 proposals from individuals and organizations were sent.
Among these proposals, 138 were made by high school and CFA students, as part of the educational support program of the International Institute for Human Rights and Peace.
• The educational support program
The International Institute for Human Rights and Peace sensitized 22 classes and 649 students to the Freedom Prize.
• The international panel of judges
The panel of judges brought together 24 young people including 6 Normans, 6 French people from other regions and 12 from foreign countries. They were 111 to apply at the start.
Discover the 2020 international jury filmed by Canopé
• The online vote
5,493 young people from 81 countries around the world also voted to elect the laureate of the 2020 Freedom Prize.
A system that involves young people, at each of its stages
The uniqueness of this system: involving young people at each of its stages, from proposals submitted to the international jury until the final designation of the winner, but also for the design of the trophy awarded to the winner.
The 2020 Freedom Prize trophy was produced by students from the Lycée Napoléon de L’Aigle in Orne, Normandy.
"The concept of our creation is based on the values of freedom with the nature / technology metaphor, at the center of ecological concerns. The contrasts made with the materials, the materials, the lines and the masses invite to imagine the conflicts, the negotiations and the freedom that stands out with fragility." explain the students and Anne Guihaire, their teacher who supervised the creation of the trophy.
Due to the closure of schools during the containment, the trophy was made in L'Aigle, but also in Caen, Bayeux and Granville where it went from student to student throughout this period.
Watch the design of the trophy filmed by the network Canopé.
Fights for freedom: many reflections of the young people’s concerns
Each year, the Freedom Prize highlights various fights for freedom which are all reflections of the young people’s concerns.
The 2020 international jury, in its deliberations, chose three fights among the 238 proposals “Our Freedom Prize 2020”: the Saudi activist for women's rights Loujain Al-Hathloul, the lawyer and Iranian activist for human rights Nasrin Sotoudeh and Father Pedro Opeka, known for his fight against poverty in Madagascar.
• Loujain Al-Hathloul 42,3%
• Père Pedro Opeka 29,4%
• Nasrin Sotoudeh 25,4%
White votes 2.9%
The Norman students behind Loujain Al-Hathloul's appointment
The nomination of Loujain Al Hathloul was proposed by young people from CIFAC in Caen and from Charles de Gaulle high school in Caen. These two establishments participated in the educational support program implemented by the International Institute of Human Rights and Peace which went to classrooms in November 2019 to make students aware of the concepts of freedom and commitment, and to mobilize them for the call for proposals “Our Freedom Prize 2020”.
The students of these two establishments also had the opportunity to have a privileged exchange with Alia and Lina Al-Hathloul on the sidelines of the 2020 Freedom Prize award ceremony.
Highlight of the Normandy for Peace 2020 forum, the Freedom Prize award ceremony and the speech by Lina Al-Hathloul, sister of Loujain Al-Hathloul:
"World youth is on the front line to defend universal values, foremost among which is freedom. To see the mobilization of this youth today gives hope, for my sister, for her cause, for those and those who fight for a just, open, inclusive, tolerant world. "
