The 2016 ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism will be shared by journalists Lydia Cacho and Jeremy Scahill, who have dedicated their careers to exposing corruption, violence and abuse of power.

On Saturday, May 7, 2016, the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives (ALBA) will present the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism to journalists Lydia Cacho and Jeremy Scahill. (Order tickets here.) One of the largest monetary awards for human rights in the world, this $100,000 cash prize is granted annually by ALBA and the Puffin Foundation to honor the International Brigades and connect their inspiring legacy with contemporary causes. (Press release | Comunicado de prensa | tickets)

“Cacho and Scahill both shine as rare examples of investigative journalists who place human rights at the center of their work,” said ALBA board member and 2012 award recipient Kate Doyle. “Their reporting not only affects government policies, but seeks to champion and protect the lives of the world’s most vulnerable citizens. ALBA is proud to honor them.”

Lydia Cacho

Lydia Cacho is a Mexican award-winning journalist, author and human rights activist specializing in women and children’s rights. Her books and articles have exposed organized crime, corruption, cultures of violence and government impunity. She has been incarcerated, brutally tortured and threatened by corrupt officials for her work; nevertheless, she has become a leader of the movement fighting for freedom of expression and human rights in Mexico. She has been awarded the Amnesty International Ginetta Sagan Award for Women and Children’s Rights, the Hrant Dink Award and the Civil Courage Prize of the Train Foundation, among other honors.    

“I am a woman who will not give up her rights, nor will I sacrifice the rights of others to have a comfortable living. Being a journalist in Mexico is not a job; it’s a calling, a responsibility, never a sacrifice. It is to be part of the counter-power that makes life worth living.”– Lydia Cacho

Jeremy Scahill

Jeremy Scahill, one of the three founding editors of The Intercept, is an investigative reporter, war correspondent, and author of the international bestselling books Dirty Wars: The World Is a Battlefield and Blackwater: The Rise of the World’s Most Powerful Mercenary Army. He has reported from Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, Yemen, Nigeria, the former Yugoslavia, and elsewhere across the globe. Scahill’s work has sparked several congressional investigations and won some of journalism’s highest honors. He was twice awarded the prestigious George Polk Award, in 1998 for foreign reporting and in 2008 for Blackwater. Scahill is a producer and writer of the award-winning film Dirty Wars, which premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Academy Award.

On both sides of the volatile Mexico-United States border, Lydia Cacho and Jeremy Scahill have dedicated their careers to exposing the corruption, violence and abuse of power which go routinely unchallenged in the mainstream media. Cacho and Scahill’s work exemplifies the intersections of expository reporting and human rights activism; their commitment to breaking the most profound silences have prompted investigations into the United States’ shadow wars across the Middle East and Africa as well as Mexican authorities’ use of censorship, torture and corruption.

“Cacho and Scahill shine as rare examples of investigative journalists who place human rights at the center of their work.”

Part of an initiative designed to sustain the legacy of the experiences, aspirations and idealism of the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism supports current international activists and human rights causes. The Award was created by philanthropist and visionary Perry Rosenstein, President of the Puffin Foundation, which in 2010 established an endowed fund for the ALBA/Puffin Award for Human Rights Activism.

Award Ceremony – Saturday, May 7^th at 2:30pm
Japan Society
333 East 47th St.
New York, NY 10017

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