Freedom House is soliciting nominations for the 2024 Mark Palmer Prize, which recognizes exceptional achievements to protect and advance democracy by diplomats and officials serving in intergovernmental institutions. Freedom House calls for nominations for the 2024 Mark Palmer Prize, which recognizes the work of those who advance democracy and human rights. The award takes its name from the late Mark Palmer, a longtime Freedom House trustee and US ambassador to Hungary from 1986 to 1990. In 1989, as the Cold War was coming to a close, Palmer boldly joined civil society and the Hungarian democratic opposition to support the country’s transition to democracy. The Mark Palmer Prize has been awarded to diplomats and international civil servants from around the world, including Peru, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Mongolia, Sweden, Canada, Uruguay, and the United States. The prize is made possible through the generosity of the Mark and Sushma Palmer Legacy Fund, established by Sushma Palmer in loving memory of her late husband and former Freedom House trustee Ambassador Mark Palmer.
Criteria:
Nominations for the Mark Palmer Prize should document the diplomat or official’s extraordinary achievements in and support for advancing democracy and human rights by accomplishing one or more of the following:
- Demonstrated support for civil society’s right to freedoms of assembly, expression, and other principles as outlined in the Warsaw Declaration of the Community of Democracies
- Supported efforts to assure broader political participation
- Contributed significantly to assuring free and fair elections
- Sustained efforts to support human rights, including actions that resulted in the release of prisoners of conscience or an end to cruel and inhuman punishment
- Facilitated a broader dialogue on democratic reform
- Coordinated effective international efforts to advance democracy
- Identified and articulated the importance of democratic values, despite working in a closed or authoritarian society
- Contributed innovative ideas and support for the consolidation of democratic institutions in countries in transition
- Upheld the idea of the rule of law in countries where it is not practiced.