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A jury composed of Rubén Chababo, Norma Morandini, Vicente Palermo, Inés Pousadela, and Eduardo Ulibarri will select the winners of the 2025 edition of the Graciela Fernández Meijide Award from among eight nominated political prisoners: José Gabriel Barrenechea Chávez, Alexander Mario Fábregas Milanés, Yosvany Rosell García Caso, Lizandra Góngora Espinosa, and Jorge Martín Perdomo (Cuba); Nancy Elizabeth Henriquez James (Nicaragua); and Carlos Julio Rojas and Nélida Sánchez (Venezuela).
Established by CADAL in 2023 with the support of Graciela Fernández Meijide, the award seeks to recognize the human rights activism of individuals, groups, or organizations operating in authoritarian contexts or in countries where, despite being democracies, there have been setbacks in civil and political liberties—or where the lives of activists are at risk—based on reports from internationally respected organizations. Previous recipients of the Graciela Fernández Meijide Award for the Defense of Human Rights include the Mutual Support Group (Guatemala) and activist and former political prisoner Librado Linares (Cuba) in 2023; and the National Search Brigade (Mexico), activist Clara Ramírez, political prisoner Javier Tarazona (Venezuela), and the Trípido Foundation (Colombia) in 2024.
Graciela Fernández Meijide was born in Buenos Aires in 1931. A French teacher by profession, she taught until 1976, when her son Pablo was disappeared. Consequently, she began working with the Permanent Assembly for Human Rights, and in 1983 she joined the National Commission on the Disappearance of Persons (CONADEP). In 1993, she was elected to the National Congress representing the City of Buenos Aires, and the following year she participated in the Constitutional Assembly that amended the Argentine Constitution. She later served as a National Senator and presided over the Statutory Convention. In 1997, she was elected to Congress for the province of Buenos Aires, and in 1999 she was appointed Minister of Social Development. She has published several books, including La historia íntima de los derechos humanos en la Argentina (“The Intimate History of Human Rights in Argentina”) and Eran humanos, no héroes: Crítica de la violencia política de los 70 (“They Were Human, Not Heroes: A Critique of 1970s Political Violence”). A biography of her, Nenuca: La historia de Graciela Fernández Meijide, was written by Pablo Marmorato. She served as president of the Argentine Political Club and has received numerous honors, including the Order of Merit of Chile, Officer Grade (1999); the Order of Merit of the Italian Republic, “Cavaliere Di Gran Croce” (2001); Distinguished Citizen of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires (2016); the Platinum Konex Award for her work as a social leader (2018); Doctor Honoris Causa, Universidad Siglo 21 (2020); and the "Commandeur dans l’ordre national de la Légion d’Honneur" from the French Embassy (2022).
