The Right Livelihood Award was given on Wednesday to two women and two organizations for their efforts against authoritarianism, discrimination, and harmful AI practices. Recipients include Pakistani lawyer Jalila Haider, who defends vulnerable communities from state repression; an Ethiopian-born AI researcher (name not provided); the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, which fights for democracy and human rights; and the Rural Women’s Assembly, a network of over 178,000 women farmers across Southern Africa defending land rights. The award recognizes their resistance to systems that marginalize people and insists on putting individuals at the center of societal change.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-09-30,
using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the
same event (that is the story summary below).
Story summary
The Right Livelihood Award, often referred to as the "alternative Nobel," was awarded on Wednesday to two women and two organizations for their efforts against authoritarian rule, violence, discrimination, and harmful AI. Among the recipients is Jalila Haider, a Pakistani human rights lawyer from the Hazara community who has challenged ethnic, state, and patriarchal persecution. She received the award "for breaking barriers as the first female lawyer from her Hazara community." The Right Livelihood Foundation noted that Haider's law firm helped restore freedom of movement for over 600 political activists and human rights defenders. Additionally, she led a seven-day hunger strike in 2018 against targeted killings of Hazaras, resulting in decreased attacks on the community. The prize was created by Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull in 1980 to honor achievements often overlooked by the Nobel Prizes and is traditionally announced shortly before the Nobel Prize announcements, which will begin next Monday.
Written for “Right Livelihood Award Women Activists” on 2026-10-05,
grounded in this article and the 2 other(s) covering the same event.
STOCKHOLM (AP) — The Right Livelihood Award was awarded Wednesday to two women and two women-led organizations challenging authoritarian rule, violence and discrimination against women, and the harms caused by artificial intelligence, the Stockholm-based foundation said.
asserted
foundation → award → intelligence
The recipients of the international award are a Pakistani lawyer, an Ethiopian-born AI researcher, a Georgian legal rights group and a network of women farmers across Southern Africa.
asserted
recipients → bear → Africa
The annual prize was created in 1980 by Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull, who wanted to honor work that contributes to a more just and peaceful world.
asserted
that → create → world
It is traditionally announced shortly before the Nobel Prizes, which will be announced starting next Monday.
asserted
which → announce → Monday
Right Livelihood said this year’s recipients were being awarded for their “resistance to systems that push people to the margins, and a shared insistence on putting people back at the center.”
asserted
that → say → center
They were chosen from 200 nominations from 72 countries.
asserted
They → choose → countries
“A system built to serve the few was never going to hold.
asserted
system → build → few
This year, we honor women who refused to wait for permission,” Ole von Uexkull, the nephew of the prize founder and the organization’s executive director, said.
asserted
Uexkull → honor → founder
“They are rewriting the rules that autocrats, patriarchs and Silicon Valley’s most powerful men assumed were theirs to write alone.
asserted
autocrats → rewrite → rules
A Pakistani lawyer who works to protect vulnerable communities
Jalila Haider, a human rights lawyer who defends some of Pakistan’s most vulnerable communities from state repression, discrimination against women and ethnic violence, was awarded the prize “for breaking barriers, as the first female lawyer from her Hazara community, to challenge ethnic, state and patriarchal persecution, guided by the conviction that no human being is illegal.
asserted
being → work → conviction
By combining legal work with efforts to help communities advocate for themselves, “Haider has secured justice for thousands targeted or ignored by those in power, specifically ethnic, gender and religious minorities, as well as refugees,” the organization said.
asserted
organization → combine → power
Haider’s law firm has also helped more than 600 political activists and human rights defenders regain the right to travel freely.
asserted
activists → help → right
A Southern African women farmers’ group defending land rights
Also awarded was the Rural Women’s Assembly “for organizing rural women across Southern Africa into a united force defending land, seed and bodily autonomy against corporate and patriarchal dispossession.”
The Rural Women’s Assembly is a self-organized, movement of more than 178,000 small-scale farmers across 11 Southern African nations.
asserted
Assembly → defend → nations
It has established 24 sites where farmers reproduce and preserve seeds for future planting and documented hundreds of local seed varieties, helping protect the practice of saving and exchanging traditional seeds, the Swedish foundation said.
asserted
foundation → establish → seeds
A Georgian human rights group working to safeguard democracy
The Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association won the prize “for building and safeguarding Georgian democracy and sustaining civic power in the face of an autocratic crackdown.”
asserted
Association → work → crackdown
The group was founded in 1994 by volunteer lawyers who helped draft the country’s first postindependence constitution.
asserted
who → found → constitution
According to Right Livelihood, it has secured major legal victories that reshaped national policy, including protections for people with disabilities, free education for all children and compensation for victims of Soviet-era repression.
uncertain
that → accord → repression
A researcher who exposes harms that AI is already causing
Right Livelihood also honored AI researcher Timnit Gebru “for challenging concentrated power in artificial intelligence and pioneering digital technology rooted in justice, lived experience and human agency.”
asserted
Livelihood → expose → justice
Gebru, who was born in Ethiopia to a family of Eritrean origin, is the founder of the Distributed AI Research Institute.
asserted
who → bear → Institute
Right Livelihood said her work challenges the control that a small number of powerful companies exercise over AI and exposes harms that AI systems are already causing, particularly to communities facing discrimination and exclusion.
asserted
systems → say → discrimination
The Aporia
