Freedom House Awards 2025 Mark Palmer Prize to Miklós Haraszti

WASHINGTON—Freedom House awarded the 2025 Mark Palmer Prize to Miklós Haraszti of Hungary, a pioneering dissident, writer, and diplomat. The award was presented at an event cohosted by Freedom House and Georgetown University last night. 

“We are thrilled to honor Miklós Haraszti with the Mark Palmer Prize,” said Gerardo Berthin and Annie Boyajian, presidents of Freedom House. “Throughout his decades of service in government and as a leading human rights diplomat, Haraszti has consistently worked to bolster democratic institutions and uphold fundamental freedoms, beginning with his efforts to expand free expression in Hungary and extending through his distinguished roles with the United Nations and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. He exemplifies the spirit of Ambassador Mark Palmer’s legacy—demonstrating how effective diplomacy can strengthen civil society and advance the cause of freedom.” 

The Mark Palmer Prize, given in honor of the late US ambassador, Freedom House trustee, and foreign policy innovator Mark Palmer, recognizes diplomats and civil servants who have gone beyond the normal course of their duties to promote democracy and human rights. 

“I am deeply honored to accept the Mark Palmer Prize,” said Miklós Haraszti. “In the 1980s, as a clandestine free press editor and a civil rights campaigner, I had the privilege of working alongside Ambassador Palmer and saw firsthand his unwavering commitment to helping Hungary and other nations make the transition from dictatorship to democracy. His example of principled, engaged diplomacy left an indelible mark on me. Having grown up in an unfree Hungary and later served internationally to help others secure the same rights my country once fought for, I am reminded that the work of advancing democracy and human rights can never rest. I hope my own journey will encourage future generations to carry that work forward.”

Haraszti has spent his life advancing democracy, human rights, and freedom of expression throughout Europe and Eurasia—from his days as a dissident writer in communist Hungary to his later roles as an international human rights diplomat. In the 1970s and 1980s, he helped transform Hungary’s emerging civil society into a force for democratic change, cofounding the Democratic Opposition movement and editing its underground journal Beszélő. He was imprisoned for his writing in 1973, but nonetheless helped forge cross-border cooperation among Central and Eastern European democracy movements, and took part in the historic 1989 negotiations that led to free elections in Hungary. As a member of parliament with the Free Democrats, he authored postcommunist Hungary’s first laws on press freedom. 

In 2004, Haraszti was elected by 56 participating states as the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Representative on Freedom of the Media, serving two terms and becoming a trusted voice on press freedom across the postcommunist region. He later served as the first UN special rapporteur on the human rights situation in Belarus and as the head of multiple OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) election observation missions, including in the United States, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan. 

Throughout his career, Haraszti has stood in solidarity with civil society and persecuted journalists in repressive environments—visiting political prisoners, advocating publicly for their release, and demonstrating how diplomacy grounded in principle can advance the cause of freedom worldwide. 

“For decades Haraszti has championed democratic reform, freedom of speech, and civil liberties through both his powerful pen and his principled diplomacy,” said Sushma Palmer, Freedom House trustee and chair of the Mark Palmer Prize Committee. “Mark held great admiration for Miklós and his tireless work for freedom in Hungary. It is deeply meaningful to honor someone who not only shared Mark’s friendship but also embodies the same courage and conviction that defined his life’s work.” 

The Mark Palmer 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. 

Freedom House is now soliciting nominations for the 2026 Mark Palmer Prize. Nominations must be submitted via the nomination web page here by December 1, 2025. 

Freedom House is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization that works to create a world where all are free. We inform the world about threats to freedom, mobilize global action, and support democracy’s defenders.