Morocco Dropped from 2025 Nelson Mandela Award Over Damning Human Rights Record
The United Nations has officially awarded the 2025 Nelson Mandela Prize to Brenda Reynolds of Canada and Kennedy Odede of Kenya, following an intense campaign led by victims of the Moroccan regime against the Moroccan nominee, Amina Bouayach, due to what they described as the country’s “dark human rights record,” according to the Sahrawi Press Agency (SPS).
The nomination of Amina Bouayach, head of Morocco’s National Human Rights Council, sparked a wave of outrage. The selection committee received a barrage of letters, petitions, and condemnations from Sahrawi organizations, Moroccan human rights defenders, and activists from the Rif region. Critics viewed the nomination as a “betrayal of Nelson Mandela’s legacy and his struggle for justice.”
Sources close to the selection committee revealed that the scale and reach of the objections “surprised” committee members and ultimately led to Bouayach’s exclusion from consideration.
Victims of the Moroccan regime—including Sahrawis, Rifians, journalists, and former political prisoners—expressed deep anger over the nomination of a figure they say has played a role in whitewashing the Moroccan state’s ongoing human rights violations.
Sahrawi groups firmly rejected the nomination, calling it a “historic disgrace” and a “betrayal of the values of justice, dignity, and freedom embodied by the African leader.” They warned that honoring Bouayach would amount to “whitewashing the crimes of Moroccan occupation,” describing the nomination as not only a distortion of Mandela’s ideals but an insult to the sacrifices of peoples still living under occupation.
Moroccan human rights advocates and journalists echoed this sentiment, branding the nomination a “moral and political scandal” and a formal attempt to sanitize the country’s repressive track record. They urged the UN to revoke the nomination to preserve the credibility of its institutions.
They emphasized that such a nomination “insults the integrity of the United Nations,” stressing that the Nelson Mandela Prize is meant to honor individuals who embody humanitarian values, selflessness, and principled leadership in the face of injustice.
The UN ultimately selected Brenda Reynolds, a Canadian advocate for Indigenous rights, and Kennedy Odede, a Kenyan grassroots leader, in recognition of their work promoting justice, empowering communities, and resisting oppression—principles central to Nelson Mandela’s life and legacy. The award will be presented by UN Secretary-General António Guterres on July 18, International Nelson Mandela Day.
Established in 2014, the Nelson Mandela Prize is awarded every five years to two individuals whose work reflects the late South African president’s legacy of leadership, humility, service, and unity across borders.
