Archbishop Desmond Tutu

Awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984 for his leadership in addressing apartheid in South Africa, Archbishop Tutu will receive the 2008 W. Averell Harriman Democracy Award for his global efforts on behalf of democracy since the 1992 democratic transition in South Africa.

The Harriman Award is presented annually to an individual or organization that has demonstrated a sustained commitment to democracy and human rights. Since retiring as Archbishop of Cape Town in 1996, Archbishop Tutu has been tireless and unfailing in his fight against oppression and injustice around the world. “If you are neutral in situations of injustice,” he has said, “you have chosen the side of the oppressor.” He has been particularly active in calling on worldwide action for democracy in countries such as Burma, Sudan, Zimbabwe, Palestine and South Africa.

He currently chairs The Elders, a group of 12 senior statesmen who have worked to address issues of democracy and human rights in Darfur, Burma, and the Middle East.  Archbishop Tutu has also been a relentless advocate for the release of his fellow Nobel Laureate and Elder, Aung San Suu Kyi, and for democracy in Burma.

The Harriman Award is presented annually to an individual or organization that has demonstrated a sustained commitment to democracy and human rights. Past recipients of the Harriman Award include Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan; the Organization of American States; the eight political party leaders who negotiated the Northern Ireland peace agreement; the late President of Pakistan Benazir Bhutto; Varela Project leader Oswaldo Payá of Cuba; Aung San Suu Kyi; Czech Republic President Vaclav Havel; the late Polish Foreign Minister Bronislaw Geremek; East Timor President Xanana Gusmão; Chile's 1988 Free Election Movement; the late Georgian Prime Minister Zurab Zhvania; former U.S. Presidents Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter; former Vice President Walter Mondale; Senators Edward Kennedy, Joseph Biden, Richard Lugar and George Mitchell; the late AFL-CIO President Lane Kirkland; Linda and the late Peter Biehl of the Amy Biehl Foundation in South Africa; and U.S. UN Ambassador Madeleine Albright.