Washington, D.C., February 10, 2026 — The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) congratulates Aziza Abdirasulova, founder and director of its grantee Kylym Shamy, on being awarded the 2026 Raoul Wallenberg Prize for extraordinary courage and commitment to the defense of human rights. NED has supported Kylym Shamy for nearly twenty years.
The Raoul Wallenberg Prize, presented by the Council of Europe, honors individuals and organizations whose work reflects the moral clarity and bravery exemplified by Wallenberg’s efforts to save thousands of Jewish lives during the Holocaust. The prize recognizes Abdirasulova’s decades-long leadership in exposing torture and arbitrary detention, defending prisoners’ rights, and protecting the freedom of peaceful assembly in the Kyrgyz Republic and across Central Asia.
“Aziza Abdirasulova’s work represents the best of what citizen-led human rights defense looks like,” said Damon Wilson, President and CEO of the National Endowment for Democracy. “She and her colleagues consistently stood with those facing repression, often at great personal risk, and helped ensure that abuses were documented and challenged when silence would have been easier.”
Under Abdirasulova’s leadership, Kylym Shamy’s defense of freedom of assembly, opposition to torture, and visible support for peaceful protesters was essential to the human rights gains made during this period. The organization documented abuses, provided legal support to victims, and ensured that violations reached national and international scrutiny.
“The Raoul Wallenberg Prize is a powerful recognition of the courage required to defend human dignity in difficult environments,” Wilson added. “NED is proud to have stood alongside Kylym Shamy for so many years and congratulates Aziza Abdirasulova on this well-deserved honor.”
The Raoul Wallenberg Prize is awarded biennially to individuals, groups, or organizations that demonstrate exceptional humanitarian commitment and moral courage in the defense of human rights.
About the National Endowment for Democracy
NED is a private, nonprofit foundation dedicated to advancing freedom and democracy worldwide. Established in 1983 as part of President Reagan’s vision to foster an “infrastructure of democracy” with a bipartisan Congressional mandate, NED supports grassroots leaders striving for the freedom to think, speak, worship, engage politically, and support their families without fear. It mobilizes key pillars of American democracy, from political parties to business and labor, to support their counterparts abroad through the Core institutes that form the NED family: the International Republican Institute, the National Democratic Institute, the Center for International Private Enterprise, and the Solidarity Center.
