Washington, D.C. — The National Endowment for Democracy (NED) congratulates Bo Kyi, co-founder of NED partner the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) and a former Reagan-Fascell Democracy Fellow at the Endowment, on receiving the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Award. His selection is in recognition of extraordinary moral courage and personal sacrifice on behalf of human rights in Burma.
The Ramon Magsaysay Award, often described as Asia’s Nobel Prize, recognizes individuals and organizations for courageous public service and dedication to democratic values in their communities. Bo Kyi is being honored for more than two decades of work providing aid to political prisoners and at-risk human rights defenders, leading high-impact international advocacy on their behalf, and helping many continue their activism despite extreme repression.
For more than 25 years, NED has supported AAPP’s work to document rights abuses and provide critical assistance to political prisoners and their families. With NED support, Bo Kyi has worked with AAPP to provide financial assistance, safe houses, and psychosocial support to at-risk activists to sustain efforts to secure fundamental freedoms for the people of Burma. The organization is also preserving evidence of regime crimes to inform future accountability efforts. Bo Kyi’s assistance to political prisoners and rights defenders is rooted in his own firsthand experiences with repression in Burma, having himself spent more than seven years behind bars for his activism.
“For decades, Bo Kyi has helped ensure that the voices of Burma’s political prisoners can reach the world,” said NED President and CEO Damon Wilson. “His courageous leadership has sustained fellow activists through imprisonment and persecution, while helping preserve evidence that lays the groundwork for future accountability. This honor is a powerful testament to Bo Kyi’s extraordinary service and the resilience of Burma’s pro-democracy movement.”
Established in 1958 in honor of former Philippine President Ramon Magsaysay, the Ramon Magsaysay Award is presented annually to individuals and organizations for outstanding contributions to government and public service, community leadership, peacebuilding, and emerging leadership.
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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.
