Friba Baloch Named Winner of 2024 International Women of Courage Award
“Friba Baloch” has been announced as one of the winners of the 2024 International Women of Courage Award (IWOC).
Winners of the International Women of Courage Award (IWOC) have been selected annually since 2007 by senior officials of the U.S. State Department. The award is presented to women who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, and leadership in defense of peace, justice, human rights, gender equality, and the empowerment of women and girls. To date, more than 190 women activists from 90 countries around the world have won this award.
Last March, the honorary “Madeleine Albright” award was also presented to Iranian protesting women and girls during the 2023 International Women of Courage Award ceremony. Now, Friba Baloch, a women’s rights activist in Sistan and Baluchestan, has been announced by the U.S. State Department as the winner of the 2024 International Women of Courage Award.
The U.S. State Department said on Friday, March 1, in a statement noting that Friba Baloch is among 13 winners of the International Women of Courage Award: “Ms. Friba Baloch speaks candidly about women’s rights and the human rights crisis in Sistan and Baluchestan, which has been severely affected by regime violence, executions, and systematic discrimination.”
Emphasizing previous pressures from security agencies on Ms. Friba Baloch, the U.S. State Department added: “Nevertheless, Ms. Baloch believes that the only way forward is resistance, and she persists in her activism.”
Other winners of this award include “Benafsha Yaqoobi” from Afghanistan, “Vala Harbonovа” from Belarus, and “Mintzo Win” from Myanmar.
The International Women of Courage Award will be presented to the winners on Monday, March 4, during a ceremony attended by “Antony Blinken,” U.S. Secretary of State, and “Jill Biden,” First Lady of the United States, at the White House.
