KABUL, AFGHANISTAN – Jalila Haider, a Pakistani Hazara human rights lawyer and activist, has been named one of the recipients of the 2026 Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the “Alternative Nobel Prize.”
The Stockholm-based Right Livelihood Foundation announced the 2026 laureates on Wednesday, September 30. Alongside Haider, the Rural Women’s Assembly from Southern Africa, the Georgian Young Lawyers’ Association (GYLA), and US-based artificial intelligence researcher Timnit Gebru were also named recipients.
The foundation said Haider was recognised for challenging ethnic, state and patriarchal persecution and for defending some of Pakistan’s most vulnerable communities. It described her as the first female lawyer from Pakistan’s Hazara community to receive the award.
Haider has combined legal aid, street activism and community organising in her work with ethnic and religious minorities, refugees and gender minorities. The foundation said her legal work has helped secure justice for thousands of people who have been targeted or overlooked by those in power.
In 2018, Haider led a seven-day hunger strike in Quetta to protest the targeted killings of Hazaras in Pakistan. According to the Right Livelihood Foundation, the protest resulted in direct negotiations between the Pakistani army chief and Hazara women and was followed by a sustained decrease in attacks against the community.
The foundation also said Haider’s law firm has helped more than 600 political activists and human rights defenders regain freedom of movement.
The other laureates were recognised for work addressing different forms of entrenched power. The Rural Women’s Assembly was honoured for organising rural women across Southern Africa around land, seed and bodily autonomy rights. GYLA was recognised for defending democracy and civic power in Georgia, while Gebru was honoured for challenging concentrated power in the artificial intelligence sector and promoting technology grounded in justice and human agency.
The Right Livelihood Foundation said the 2026 laureates share a focus on challenging systems that marginalise people, including authoritarian rule, patriarchal violence and the unchecked development of artificial intelligence. The foundation said the award also comes with long-term support intended to strengthen and expand the laureates’ work.
The foundation said 200 nominations from 72 countries were considered for the 2026 award. The laureates will be formally honoured at a televised award ceremony in Stockholm on December 1, 2026.
The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 and has since recognised individuals and organisations working on issues including human rights, peace, environmental protection and social justice. The foundation says that, to date, 207 laureates from 82 countries have received the award. Previous recipients include Ukrainian human rights defender Oleksandra Matviichuk, Congolese gynaecologist and women’s rights advocate Denis Mukwege, US civil rights lawyer Bryan Stevenson and Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg.
