Gisèle Pélicot, winner of the Freedom Prize 2025
Awarded by young people aged 15 to 25 from all over the world, every year the Freedom Prize honours an individual or organisation involved in a remarkable fight for freedom.
More than 10,000 young people from 84 countries have just elected Gisèle Pélicot winner of the seventh edition of the Freedom Prize for her fight against the trivialisation of rape and sexual violence. Online voting by young people from all over the world took place from 20 March to 30 April 2025. The other two nominees were: the WAPA (War-Affected People’s Association) and Melati Wijsen.
The 2025 Freedom Prize ceremony will be held on Tuesday 3 June at 2 p.m. at the Zénith de Caen in the presence of more than 3,000 young people and 30 World War II veterans.
Gisèle Pélicot: born in 1952, she has become a prominent figure in the fight against sexual violence. From 2011 to 2020, her husband, Dominique Pélicot, drugged her without her knowledge, allowing 50 men to rape her at their home in Mazan. At the 2024 trial, she waived anonymity and having the trial conducted behind closed doors to shift the shame from the victims to the aggressors and raise awareness of violence under chemical control. This approach earned her international recognition. On 19 December 2024, Avignon Criminal Court found all of the defendants guilty. Today, Gisèle Pélicot continues her fight against the trivialisation of rape and sexual violence.YouTube link
WAPA – War-Affected People’s Association: Belgian association that fights against the use of children in armed conflicts and for their rehabilitation. In countries of the Global South, WAPA collaborates with local partners in post-conflict countries or those in transition towards peace (Uganda, Colombia, Sri Lanka, etc.) and finances their rehabilitation programmes. At international level, WAPA also conducts awareness and advocacy campaigns on the issue of child soldiers in order to put an end to their recruitment (prevention, demobilisation, rehabilitation). YouTube link
Melati Wijsen: born in 2000, Melati Wijsen began her activism journey at the age of 12 when she founded “Bye Bye Plastic Bags” with her sister, Isabel. Together, they rallied thousands of children and tourists and obtained, by decree, a ban on the sale and distribution of plastic bags, packaging and straws on their island, Bali. Since then, Melati has spoken on world stages from TED to the UN, recently co-chaired the World Economic Forum’s GPAP committee, served on the inaugural Expert Advisory Panel for the Earthshot Prize and premiered her film, „Bigger Than Us” (directed by Flore Vasseur and produced by Marion Cotillard), at the 74th Cannes Film Festival in 2021. Melati believes in the power of her generation and is now developing Youthtopia, an education and tool-sharing platform for young people who want to get involved. YouTube link
A unique prize voted for and awarded by young people from around the world
Created and supported by the Normandy Region in association with the International Institute for Human Rights and Peace, the academic authorities and the Canopé network, the Freedom Prize is an educational tool to raise awareness of freedom, peace and human rights, rooted in the values upheld by the D-Day landings of 6 June 1944. Every year, it invites young people aged 15 to 25 in France and around the world to nominate an individual or organisation involved in a recent and remarkable fight for freedom.
„In the current context of tensions and violations of basic human rights, it is important to give young people the opportunity to express their concerns and hopes. The Freedom Prize enables young people from around the world to spotlight the fight undertaken by champions of freedom, a value dear to the Normandy Region.” Hervé Morin, President of the Normandy Region.
Bertrand Deniaud, Vice-President of the Normandy Region: “Gisèle Pélicot being elected winner by the world’s youth sends a new message that demonstrates its commitment to the human being and the protection of personal integrity. The freedom to choose one’s partner, to maintain one’s free will in all circumstances is the message sent by these young people who salute the courage of Gisèle Pélicot for having put the spotlight of judgement on the perpetrators and not the victims. „
Ouissem Belgacem, President of the Jury of the Freedom Prize 2025: “The Freedom Prize celebrates people, male and female, all over the world who defend the freedom to think, to live, to love or simply to be. It is a powerful imparting action that places young people at the heart of decision-making, to honour courage and heroism in universal struggles, which are always relevant, never over. „
Highlights of the seventh edition of the Freedom Prize
The 2025 edition was structured around an educational programme comprising 3 key stages:
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The call for proposals „Our Freedom Prize 2025”, which closed on 13 January 2025, allowed any young person, who wished to do so, to put forward an individual or an organisation. 2,050 young people aged 15 to 25 from all over the world proposed 853 candidates.
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The deliberations of the international jury composed of 24 young people from 14 countries: Europe (Germany, Hungary, Portugal, Serbia, Poland), Asia (Jordan, Syria), Africa (Madagascar, Morocco, Senegal, Uganda/Rwanda) and America (Bolivia, United States, Mexico). The jury, chaired by Ouissem Belgacem , ex-professional footballer and writer, announced the names of the three nominees for the seventh edition of the Freedom Prize: Gisèle Pélicot, the WAPA and Melati Wijsen.
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An online vote from 20 March to 30 April 2025, open to young people aged 15 to 25, of any nationality.
With the support of the International Institute for Human Rights and Peace, young people participate in an educational programme that helps them understand human rights issues and encourages them to express their own opinions on various topics such as freedom of expression, democracy and tolerance.
Several voting events took place in nearly 20 educational establishments in France and abroad: Rouen, Lyon, Hanover, Göttingen, Atlanta, Antananarivo , etc. – with a guest speaker in attendance and a voting session to elect the winner of the 2025 Freedom Prize.
We remind you that the Freedom Prize was awarded in 2019 to Greta Thunberg for her fight for climate justice; to Loujain Al Hathloul in 2020 for her fight for women’s rights in Saudi Arabia; to Sonita Alizada in 2021 for her fight against the forced marriage of young girls in Afghanistan; in 2022 to the Child’s Right and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN) founded by Sam Itauma, for its fight against discrimination against “witch children” in Nigeria; in 2023 to the Club des jeunes filles leaders de Guinée (Club of Young Girls Leaders of Guinea), founded by Hadja Idrissa Bah, for its fight against forced marriage and female genital mutilation; and in 2024 to Motaz Azaïza, a young Palestinian journalist who covered the conflict in Gaza, for his fight for freedom of the press and the right to information.
