Nation-Building Lifetime Achievement Award (Public Sector)
Mr. Chen Guangcheng
Distinguished Visiting Fellow, Institute for Policy Research & Fellow of the Centre for Human Rights, School of Arts & Sciences
Chen Guangcheng is a Chinese civil rights activist. He is described as a “barefoot lawyer” who advocates for women’s rights, land rights, and the welfare of the poor in China. He is best known for advocating against brutal campaign to punish families trying to escape China’s restrictive “one-child” population-control policies.
His mission is to rectify injustices in China’s legal system. Even though he is blind, he has worked diligently and has had to face off against people in power. It even landed him in jail and had him fled to another country.
Chen has lived most of his life in darkness but here casts a beacon of light into the shadows for a lot of people in China.