Myanmar Won in Human Rights Press Awards 2023

Last updated on September 20th, 2023 at 10:57 am

Human Rights Watch announced today that the 2023 Human Rights Press Awards winners included reporting on Hong Kong’s fifth wave of Covid, Myanmar’s Rohingya abuses, and Taiwanese universities’ human trafficking of African students. Human Rights Watch and ASU’s Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication administer the awards.

On World Press Freedom Day, May 3, the awards for Asian human rights reporting were announced. After the Chinese government imposed a harsh national security law in Hong Kong in June 2020, at least nine media outlets closed. Human Rights Watch and Arizona State University took over the awards.

More- Human Rights Press Awards Announce 2023 Winners Reporting on Covid, Myanmar Military Take Top Prizes

“These awards recognize the journalists who are shedding light on some of the most critical issues of our time in Asia,” said Human Rights Watch executive director Tirana Hassan. “This kind of journalism, often undertaken in extraordinarily difficult conditions, is essential to exposing human rights abuses and we are thrilled to honor these courageous reporters.”

406 submissions from 33 countries were received for the 16 award categories, which included breaking news, commentary, writing, photography, video, audio, and multimedia. A distinguished panel of journalists, editors, and human rights experts judged 2022 Chinese or English reporting entries.

“This year’s awardees are now part of a proud tradition of outstanding human rights reporting in Asia – a tradition we intend to expand to other regions in the coming years to recognize such impressive and impactful human rights journalism from around the globe,” said Battinto L. Batts, Jr., Ph.D., dean of Arizona State University’s Cronkite School of Journalism.

Reuters’ English investigative reporting on Myanmar’s military abuses of Rohingya and democracy activists won the top prize. The team’s regional knowledge and contacts revealed the junta’s crackdown’s planning and devastation under tight reporting constraints.

The Reporter, a Taiwanese nonprofit, won the Chinese investigative reporting award for its coverage of African student trafficking by Taiwanese universities. The Taiwanese government charged criminals after journalists uncovered a network. Reporters humanized this issue with multiple in-depth interviews. Some students returned to school.

The British newspaper The Guardian won the English documentary prize for “The Great Abandonment: the extraordinary exodus of India’s migrant laborers,” which showed how hundreds of thousands of daily wage migrant workers in India walked for days to return to their villages after the government announced an abrupt lockdown to manage the COVID-19 pandemic.

Ming Pao, a Hong Kong newspaper, won the Chinese breaking news award for its series on Covid’s fifth wave in Hong Kong last spring (articles 1, 2, 3, and 4). The reporters risked their lives by embedding themselves in public hospitals that were short on beds and other resources.

Chinese surveillance, Taiwanese aid workers, and Nepali child laborers. Insufficient entries prevented student categories from being awarded this year. 

Due to Hong Kong’s national security law, the 2022 winners will also be announced this year. To check out the list of winners go here!