The Right Livelihood Award, widely known as the alternative Nobel Prize, has selected four laureates for 2025 from a field of 200 nominees across 72 countries. The jury said the winners confront some of the world's most entrenched power structures: authoritarian rule, patriarchal violence and the unregulated development of artificial intelligence. What unites them, in the jury's assessment, is a refusal to accept systems that push people to the margins.
The awards will be presented in Stockholm on 1 December. The prize was founded in 1980 by the German-Swedish writer and philatelist Jakob von Uexkull, who wanted to recognise practical solutions to the planet's most urgent problems after the Nobel Foundation declined to create environmental and development categories.
Four laureates, four fronts in the same struggle
Jalila Haider, a human rights lawyer from Pakistan, is honoured for breaking barriers as the first female lawyer from the Hazara community. The jury cited her work challenging ethnic, state and patriarchal persecution, guided by the conviction that no person should be forced into illegality. Her recognition places a spotlight on the Hazara, a Shia minority that has faced decades of targeted violence in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
The Rural Women's Assembly is recognised for building a movement of rural women across southern Africa. According to the citation, the organisation has enabled women to defend their land, seeds and bodily autonomy against corporate interests and patriarchal exploitation. The award highlights how food sovereignty and gender justice are increasingly intertwined in the region.
The Georgian Young Lawyers' Association receives the prize for its efforts to build and safeguard Georgian democracy and to protect civilian control of power, work carried out under conditions of political repression. Georgia, a candidate for EU membership, has seen its civic space contract sharply in recent years, making the association's legal defence of democratic institutions all the more consequential.
Timnit Gebru, an Ethiopian-born computer scientist, is honoured for challenging concentrated power in artificial intelligence and for pioneering digital technologies grounded in justice, lived experience and human agency. Her work has made her a leading critic of the unchecked expansion of AI systems and the corporate interests that drive them.
A European echo
The themes recognised by the jury resonate across Europe, where women continue to face structural inequality in areas from healthcare to political representation. A recent World Health Organization study found that women in Europe's health sector earn 19% less per hour than their male colleagues, a gap that persists despite women making up the majority of the workforce. Another study showed that women receive less invasive care than men for the same medical conditions, pointing to systemic biases in clinical decision-making.
In the political sphere, the European Parliament has itself honoured those who stood against violent extremism, including a Greek rapper murdered by Golden Dawn, a reminder that the fight against authoritarian movements is far from abstract. The Right Livelihood laureates operate in different contexts, but their struggles against patriarchal violence and unaccountable power echo concerns that European institutions and civil society grapple with daily.
The jury's decision to highlight AI governance also lands in a continent that has taken a global lead in regulating the technology. The EU's AI Act, which entered into force in 2024, seeks to set guardrails around high-risk systems, though critics argue enforcement remains uneven. Gebru's recognition underscores the urgency of ensuring that AI development serves human agency rather than undermining it.
For the Georgian Young Lawyers' Association, the award arrives at a delicate moment. Georgia's democratic trajectory has been questioned by European partners, and the association's work to protect civilian control of power is a reminder that legal activism can be a bulwark against backsliding. The prize may bring international attention to their cause, but it also highlights the risks faced by those who challenge entrenched interests.
The Right Livelihood Award has a long history of elevating voices that mainstream institutions overlook. By choosing four women and women-led organisations, the jury has sent a clear signal: the fight against authoritarianism, patriarchy and unregulated technology is not a series of separate battles but a single struggle for a more just world. The laureates will receive their awards in Stockholm, where their work will be celebrated alongside that of past honourees who have gone on to shape global debates.
