Magnitsky Awards
Presenter’s Bio

Bianca Jagger has committed her life to defending human rights, social justice, and environmental protection. At the heart of her human rights work is promoting women’s rights, achieving gender equality, and ending violence against women and girls. In her role as Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador to Abolish the Death Penalty, she campaigns for the world abolition of capital punishment.

Born in Managua, Nicaragua, Bianca Jagger left her native country to study political science in Paris with a scholarship from the French Government. She is a Nicaraguan and British citizen.

She is Founder and President of the Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF), which she established in 2005 to be a force for change and a voice for the most vulnerable.

She is Council of Europe Goodwill Ambassador, a Member of the Executive Director’s Leadership Council for Amnesty International USA and IUCN Bonn Challenge Ambassador.

Bianca Jagger is the recipient of numerous prestigious awards, including  The Right Livelihood Award (2004) also known as the ‘alternative Nobel prize’ for her “long-standing commitment and dedicated campaigning over a wide range of issues of human rights, social justice and environmental protection, including the abolition of the death penalty, the prevention of child abuse, the rights of indigenous peoples and the environment that supports them, and the prevention and healing of armed conflicts”.

Her other awards for human rights, humanitarian and environmental work include:

• The United Nations Earth Day International Award (1994)
• Abolitionist of the Year Award by the National Coalition to Abolish the Death Penalty (1996)
• The Amnesty International USA Media Spotlight Award for Leadership (1997)
• The Green Globe Award from the Rainbow Alliance (1997)
• American Civil Liberties Union Award (1998)
• National Association of Criminal Defence Lawyer Champion of Justice Award (2000)
• The World Achievement Award (2004)
• The World Citizenship Award from The Nuclear Age Peace Foundation (2006)
• Lifetime Achievement Award at the Latin-UK Awards (LUKAS) (2015)
• The Nuestra Madre Award from Americas for Conservation and the Arts (2015)
• The Mayahuel Award at the Guadalajara International Film Festival and the Iguana del Oro Award at the Puerto Vallarta International Film Festival (2016)

She has received four doctorates, honoris causa:

• Doctorate in Human Rights from the University of Roehampton, 2017
• Doctorate in Law from the University of East London, 2010
• Doctorate of Human Rights from Simmons College, Boston, Massachusetts, 2008
• Doctorate of Humanities from Stonehill College, Massachusetts, 1983

 

Social media:

Personal accounts – Instagram / Facebook / LinkedIn (@BiancaJagger)

The Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation (BJHRF) accounts – Twitter (@TheBJHRF) / Instagram (@bjhrf) / Facebook (Bianca Jagger Human Rights Foundation)