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Speech by Alain Berset, Secretary General of the Council of Europe

Ambassador Rusz,
Ambassador Kebbon,
Excellencies,
Mr. Liddell, Chair of the Raoul Wallenberg Prize Jury,
Ms Abdirasulova, recipient of the Raoul Wallenberg Prize,
Colleagues and friends,
In the spring of 1944, Hungary’s Jews were being deported in numbers never seen before.

Every day, thousands of people were taken away, most of them to Auschwitz.

Budapest became a city of yellow stars, lists, and sudden knocks on doors.

A 32-year-old Swedish diplomat arrived and began handing out protective passports, the Schutz-Pass.

Thousands of them.

He marked buildings as Swedish protected houses.

He argued at gates, on sidewalks, at the edge of convoys, with nothing but paper and nerve.

He used the weight of a neutral flag to pull people back from certain death.

Those actions saved tens of thousands of lives.

His name was Raoul Wallenberg.

The prize that bears his name was created by the Council of Europe, with the support of the Swedish government and the Hungarian Parliament, to honour those who act when protection fails.

Since its creation, the Raoul Wallenberg Prize has been awarded to people and organisations who act where harm is immediate and protection is fragile.

On Mediterranean islands, helping refugees as they arrive.

In hospitals forced underground to keep treating the wounded.

In courtrooms, using cases to challenge discrimination against entire communities.

And in shelters, where women’s safety depends on whether help arrives in time.

Aziza Abdirasulova entered human rights work by asking questions that authorities did not want asked.

As an election observer, she documented violations and was arrested for it.

That was the moment it all began.

Through Kylym Shamy, she documented torture and arbitrary detention.

She worked with prisoners and their families, and brought cases into the open when silence was the safer option.

She also defended the right to assemble peacefully when protest was treated as a threat to the state.

This is playing out today — wherever protest is answered with arrests, violence, and silence, including in Iran.

When pressure turned personal, when she was publicly singled out and forced to leave her country, Ms. Abdirasulova returned to Kyrgyzstan.

Not because the risks were gone, but because the questions were still there.

The Council of Europe has worked with Kyrgyzstan before and remains ready to resume that cooperation, in support of human rights, the rule of law, and democratic standards.

It would be easy, in the geopolitical moment we are living through, to focus only on power shifts, crises, and the decisions of those at the top.

But we would miss those who notice what is happening before it becomes visible.

Who ask the questions that societies prefer not to face, and then stay long enough to insist on answers.

Those like Raoul Wallenberg who refused to accept that nothing could be done, and turned our values into action.

That is what Aziza Abdirasulova has done.

And that is why we are proud to have her here with us today.

Thank you.