The 31st North-South prize of the Council of Europe award ceremony took place on 19 May. This year’s edition holds particular significance as it takes place in the year marking the 50th anniversary of Portugal’s accession to the Council of Europe. The award was presented by the President of the Portuguese Republic António José Seguro, in a ceremony presided over by the President of the Assembly of the Portuguese Republic José Pedro Aguiar-Branco.
Awarded annually since 1995 to two candidates, the North-South prize honours two laureates chosen from the Global, North, and South categories.
The Jury* for the 2026 prize awarded it to Bragi Guðbrandsson and Rami Abou Jamous for their commitment to the defence and promotion of human rights, democracy and the rule of law as well as to the development of intercultural dialogue and the reinforcement of the North-South partnership and solidarity, in conformity with the principles and priorities of the Council of Europe.
Bragi Guðbrandsson is a distinguished children’s rights defender whose work has advanced child protection across Europe and beyond. He is widely recognised for pioneering the Barnahus (“Children’s House”) model and for his leadership in international human rights advocacy and monitoring.
"The term “Barnahus” literally means “House for Children”. The idea was simple but transformative: to place the child victim at the centre of a coordinated, multidisciplinary and child-friendly response under one roof,” Bragi Guðbrandsson said during the award ceremony. “The Lanzarote Convention marked a key milestone for child-friendly justice. The Lanzarote Committee and the Council of Europe were pivotal in advancing Barnahus and similar structures across Europe."
Rami Abou Jamous, a renowned war correspondent whose independent reporting has brought first-hand accounts of life under conflict to global audiences, is awarded the prize in recognition of his exceptional contribution to the defence of North-South dialogue, as well as the perilous conditions faced by journalists in Gaza today. Since he participated online, the prize was accepted on his behalf by Sarra Grira, Editor-in-Chief of Orient XXI, a media outlet.
“Being with you, in the House of Democracy, would have had profoundly symbolic significance. This place represents the meeting between history and the present — between the memory of struggles for freedom and today’s fights for human dignity,” Rami Abou Jamous said in his video address. “To inform is to resist erasure. To film is to preserve memory. To bear witness is to defend human dignity.”
The ceremony also included speeches by the acting president of the executive committee of the North-South Centre of the Council of Europe and Consul General of the Kingdom of Morocco in Strasbourg, Lalla Soumia Bouhamidi; and the Vice-President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, Antonio Gutiérrez Limones.
*The Jury is presided by the President of the North-South Centre executive committee and is made up of members of the bureau and a representative of the North-South Centre‘s host country, if the country’s representative is not a bureau member.
North-South Centre of the Council of Europe
