Justice For Myanmar named 2025 Right Livelihood laureate amid calls for global action

Justice For Myanmar (JFM) has been named a 2025 laureate of the Right Livelihood Award, an international recognition often dubbed the “Alternative Nobel Prize”.

The award honours global efforts towards justice, peace, and sustainability. JFM was recognised for its role in exposing and challenging the financial and international support networks sustaining Myanmar’s military junta.

Founded as a covert activist initiative, Justice For Myanmar has led investigations and campaigns since the military’s attempted coup on 1 February, 2021. The group has consistently spotlighted the junta’s international enablers, including multinational corporations, banks, and governments.

In a statement following the announcement, JFM accepted the award on behalf of the people of Myanmar, “who continue to resist the junta at great personal risk and sacrifice”.

According to JFM, the award serves as a powerful reminder that Myanmar’s struggle for federal democracy and peace has not been forgotten.

The military, known locally as the Tatmadaw, launched a brutal crackdown following the 2021 coup attempt. Independent reports, including from the United Nations, have documented mass killings, arbitrary arrests, airstrikes on civilian populations, and systematic human rights abuses.

Justice For Myanmar stated that these actions amount to international crimes. The same military figures accused of leading genocidal attacks against the Rohingya are now under investigation by the International Criminal Court and subject to arrest warrants issued by Argentina’s federal criminal court.

As the junta prepares for a proposed December 2025 general election, widely condemned as illegitimate, violence against civilians has reportedly intensified.

JFM argues the election is a tactic to legitimise military rule, which has failed to quell popular resistance. Civil disobedience movements, ethnic armed organisations, and grassroots campaigns continue to oppose military control.

The group emphasised that the junta's operations are only possible through international complicity. It claims that foreign governments, corporations, and financial institutions continue to arm and support the military despite widespread documentation of atrocities.

JFM campaigns have targeted the military’s “lifelines”, including corporate supply chains, global arms trading networks, and aviation fuel providers. The group has repeatedly called for sanctions and divestment to block military-linked funding.

Spokesperson Yadanar Maung stated: “We accept this award in honour of those who continue to resist the Myanmar military cartel with extraordinary courage, dignity, and strength. It belongs to the many people of Myanmar who have lost their lives to secure a future free from the military’s brutality.”

She called for renewed global action, urging governments to reject the junta’s upcoming election and impose coordinated sanctions, particularly to block aviation fuel and arms supplies.

Maung added: “This award strengthens our resolve. It sends a clear message to the junta and its enablers: the world is watching, and the people of Myanmar will not be forgotten.”

Justice For Myanmar stands alongside three other laureates for the 2025 Right Livelihood Award:

• Emergency Response Rooms (Sudan), for providing critical humanitarian response during Sudan’s civil conflict

• Pacific Islands Students Fighting Climate Change, for legal advocacy seeking climate justice

• Julian Aguon (Guam), for legal and cultural defence of Indigenous rights

• Audrey Tang (Taiwan), for pioneering digital democracy and participatory governance

The Right Livelihood Award was established in 1980 and has since recognised 203 laureates from 81 countries. Each year, four individuals or organisations are selected for offering “practical solutions to global problems”.

Justice For Myanmar’s inclusion among the 2025 laureates places a renewed spotlight on the situation in Myanmar as it approaches a critical political juncture.

The award announcement coincides with increased international concern over the junta’s human rights record and its legitimacy. While some governments have imposed targeted sanctions, JFM and other civil society organisations argue that enforcement remains inconsistent and insufficient.

Calls are growing for more coordinated international measures to isolate the military economically and politically.

As Myanmar’s military prepares for the controversial 2025 election, human rights observers warn that ongoing violence could escalate, particularly in resistance strongholds.