IDC has been awarded the 2025 Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) Human Rights Award, in recognition of our global efforts to end immigration detention, champion human rights, and promote kinder, safer, cheaper and better alternatives to detention.
FES, Germany’s oldest political foundation, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Since 1994, it has awarded the Human Rights Award annually to honour those who have made a special contribution to advancing human rights.
This is one of the most significant awards in the human rights field, and we are proud to share this moment with our supporters, members and partners around the world.
Why this matters
Immigration detention is a cruel and failed policy. It separates families, damages health and wellbeing, and undermines human rights. IDC believes there is a better way and, over the past 16 years, we have worked alongside, governments, civil society, people with lived experience and UN agencies to deliver practical alternatives to detention.
Our work has helped to change laws and policies in some countries and to move people out of detention and into the community while their immigration case is decided, where they can be with loved ones and access education, healthcare and employment.
Receiving the FES Human Rights Award is an honour, and it affirms the importance of IDC’s mission and the impact of our supporters, members and partners across the globe. It highlights the urgency to end immigration detention and replace it with solutions rooted in evidence, dignity and respect for human rights.
This award comes at a pivotal time. In many parts of the world, we are witnessing a serious regression on the rights of migrants, including the criminalisation of migration. We need to take action on this. IDC’s work demonstrates that change is possible. Alongside our global allies, we will continue to work towards a future where no one is harmed by immigration detention.
Together, we will make immigration detention history.
