Meet the 2026 Ramon Magsaysay awardees

The Ramon Magsaysay Awards are conferred annually in honor of Ramon Magsaysay, the seventh president of the Philippines, who served from 1953 to 1957. His administration was known for clean government, rural development, and justice, particularly for the poor. He sought to make government more accessible, guided by his belief that “those who have less in life should have more in law.”

Established in 1957, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation confers the awards on individuals and organizations across Asia who demonstrate transformational leadership and greatness of spirit in serving their communities. The awards recognize ordinary men and women and organizations doing extraordinary work, often against tremendous odds.

Over the past 68 years, more than 300 individuals and organizations have received the award, including the Dalai Lama and Mother Teresa. Many were recognized long before gaining wider international acclaim. Through vision, perseverance, and dedication, awardees have transformed ideas into impactful initiatives and created lasting change. Amid conflict, injustice, poverty, and social challenges, their work offers a powerful reminder of what committed individuals and organizations can accomplish.

This year’s three awardees exemplify this greatness of spirit. They come from different backgrounds, countries, and fields, but share a commitment to addressing pressing challenges and improving lives. Their impact is profound.

Bo Kyi from Myanmar is a former political prisoner arrested following the country’s pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988. He was imprisoned twice and spent seven years in detention, which shaped his commitment to human rights.

In 2000, he cofounded the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP) to support political detainees and their families and document human rights abuses under military rule. He developed a rigorous documentation and advocacy process covering arrests, prison conditions, torture, deaths, releases, and surveillance. Beyond recording abuses, AAPP’s work serves as truth-telling and preserves the public memory of detainees. Its database is considered so reliable that the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar, and Human Rights Watch use it to corroborate field reports. Bo Kyi has thus helped establish verified human rights intelligence that serves as a globally recognized evidentiary foundation for justice and accountability.

Runa Khan is an innovative humanitarian serving Bangladesh’s remote char communities, settlements in a vast river delta constantly reshaped by tides, floods, rising sea levels, and climate change. Their residents face recurring displacement and are, in many ways, climate refugees.

Recognizing that conventional development programs and physical infrastructure could not adequately reach these communities, she founded Friendship to deliver essential services innovatively. Beginning with a single hospital ship, the organization has grown to a fleet of seven hospital ships, two land-based hospitals, and 550 mobile clinics providing health care. Its work has expanded to education, climate adaptation through solar villages and mangrove forests, livelihood development, and social inclusion programs, reaching millions across the delta formed by three major rivers.

From an initial staff of 24 medical and hospital personnel, Friendship has grown to more than 7,500 employees, many of them residents of the char communities it serves. Her work shows how locally rooted solutions can deliver essential services and build resilience.

Tommy Koh from Singapore is a distinguished diplomat, legal scholar, educator, and leader in arts and civic institutions. Throughout his career, he has advanced international cooperation, dialogue, the rule of law, and peaceful dispute resolution. As one of Singapore’s ambassadors-at-large since 1990, he has used diplomacy and international law to balance great-power interests with the sovereignty of smaller states.

He chaired the successful conclusion of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (Unclos), following nine years of negotiations among 150 nations. Often called the “constitution for the oceans,” Unclos established a framework for the equitable and peaceful use of the world’s oceans and recognized the seas as a common heritage of humankind.

Koh also chaired the drafting committee of the Asean Charter in 2007, helping reconcile divergent regional interests. The Charter transformed Asean from an informal association into a rules-based legal entity under international law. His contributions highlight the importance of diplomacy, consensus-building, and strong institutions in fostering regional stability and international cooperation.

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Guillermo M. Luz is chair of Liveable Cities Philippines and a member of the board of trustees of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation.

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