Tommy Koh, Bo Kyi, Runa Khan Named Magsaysay Award Winners — SkimNews
Get the Geopolitics newsletter
Daily geopolitics — wars, elections, sanctions, the diplomatic moves that move markets. Free.
- Tommy Koh, an 88-year-old Singaporean lawyer and diplomat, won for presiding over a U.N. conference of more than 150 countries that adopted the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea in 1982 — a treaty the awards body called a 'constitution for the oceans' that defines territorial waters and provides mechanisms for settling maritime disputes.
- Bo Kyi, 61, of Myanmar, won after spending seven years in prison for resistance against military human rights violations; he co-founded the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners in March 2000 to document political imprisonment and support detainees and their families.
- Runa Khan, 67, of Bangladesh, won for her 'profound empathy for the poorest of the poor' — after teaching underprivileged children in 1979, she established Friendship Bangladesh in 2002 to help the destitute address climate change, education, women's empowerment, and social justice.
- The Ramon Magsaysay Awards announced three winners on Monday representing Singapore, Myanmar, and Bangladesh, recognizing work spanning maritime law, political prisoner advocacy under military rule, and grassroots poverty alleviation.
- The Assistance Association for Political Prisoners has devoted itself to ensuring the 'continued visibility of the junta's political prisoners in Myanmar,' per the awards body — a mission that persists despite Bo Kyi's own years of incarceration.
Why it matters: The three honorees represent distinct pathways of Asian public service: Koh's legal architecture for maritime nations (150+ signatory countries), Bo Kyi's documentation of Myanmar's political prisoners at personal cost (seven years imprisoned), and Khan's grassroots poverty work reaching Bangladesh's most destitute. By elevating these specific causes — ocean governance, junta-era political imprisonment, and climate-linked rural poverty — the award funnels international attention onto problems that rarely share a spotlight.
Ask SkimNews