Saraswati Nepali, a social activist and President of the Dalit Society Development Forum, has been awarded the Global Anti-Racism Champions (GARC) Award by the US Department of State.

A lifelong human rights defender of the rights of marginalized castes, the disabled, and the poor, Saraswati, for over twenty years, has been working on defending and advancing the human rights of members of the most marginalized ethnic communities in Nepal. 

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken presented Nepali with the award for her work in Nepal during a ceremony at the State Department in Washington, DC, on Wednesday.

“Saraswati has played a crucial role in Dalit social justice movements to acquire land rights, gain access to education, and obtain equal justice from the courts,” reads a profile of Nepali on the US Department of State website.

The award, established in 2023, honors individuals from civil society globally who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength, leadership, and commitment to advancing the human rights of members of marginalized racial, ethnic, and Indigenous communities.

The US Embassy in Nepal, through a Facebook post, congratulated Nepali for her recognition as a 2023 Global Anti-Racism Champion.

Along with Nepali, five other individuals from various countries were also felicitated with the award.

Kari Guajajara, 28, an indigenous leader from the Brazilian Amazon, Oswaldo Bilbao Lobatón, an Afro-Peruvian activist; Victorina Luca, human rights lawyer from Moldova and the founder of the Roma Awareness Foundation; Tunisian activist Saadia Mosbah and Rani Yan Yan, an indigenous human rights defender and women’s rights activist from Bangladesh, were among the recipients of this year’s award.