Veteran diplomat Tommy Koh wins Ramon Magsaysay Award

He has demanded the release of all political prisoners in his country, including former leader Aung San Suu Kyi, and helped raise funds to support the detainees and their families, it said.

Meanwhile, Ms Khan won the award for “her profound empathy for the poorest of the poor in her country”.

Coming from an affluent family, she first served as a teacher to poor children in 1979. 

In 2002, she established an organisation called “Friendship Bangladesh” that helped the most destitute “deal with climate change, educate their children, empower women, create livelihood opportunities and bring social justice to the excluded,” said RMAF.

The 67-year-old’s group now employs more than 7,500 people, with seven hospital ships, two land-based hospitals and 550 mobile clinics, it said.

“In her hands, privilege became not an entitlement, but a responsibility; not a family legacy to protect, but a gift to be shared so that others, too, might have the chance to live with hope, opportunity and dignity,” the foundation said.

The winners will be recognised at the Metropolitan Theatre in Manila on Nov 15 with a medallion, an inscribed certificate and an undisclosed cash prize.