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Chelsea Hedquist

press@lantosfoundation.org

From left: Katrina Lantos Swett, Diane Foley, Rachel Goldberg-Polin, Annette Lantos Tillemann-Dick
Credit: Lantos Foundation/Babette Rittmeyer

Washington, DC, November 14, 2025 – The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice has awarded the 2025 Lantos Human Rights Prize, its highest honor, to a pair of courageous mothers who became advocates on behalf of hostages and their families, after they each experienced the unimaginable loss of their own sons. Diane Foley is the mother of journalist James Foley, who was killed by ISIS in 2014. She founded the James W. Foley Legacy Foundation to advocate on behalf of hostages, promote journalist safety, and inspire moral courage. Rachel Goldberg-Polin is the mother of Hersh Goldberg-Polin, a civilian who was attending a music festival in Israel when he was taken hostage by Hamas on October 7, 2023. She became one of the most public faces of the fight to bring the hostages home. These remarkable women received the award at a ceremony held this week in Washington, DC, attended by Members of Congress, representatives from the diplomatic community, human rights activists, policy makers, and more.

The ceremony marked the seventeenth year the Lantos Foundation has awarded the Lantos Human Rights Prize. It is given annually to a human rights champion, or champions, to help draw attention to human rights violations around the world and to encourage governments to make human rights a priority on equal footing with other policy decisions.

This week’s ceremony honored the Prize recipients for their courageous response to horrific personal tragedy, channeling love and grief into action and advocacy. It featured a special musical performance by three-time Academy Award®-nominated composer, singer-songwriter, producer and social activist J. Ralph, along with the singer-songwriter and musician Leah Siegel. They performed a haunting rendition of the song “The Empty Chair,” which J. Ralph co-wrote with Sting for the documentary Jim: The James Foley Story.

Ms. Foley’s work over more than a decade has led to critical improvements to the United States’ approach to hostage response and recovery. This was recognized by Dustin Stewart, Deputy Special Presidential Envoy for Hostage Affairs (SPEHA), who said in his remarks, “Simply put, without Diane, we would not be here today,” referring to the SPEHA office and the other two pillars of the United States’ “hostage enterprise” system that Ms. Foley’s advocacy helped establish.

In her acceptance remarks, Ms. Foley noted that her son Jim and the late Congressman Tom Lantos both offer powerful examples of deep moral courage, which is “the quiet steady force within, which calls each of us to choose compassion when anger tempts us; to choose to speak out when it’s easier to be silent; and to hold onto hope when everything around us seeks to extinguish it.” She continued, “Moral courage disturbs us, challenges us, and ultimately defines us. Each of us has a chance right now to make a choice that brings hope, protection, and freedom to others. The work of the Lantos Foundation and the Foley Foundation is only possible because good people like you refuse to look away.”

In many ways, Ms. Foley’s efforts over the past decade have paved a path for Ms. Goldberg-Polin, who for more than two years has been a leading voice among the families of hostages held in Gaza. Her tireless advocacy, which continued even after the murder of her own beloved son, ensured that the human rights and humanitarian imperative of the hostages’ release has never been lost or forgotten. Her advocacy helped, in no small part, to secure the safe return of 168 hostages.

In accepting the Lantos Human Rights Prize, Ms. Goldberg-Polin shared that she has admired the late Congressman Tom Lantos since she lived in his congressional district in California, when her son Hersh was just a newborn baby. She quoted a favorite line from Mr. Lantos: “Mine is a miniscule contribution but I am part of the forces of good in this world.”

“I thought yes, that is what I want to be,” said Ms. Goldberg-Polin. “I aspire to emulate Representative Lantos. I want to take my loss, pain, and grief and choose to walk with it down the boulevard of light and life.” She continued, “May we see the return of all of our cherished hostages immediately. May we each make our miniscule contributions to a higher, hallowed purpose, and may we each merit to have the wisdom to choose to be part of the forces of good in this world.”

Dr. Katrina Lantos Swett, President of the Lantos Foundation, praised both Prize recipients for their incredible impact, saying to Ms. Foley, “You have forever changed the landscape of hope for hostages and their families. You are a hero to the taken and the forgotten.” She credited Ms. Goldberg-Polin’s charismatic and unyielding advocacy for breaking through to a disinterested and uncaring world, saying, “With your rare eloquence and your raw and powerful dignity, you made the fate of the hostages real and very personal to literally millions of people around the world.”

Dr. Lantos Swett welcomed Ms. Foley and Ms. Goldberg-Polin into the distinguished ranks of past Lantos Prize laureates, including: His Holiness the Dalai Lama, the late Professor Elie Wiesel, real-life hero of the film Hotel Rwanda Paul Rusesabagina, Uyghur advocate and activist Rebiya Kadeer, founder of the global Magnitsky movement Bill Browder, renowned human rights lawyer Irwin Cotler, and President-elect of Belarus Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya – among other notable figures (see a full list of laureates here).

For more information about the ceremony, including photos and video, please contact press@lantosfoundation.org.

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About the Lantos Foundation for Human Rights & Justice: The Lantos Foundation was established in 2008 to carry forward the legacy of Congressman Tom Lantos, the only Holocaust survivor ever elected to the U.S. Congress and a leading human rights champion. The Foundation works with a range of partners and often in cooperation with the U.S. Government on issues that span the globe. The Foundation’s key areas of focus include human rights issues related to religious freedom, rule of law, internet freedom and activist art. The Foundation also administers the Lantos Congressional Fellows Program, supports human rights advocates, activists and artists through its Front Line Fund grant program, and awards the annual Lantos Human Rights Prize to honor and bring attention to heroes of the human rights movement.