The Italian Coalition for Civil Liberties and Rights (CILD) Human Rights Awards, now in its third edition, aim to rewarded people who distinguished themselves during the year for their promotion and protection of civil liberties and contribution to the spread of human rights in Italy. The awards also aim to reinforce the belief that respect for human rights is one of the essential elements in a democracy.

In the previously editions, the prize was given to wide range of people from Italian civil society (see previous posts for a list). To them we now add this year's winners, who received the awards in Rome last month during a ceremony held in the Intercultural Library Cittadini del Mondo, an important and virtuous example of integration in the city.

Meet our human rights heroes!

Wajahat Abbas Kazmi (Young Activist Award): Wajahat Abbas Kazmi is a Pakistani activist and director who has been living and working in Italy for many years. A participant in numerous Pride parades, he can often be seen with his rainbow banner with the words "Allah Loves Equality". This is the title of his project to challenge, through a documentary, the discrimination against LGBT people living in Pakistan, one of the most homophobic states in the world. Giving voice to these people through his travels in that country, but also collecting the voices of the many Muslim believers who defy religious intolerance and fanaticism every day, Kazmi is making an important contribution to the affirmation of the rights of LGBT Muslim people by promoting non-homotransphobic interpretation of Islamic sources, such as Koran and Sunnah.

Franco Lorenzoni (Public Employee Award): Franco Lorenzoni is an elementary school teacher who works in Giove in Umbria region. In 1980, he founded the Cenci Casa-Laboratorio Association. During the parliamentary deadlock on a new citizenship law, he launched - together with numerous teachers - a campaign, including a hunger strike, for the approval of a "Jus Soli" and "Jus Culturae" law. "We have citizens in the class who will never be citizens, and the time has come to take sides," said Lorenzoni who spoke about the initiative - which had been joined by more than 800 teachers - in the Senate together with the president of the extraordinary commission for the protection and promotion of human rights, Luigi Manconi, who relaunched it by asking other parliamentarians to join the fast. Fabio

Fabio Anselmo (Lawyer Award): Federico Aldrovandi, Stefano Cucchi, Riccardo Magherini, Davide Bifolco, Denis Bergamini. These are just some of the people whose trial cases have been followed or are currently followed by the lawyer Fabio Anselmo. The common thread that binds them is police abuse. Thanks to his great legal skills - also accompanied by the ability to get the cases out of courtrooms, getting to know them to the public - Fabio Anselmo managed to break down the wall of silence that often accompanies crimes committed by state agents, managing to bring out the truth about the facts, even after many years.

Alessandro Leogrande (Award for Journalism): Through his writing, accompanied by his civic and social passion, Alessandro Leogrande has written about many of the main themes of our time: from the drama of migrants, to caporalato (recruitment of day labourers), to the tortures and forced disappearances of thousands of people during the South American dictatorships. He did it with his many articles, which appeared in different newspapers and magazines, and also through several books. He wrote about issues that had not yet gotten the coverage that, for better or for worse, they would eventually receive. Alessandro has recently disappeared, leaving this great baggage of ideas, stories and analysis to all those who deal with these issues.

Giulio Siamo Noi (Media Award): On 27 January 2015, Giulio Regeni disappeared in Cairo. His lifeless body was found a few days later. The signs of torture were evident. From that moment, people across Italy started demanding "truth for Giulio Regeni". Among these voices is the collective Twitter account "Giulio Siamo Noi", which, after almost two years, continues to keep up the pressure on the Italian authorities to continue to press Egypt for a proper investigation. In addition, this collective has launched initiatives and public demonstrations, including the request to musicians and actors to wear yellow bracelets during the Sanremo Festival, the Venice International Film Festival and the David di Donatello. The account has become a reference point for news on human rights violations that occur in particular in Egypt, where many journalists, lawyers and activists have disappeared or are imprisoned.

Manlio Milani (Award for Outstanding Service): Manlio Milani was in Piazza della Loggia on 28 May 1974, when a bomb exploded during a demonstration against neo-fascist violence. Eight people were killed, including his wife. Since then, he has dedicated his time to seeking truth and justice for what happened, becoming president of Associazione familiari dei caduti di Piazza Loggia and participating in the foundation of group Unione familiari vittime stragi. In 2000, he also founded, in collaboration with the Municipality of Brescia, the Casa della Memoria, a documentation centre on the Brescia massacre and terrorist violence, especially from neo-fascists. Last June, an Italian court finally convicted the perpetrators of the massacre.

Damiano Tommasi, Manila Flamini, Giorgio Minisini (Sportsman Award): Damiano Tommasi, president of the Italian Footballers' Association, has repeatedly distinguished himself for his commitment to integration, recognising the value that sport in general, and football in particular, can play in this. He also participated in initiatives promoted by football teams on the integration of migrants, such as Atletico Diritti and Liberi Nantes.

With the exercise "A scream from Lampedusa", dedicated to the drama of migrants dead in the Mediterranean, the duo of Manlia Flamini and Giorgio Minisini won the gold medal in the technical duo mixed competition at the swimming world championships in Budapest. There programme choice was one against the rising tide of intolerance towards migrants and indifference towards the massacres at sea, where thousands of people lose their lives. It was also a choice that caused them to be attacked by some Italian politicians and media members, but that only served to underscore the importance of their programme.