The State Department hosted the annual International Women's Prize for Courage ceremony on Monday. Since its inception in March 2007, the State Department has awarded the prize to more than 190 women from 90 countries, according to the White House website, UNN reports .
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The award, now in its 18th year, is given by the U.S. Secretary of State to women from around the world who have demonstrated exceptional courage, strength and leadership in advocating for human rights, gender equality and equity, often at personal risk and sacrifice.
This year's awardees are Benafsha Yakubi from Afghanistan, Fawzia Karim Firoze from Bangladesh, Olga Gorbunova (Volkha Kharbunova) from Belarus, and Aina Jusic from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Myintzu Win from Burma (Myanmar), Marta Beatriz Roque Cabello from Cuba, Fatou Baldeh from The Gambia, Fariba Baloukh from Iran, Rina Gonoi from Japan, Rabha El Khaymar from Morocco, and Agater Atuhair from Uganda.
The women who received this year's International Prize for Courage are extraordinary. They stand up for domestic workers in Bangladesh and people with disabilities in Afghanistan. They expose corruption in Uganda, harassment in Japan, defend children who were raped during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and fight for democracy in Belarus