Magnitsky Awards
Winner’s Bio

Ben Cardin is a national leader on foreign policy, retirement and tax policy, health care, and the environment. He represents Maryland in the U.S. Senate and previously in the House of Representatives.

Senator Cardin has worked tirelessly across party lines to strengthen U.S. national security and ensure that democracy, anti-corruption, transparency, and human rights are central to American foreign policy.

As Chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Senator Cardin has advanced U.S. national security and promoted democracy, anti-corruption, transparency, and human rights. He authored the Global Magnitsky Act, empowering the U.S. to sanction individual human rights violators and corrupt leaders globally. He also wrote the Elie Wiesel Genocide and Atrocities Prevention Act, making atrocity prevention a national security priority.

Senator Cardin is winning the Magnitsky Award for ‘Human Rights Defender, Lifetime Achievement Award’ – in recognition of his work for many years standing up for the victims of human rights abuses.

The Global Magnitsky Act has resulted in tangible change worldwide, allowing the U.S. government to freeze assets and ban entry for individuals involved in human rights violations and corruption. Cardin’s work laid the foundations for other countries to adopt similar legislation.