Presentation of the honorary award 2019 to Michael Landau

The honorary award of the Bruno Kreisky Foundation for services to human rights has been awarded since 2007 for very special commitment and sustainable services to the implementation, promotion and further development of human rights.

In 2019, the independent jury and board of trustees of the Bruno Kreisky Foundation for services to human rights unanimously decided to award Michael Landau, the President of Caritas in Austria, with the honorary award of the Bruno Kreisky Foundation for services to human rights for his very special commitment to human rights award. The prize was awarded on October 21, 2019 in the Ringturm in Vienna.

The award winner Michael Landau during his acceptance speech

Msgr. DDr. Michael Landau, who was ordained to the priesthood in 1992, as head of Caritas Vienna from 1995 and since 2013 as president of Caritas Austria, has worked sustainably and with great commitment always - also publicly acting against the cultural and political zeitgeist - for the unrestricted maintenance and enforcement of human rights in Austria and in the world. In the spirit of the Foundation's statutes, President Landau has not only continued the tradition of his predecessors in Caritas through humanitarian or charitable aid in an extraordinary dimension, but has expanded it further.

Michael Köhlmeier during his eulogy for the award winner

Previous award winners were Kofi Annan for his commitment to enforcing human rights as UN Secretary-General, lawyer Wolfgang Kaleck in special recognition of his legal work within the framework of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and Manfred Nowak for his lasting life's work as a tireless human rights defender within the framework of the United Nations and in Austria, as a human rights teacher at the University of Vienna and internationally, and as a successful institute founder.