On August 31, the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation announced its 2026 awardees: renowned diplomat Tommy Koh from Singapore, humanitarian Runa Khan from Bangladesh, and human rights activist Bo Kyi from Myanmar.
The 68th edition of the Ramon Magsaysay Award, with the theme “A World for All,” recognizes people whose work advances dignity, justice, and opportunity in their local communities and even beyond them. The award is widely regarded as Asia’s prestigious prize and highest honor for public service.
“Different lives, different struggles, different ways of serving. But perhaps, at the heart of the stories of our 2026 Ramon Magsaysay Awardees is one shared idea: the world we are building must have room for all of us,” the foundation’s chairperson Edgar Chua said.
Here are this year’s awardees and the works they have done to earn one of Asia’s most distinguished honors.
Tommy Koh, Singapore
Tommy Koh is a legal scholar and diplomat who paved the way for international agreements and peace dialogue. One of his major contributions is his guidance on the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), settling disputes regarding the economic rights of various countries. Aside from this, he is also recognized for mentoring new generations of leaders and advocates as a law professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS).
Runa Khan, Bangladesh
Runa Khan is the founder of Friendship, a non-governmental organization that was established in 2002 for the purpose of delivering development assistance to the remote areas of Bangladesh, specifically the poorest in the shifting river islands (known as Chars). Before she founded her NGO, Khan first started as a teacher to young children in 1979. Now, not only does she work with seven hospital ships and two land-based hospitals, 550 mobile clinics, and 700 trained Friendship Community Medic Aides, but the NGO has also served coastal and refugee communities. They further built solar villages through their climate adaptation operations and gave jobs to over 200,000 people through their Sustainable Economic Development Hubs.
Bo Kyi, Myanmar
The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation recognizes Bo Kyi for his lifelong work for political prisoners. He is an activist and a former political prisoner himself, having been imprisoned for joining Myanmar’s pro-democracy demonstrations in 1988. He has spent a total of eight years in detention, and through these years he found the need to provide support to victims of human rights abuses. Thus, he co-founded the independent human rights organization, Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP), in 2000. The organization advocates for the release of all political prisoners in Burma.
During the event, Khan and Kyi extended their gratitude to the foundation for the honor. “I receive it on behalf of the unaddressed communities, my Friendship community, and all those who walked beside me in this journey for 25 long years with just faith,” Khan says, further thanking the foundation for honoring humanity. Kyi, meanwhile, dedicated his award to “the Burmese people fighting injustice, especially the political prisoners who continue to stand strong behind bars.”
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The Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation recognized renowned diplomat Tommy Koh from Singapore, humanitarian Runa Khan from Bangladesh, and human rights activist Bo Kyi from Myanmar.
This year’s theme is “A World for All,” recognizing people whose work advances dignity, justice, and opportunity in their local communities and even beyond them.
Tommy Koh is a legal scholar, teacher, and diplomat who paved the way for international agreements and peace dialogue. One of his major contributions is his guidance on the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS), settling disputes regarding the economic rights of various countries.
Runa Khan founded Friendship, a non-governmental organization that was established in 2002 for the purpose of delivering development assistance to the remote areas of Bangladesh.
Bo Kyi is an activist and former political prisoner who now advocates for the release of all political prisoners in Burma through his independent organization, the Assistance Association for Political Prisoners (AAPP).
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