The major emphasis is made on the presentation of the Professor Thorolf Rafto Memorial Prize support of previous laureates as well as educational projects, informative events and lobby initiatives.
In a promotion of the human rights of the Uyghur people, the Rafto Foundation published a book, “In Our World of Good and Evil”,[3] (2006) and assisted in a production of a documentary, “On a tightrope” (2006).
The film tells the incredible story of a Belurussian painter and performance artist, Alexander Pushkin, and his brave challenges to President Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime.
During a visit to Prague in 1979 to hold a lecture for students excluded from universities for political reasons, Rafto was arrested and severely beaten by the communist security police causing injuries which weakened his health.
After he died on 4 November 1986, friends and colleagues established a foundation to continue Rafto’s work promoting freedom of speech and political expression in Eastern Europe and to offer a prize for human rights activists.
The fall of the Iron Curtain and consequential democratization of eastern European states caused the foundation to reconsider its work in other geographical regions to promote human rights.