Mekelle — Meseret Hadush, founder and executive director of Hiwyet Tigray, has received the 2025 Bremen Solidarity Award in recognition of her work supporting women and girls who endured sexual violence during the war in Tigray. The award was presented in Germany on 29 September.

In its citation, the Bremen Senate commended Meseret for adopting a survivor-centered approach that "places the dignity and safety of those affected at its core and aims to foster long-term empowerment and reintegration into society." Through Hiwyet Tigray, she has established safe spaces, provided counseling, legal assistance, and skills training to help women rebuild their lives.

The Bremen Solidarity Award presented every two years by the Senate of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen. It is intended to be an encouragement "to persons and groups that devote special efforts to overcoming injustice in the North-South relationship and the consequences of colonialism and racism, and espouse democracy and human rights.".

The prize is endowed with 10,000 euros, which is made up of funds from the Senate Chancellery and an endowment from the private R. + R. Reinke Foundation.

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Accepting the award, Meseret said the honor was both personal and collective. "It acknowledges the resilience of survivors of weaponized, systematic gender-based and reproductive violence during the war in Tigray and affirms that their pain, dignity, and pursuit of justice matter beyond borders," she said.

She dedicated the award to survivors who "refuse to be silenced," to communities that continue to stand together, to young people who sacrificed their lives "for freedom and dignity," and to allies who, in her words, "refuse to look away."

The Bremen Senate further highlighted Meseret's role in documenting atrocities during the conflict, often at great personal risk, including collaborating with journalists to secure witness testimonies and evidence--an effort it described as "an important contribution to legal protection and prosecution in current and future conflicts."

Now in its 19th edition, the Bremen Solidarity Award was described by organizers as a platform that sends "a powerful message against the use of sexualized violence as a weapon of war against women and girls worldwide, and gives a voice to survivors of this largely forgotten conflict and beyond."

The first recipients of the award were Nelson Mandela and Winnie Mandela in 1988.