On Friday 3 May 2013, President of Ireland Michael D. Higgins presented the 2013 Front Line Defenders Award for Human Rights Defenders at Risk to anti-slavery campaigner Biram Dah Abeid of Mauritania, founder and director of Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement, Initiative pour la Résurgence du Mouvement Abolitionniste.
Biram Dah Abeid was selected from a total of 100 nominees from 40 countries on the basis of his exceptional courage defending the rights of the more than 500,000 people who are held as slaves in Mauritania.
You can read the President's speech here.