PROMOTE HUMAN RIGHTS
SHARE YOUR PHOTOS
2025 GLOBAL PRIZE
Recipient: Sourav Das
Title: In Jharia’s Fire, Both Earth and Mothers Weep
Description: “Amid the burning coalfields of Jharia, an elderly woman collapses in grief. Her tears rise through the smoke, echoing the silence of lives lost and forgotten in the flames.”
Location: Jharia, India
SEEKING THE BEST CLIMATE JUSTICE PHOTOGRAPHY
The 2025 Global Contest championed the cause of climate justice, recognizing that climate change is not merely an environmental challenge but a profound human rights issue. We sought compelling images that capture the human face of the escalating climate crisis - climate refugees, the young and the elderly, the disabled and injured, the impoverished, Indigenous and island communities, and women bearing disproportionate burdens. Alongside these powerful portrayals, we celebrated the resilience and determination of climate champions - those advocating for change and those working tirelessly to mitigate and reverse the effects of this global emergency.
GLOBAL PRIZE COMPETITION
At the heart of the initiative is a global call to action inviting both amateur and professional photographers to submit images that illuminate the dignity, resilience, and lived reality of human rights around the world. Through powerful visual storytelling, Photography 4 Humanity elevates images that help the world see — and feel — the universal promise of human rights.
In 2026, the Global Prize Recipient, along with the top 10 Finalists and 20 Honorable Mentions, will have their photographs exhibited at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City on December 10 — UN Human Rights Day — in Gallery A, one of the UN’s most prominent public exhibition spaces.
Their work will be viewed by diplomats, UN leadership, and representatives of Member States from around the world, placing these images at the center of the global human rights conversation. The selected photographs will also be shared globally across UN.org, Fotografiska, and Photography 4 Humanity, ensuring the stories behind the images reach an international audience.
UNITED NATIONS AND UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD GLOBAL EXHIBIT
As part of the 2025 Right Here, Right Now Global Climate Summit, Photography 4 Humanity: A Lens on Climate Justice stood as a powerful visual testament to the global climate justice movement. Presented and curated by Fotografiska, the internationally renowned museum of photography, the exhibition brought together compelling imagery from around the world that captured the human cost and courage in the face of the climate crisis.
This striking installation, showcased at the Weston Library at the University of Oxford, offered an unflinching look at climate injustice—and the individuals rising to confront it. Through the universal language of photography, the exhibition gave voice to frontline communities and celebrated the shared resilience of humanity in an era of unprecedented environmental change.
