Secretary of State Antony Blinken recently honored six remarkable civil society leaders who have shown extraordinary courage in the face of some of the world’s most pressing challenges.

• Urmila Chaudhary is being honored for her dedication to advancing the rights of marginalized castes and ethnic communities in Nepal and for combatting systemic racism and intersectional abuses.
• She has been advancing human rights and economic justice for indigenous women in Nepal for nearly two decades.
• Urmila was sold into domestic servitude at the age of six, before being rescued at 17. Only then was she able to learn to read and write.
• She co-founded the Freed Kamlari Development Forum and established 42 cooperatives to empower former Kamlari girls.
• She started this nonprofit organization that locates, frees, and empowers women and girls in situation like hers.
• She is currently studying at the Kathmandu School of Law to further her fight against injustice.