Camila Salazar Atías Awarded the Raoul Wallenberg Prize 2025

This year’s Raoul Wallenberg Prize is awarded to the distinguished criminologist Camila Salazar Atías, who for more than two decades has worked with gang crime, destructive youth environments, and exit programs for individuals leaving criminal networks at Fryshuset.

Camila Salazar Atías is one of Sweden’s foremost experts on gang-related crime. She is trained as a criminologist at John Jay College in New York, where she contributed to the implementation of a unique ethnographic study of one of the world’s largest street gangs. For more than 25 years, she has worked preventively with young people, both in practical settings and grounded in research, focusing on the underlying structural causes of crime. Since 2005, she has played a key role at Fryshuset in initiatives centered on exit support, social inclusion, violence prevention, and youth empowerment. By building trust, challenging stereotypes, and creating tangible pathways out of gang environments, she has helped transform the lives of hundreds of young people.

“It feels incredibly honorable to receive this prize, which hopefully can show young people that you can go far even if you don’t know what you want from the beginning, and that it is possible to make a difference. I came to Sweden in exile and have had my own journey, so this recognition means a lot to me. I hope it helps raise this urgent issue from the human perspective that I am passionate about, and that it gives young people the courage and strength to stand up for the equal value of all people. The driving force in my work is that young people should feel valuable, know that they have a place in our society, and be given the opportunity to choose what they themselves want to do — that they see themselves as the resource they truly are,” says Camila Salazar Atías for Raoul Wallenberg prize.

“After careful consideration, the jury has chosen to award this year’s prize to Camila Salazar Atías, who, with knowledge, courage, and perseverance, works in the spirit of Raoul Wallenberg to give young people in vulnerable environments a path away from criminality and a belief in the future. With more than 20 years of experience in crime prevention work at Fryshuset, an exceptional ability to build bridges, and an uncompromising belief in the value of every person, she is a true enabler and a positive force for society,” says Sven Hagströmer, Chair of the Jury, financier, and relative of Raoul Wallenberg.

ABOUT THE RAOUL WALLENBERG PRIZE:

The prize is awarded to a person who acts in the spirit of Raoul Wallenberg, primarily through efforts that increase knowledge and work to counter antisemitism, racism, discrimination, and intolerance, while promoting the equal value of all people.The recipient receives 100,000 SEK from the Swedish Government Offices via the Living History Forum, as well as a bronze statuette depicting Raoul Wallenberg’s briefcase, created by the artists Ulla and Gustav Kraitz.

The prize was established in 2012 by the Raoul Wallenberg Academy, with the support of the Swedish government, and is announced annually on August 27, Raoul Wallenberg Day — Sweden’s national day for civil courage and compassion.

Read more about the award, the jury, and previous laureates here.