This week, MAG received the 2025 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize – the world’s largest annual humanitarian award – at a gala in New York City celebrating the Prize’s 30th anniversary.
MAG CEO Darren Cormack, Angolan Demining Team Leader Janete Malichi, Information Management Manager Krishnaraj Subramaniyam and MAG Ambassador and actor Rosamund Pike accepted the award on stage, marking a moment of global recognition for our teams’ 35 years of life-saving work clearing landmines and unexploded ordnance, and helping communities rebuild their lives after conflict.
The Hilton Humanitarian Prize recognises organisations alleviating human suffering around the world. In receiving the Prize, MAG becomes only the fourth UK-based organisation to be honoured in the award’s 30-year history.
Speakers on the night included David Miliband, CEO of the International Rescue Committee, and Peter Laugharn, CEO of the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation.
While the Hilton Humanitarian Prize is a moment of honour and recognition, it is also a reminder of the immense humanitarian challenges that remain. This is a significant achievement, but one that is hard to celebrate while colleagues and communities continue to suffer in places like Gaza, Myanmar, Sudan, Syria, Ukraine, and Yemen. Our work is far from over. This award helps shine a light on that suffering and strengthens our commitment to ending it.
MAG CEO Darren Cormack said: “For 35 years, MAG has stood resolute in its mission to respond to the urgent needs of people in communities ravaged by conflict and in places still grappling with conflict’s legacy, long after the wars have ended. We’re honoured to receive the Hilton Humanitarian Prize in recognition of the work and determination of our global staff. Our hope is that this spotlight can help underscore the fundamental human right to live free from the fear of landmines and armed violence. Every landmine cleared is a life saved, a community restored, and a future reclaimed.”
MAG Team Leader Janete Malichi said: “This award is for every MAG colleague who risks their life each day to make land safe again. When people can farm, send their children to school, and live without fear, lives are rebuilt, and hope is restored.”
Rosamund Pike, actor and MAG Ambassador, added: “Making the world safe and free from landmines is MAG’s mission. I have seen that dedication and commitment first hand. I have also seen that the work can be finite. It gives back to communities in such absolute terms. Farmland is restored... Harvests can be collected without danger... Parents can be freed from the constant sense of dread and jeopardy. Morale is restored and decades of inherited trauma are eased. But it takes time, it takes training, and it takes money.”
Since our founding in 1989, MAG’s teams have gone beyond clearing landmines and remnants of war; they have been a leading voice on the global stage, advocating for the protection of civilians and the enforcement of international humanitarian law. MAG was a co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize for our role in the creation of the 1997 Mine Ban Convention, which has saved countless lives by reducing landmine casualties from over 24,000 annually before its adoption to fewer than 1,000 by 2012 – a 95% reduction. But as global conflict intensifies and some states move away from the treaty, the humanitarian stakes are once again rising.
The Hilton Humanitarian Prize has previously recognised organisations such as the International Rescue Committee, Humanity & Inclusion, and the Norwegian Refugee Council. The 2025 jury included global leaders such as Helen Clark, Leymah Gbowee, Her Majesty Queen Noor, and Dr. Ernesto Zedillo. Since its creation in 1996, the Prize has awarded over $46.5 million to 29 organisations working in some of the world’s most challenging environments. To mark its 30th anniversary, the Prize’s unrestricted award increased to $3 million, providing vital support for humanitarian innovation and resilience.
This recognition of MAG’s life-saving work comes at a critical time for humanitarian action worldwide. As conflict, displacement, and instability rise, MAG remains committed to ensuring that every person can live free from the fear of landmines, explosives, and armed violence – and to restoring safety, dignity, and opportunity to communities affected by war.
To learn more, watch a video about MAG’s work around the world, produced by The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation:
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Header image: Kirusnaraj Subramaniyam, information management manager, Mines Advisory Group, Janete Milichi, deminer team leader, Mines Advisory Group, Rosamund Pike, Golden Globe and Emmy Award-winning Actor and Mines Advisory Group Ambassador, Peter Laugharn, president and CEO, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation, Darren Cormack, chief executive, Mines Advisory Group, Nicky Hilton Rothschild, and Linda Hilton, chair of the board, Conrad N. Hilton Foundation at the Hilton Humanitarian Prize Ceremony honoring Mines Advisory Group during the 30th Anniversary Hilton Humanitarian Prize Event at the Waldorf Astoria New York on Monday, Oct. 6, 2025 in New York. (Jason DeCrow/AP Content Services for Conrad N. Hilton Foundation)
