The 2003 Human Rights Awards were presented to:

Beatrice Mtetwa
Beatrice is a Harare based lawyer. She is acting on behalf of the Daily News, Zimbabwe’s renowned independent newspaper, shut down by the Mugabe government in October.

She has, despite the obvious risks to her own life and safety, acted for the Mayor of Harare, a leading member of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change. And she represents black farmers evicted from their land by the Government. In October Beatrice was seriously beaten up by police officers.
 
She is best known in the UK for twice defending the Guardian journalist, Andrew Meldrum. Now back in London after being deported by the authorities, Meldrum bravely reported the oppression taking place in Zimbabwe.
 
Mark Daly
Mark Daly is the young journalist responsible for the BBC’s ‘The Secret Policeman’, shown to acclaim, earlier this year. The programme exposed the racism of a group of young police trainees and has led to an official enquiry by the CRE. Initially attacked by the Home Secretary, Mark subsequently received an apology.
 
Mark underwent laser eye surgery in order to pass the police recruitment procedure and then had to work with trainees who repeatedly abused Asians and other ethnic minority groups. 

One of the judges on the Awards panel, Trevor Phillips, chair of the CRE, said: 'the most important aspect of his film was not seeing people being racist, but the very subtle way in which he made clear that this behaviour was in essence officially condoned. He also did a rather old fashioned thing for a journalist - he didn't stand between the viewer and the story shouting "look at me", but instead let us see what he had uncovered. This is admirable in every way.’ 
 
The Howard League for Penal Reform
The Howard League was honoured for its contribution to the protection and promotion of the human rights of children in prison, through its Youth Justice Law Project, providing a legal advice and advocacy service, which in 2003 brought several test cases successfully challenging human rights violations of children in prison, the most recent judgment in November 2003 confirming that children in prison have a right to protection under the Children Act 1989.