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18 January 2008 - Jakob Finci receives the International First Freedom Award
 

Jakob Finci graduated Law School in Sarajevo in 1996, and worked as a lawyer, and later as corporate lawyer for Energoinvest. In 1991 he founded the newly born Jewish humanitarian organization La Benevolencija, and became the first president of the Bosnian Jewish Community in 1995. He was also president of Interreligious Council, director of the Soros Foundation in Sarajevo, chair of Federal Constitutional Commission, president of Association Bosnia and Herzegovina 2005, and is currently President of CEIS. Professionally, from 2002 Mr. Finci is Head of Civil Service Agency.

Jakob Finci was selected by the Council for America’s First Freedom as the 2008 recipient of its International First Freedom Award.  The Awards Selection Committee, in making its decision, considered not only Jakob Finci's role as humanitarian activist during Yugoslavia’s war and the many high posts he have served globally, but also his enormous personal commitment to humanitarian relief, reconciliation and interfaith dialog around the globe.
 

Past recipients of the award have included Abdefattah Amor, President Václav Havel, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, and former United States Senator George Mitchell, among others.  The award recognizes outstanding contributions in pursuit of the Council’s objective of promoting freedom of the individual conscience, freedom of belief and religion, and mutual respect and understanding among people, communities, and governments everywhere.
 
The Council is founded upon Thomas Jefferson’s 1786 Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom and the First Amendment to the United States Constitution, has worked for more than two decades under the direction of such eminent persons as Nobel Laureate Elie Wiesel, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, former Secretary Lawrence Eagleburger, Appeal of Conscience Director Rabbi Arthur Schneier, and many others.
 

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