Ellen Kennedy, executive director of World Without Genocide, based at Mitchell Hamline, was presented a Community Leadership Award by FBI Director Christopher Wray at FBI headquarters in Washington, D.C., on April 19. She was recognized for her commitment to human rights and for supporting the FBI’s work on the felony crime of transnational repression (TNR).
Authoritarian governments use TNR to silence dissent by their own citizens around the world. These governments may also target naturalized or U.S.-born citizens with family overseas or other foreign connections. World Without Genocide documents survivors’ TNR experiences, educates lawyers and the public about this crime, and encourages victims to report TNR to local police and the FBI.
“Our success as both a law enforcement and an intelligence agency hinges on our ability to foster and maintain genuine partnerships with people in all communities,” Wray told the honorees. “People like this year’s Leadership Award recipients not only identify what others need, but they are willing to roll up their sleeves and provide services. They are building bridges and relationships while putting in the work to have hard conversations and find common purpose. They do it out of kindness and compassion with a sincere belief that justice—in its many forms—requires all of us to do the right thing in the right way.”
In addition, Kennedy received a Director’s Community Leadership Award on April 2 from the Minneapolis FBI office.
Kennedy is an adjunct professor at Mitchell Hamline School of Law; board member of the League of Women Voters of Edina; and member of the Association of Holocaust Organizations, Rotary Club of St. Paul, Minnesota State Bar Association, and Tzedek Committee at Mount Zion Temple.
World Without Genocide, an organization based at Mitchell Hamline School of Law, promotes education and action to protect innocent people, prevent genocide, prosecute perpetrators, and remember those affected by genocide. World Without Genocide is formally associated with the UN Department of Global Communications and has been in Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council since 2022.