Amnesty International has congratulated Mary Robinson on being named as a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, to be awarded by President Obama this week, after her long career championing the rights of marginalized peoples around the world. "Mary Robinson has long defended the rights of the underdog and has never shirked from speaking truth to power,” said Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International.   "As an outspoken, passionate and forceful advocate for human rights and human dignity in all regions of the world, Mary Robinson has helped countless individuals from Sierra Leone to Rwanda to the Balkans to Somalia and to the Middle East." Mary Robinson, the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and founder and president of Realizing Rights: The Ethical Globalization Initiative, is among the distinguished recipients of the Presidential Medal of Freedom to be awarded by President Obama on 12 August  2009.