Three women with Muslim backgrounds have won an important international human-rights prize. Ayaan Hirsi Ali, Irshad Manji and Rebiya Kadeer have been targets of violence because of their support for human rights.

The Lantos Foundation for Human Rights and Justice presented the awards in Washington, D.C. on Thursday. It called the women “fearless leaders, reformers and rebels who have been willing to defy social and cultural norms to speak out against human rights abuses.” It said the women “have faced down personal danger to stand up for the vulnerable and persecuted.” Ayaan Hirsi Ali was forced to undergo female genital mutilation in Somalia. More than 125 million females have had their genitals removed and sutured, says the World Health Organization. Most of them are younger than 15. Ali’s father forced her to marry a family member. She fled to The Netherlands where she worked as a cleaner. She became a translator and later was elected to the Dutch Parliament. She has spent years fighting for women’s rights.