Cambodian activist Youk Chhang who investigated genocide and Indian doctor Bharat Vatwan who rescued homeless recognised with ‘Asia’s Nobel Prize’

A Cambodian genocide survivor who helped document the Khmer Rouge atrocities and an Indian psychiatrist who led the rescue of thousands of mentally ill street paupers to treat and reunite them with their families are among the six winners of this year’s Ramon Magsaysay Awards, regarded as Asia’s version of the Nobel Prize.

The other recipients named Thursday are a Filipino who led peace talks with communist insurgents, a polio-stricken Vietnamese who fought discrimination against the disabled, an East Timorese who built care centres for the poor amid civil strife and an Indian who tutored village students to help them pass exams.

The awards, named after a Philippine president who died in a 1957 plane crash, are to be presented in Manila on August 31.

“All are unafraid to take on large causes. All have refused to give up despite meagre resources, daunting adversity and strong opposition,” Carmencita Abella, president of the Ramon Magsaysay Award Foundation, said of the winners. “Their approaches are all deeply anchored on a respect for human dignity and a faith in the power of collective endeavour.”

Youk Chhang lost his father, five of his siblings and nearly 60 of his relatives during the genocidal Khmer Rouge rule in the late 1970s and subsequent civil war, but he escaped and found his way to the United States as a refugee. He returned home after order was restored and headed a centre that documented the horrific violence in aid of the Khmer Rouge war crimes trials.

The massive scope of his group’s work included collecting more than a million documents, producing digital maps of more than 23,000 mass graves and excavating remains for forensic examination. Youk, 57, is currently involved in a project to develop a museum, archives, library and a graduate program on crimes against humanity.