On Friday 2 October 2015, over 200 peace activists from around the world will gather at the historic European Parliament building in Luxembourg to celebrate the nomination of the 2015 Luxembourg Peace Prize Laureates.
The seven distinguished peace makers of 2015 represent a diverse mix of Political Leaders, Artists, Educators and Peace Activists from five different countries: The Netherlands, Argentina, Egypt, Italy and Romania.
The Luxembourg Peace Prize Laureates of 2015 are:
Category: Outstanding Peace Activist:
- Mrs. Patricia Pellegrini, Buenos Aires, Argentina, Former Head of Art Education, City Government of Buenos Aires. Mrs. Patricia Pellegrini has worked tirelessly with tens of thousands of children, through the Arts, in order to bring the message of Peace and Brotherhood to their schools and homes. Without forgetting the injustices of the past, Patricia always aimed to bring back together the heavily divided Argentine Society.
Category: Outstanding Peace Education:
-Rowad American College Cairo, represented by Principal Mrs. Sherine el Adly, Egypt. Rowad American College is an outstanding Center for Peace Education. Its staff and students have actively involved hundreds of schools globally in their Peace Programs. Students have travelled to many countries as Peace Ambassadors over the past few years, representing the open-minded spirits and hope of the Youth of Egypt of today.
- Manchester International School Cairo, represented by Mrs. Sabrina Ciccillo, Egypt. Manchester International School has been the most generous host of the 1st Youth World Peace Forum in Cairo in April and May 2015. Every single member of the administrative and educational teams as well as the entire student body have worked extremely hard to welcome over 800 guests from around the world for this unique global Peace Gathering.
Category: Outstanding Peace NGOs:
- New Humanity, Focolare Movement, Cecilia Landucci, Representative of New Humanity, Italy. New Humanity for a united world is active through thousands of volunteers in over 100 countries. We recognize New Humanity’s global efforts for peace building and peace promotion through programs such as the ‘Living Peace Festivals’ and for taking the peace message into institutions, partnering with UNESCO, the EU and similar.
- MasterPeace Foundation, Founder / Creative Director: Mr. Ilco van der Linde, The Netherlands and Founder / CEO Mr. Mohamed Helmy, Egypt. MasterPeace aims at turning 200,000 youth by 2020 into active peace-makers – calling them ‘Nelsons’ - by awakening their talents and creativity, and inspiring each one to turn into promoters and messengers of peace. Within four years they already work in 45 countries – including many conflict areas – where they use music, art and dialogue to prevent new armed. We recognize the efforts to open up minds and to enhance people from all walks of life to start acting for peace.
Category: Outstanding Public Peace Efforts:
- City of Baia Mare, Romania; Mayor Mr. Catalin Chereches, Romania. The City of Baia Mare was the host of this year’s 9th World Peace Forum in May 2015. Delegates who had come from all continents were received by the citizens of Baia Mare, its impressive NGO community as well as the City Government with wide open arms. From here the Baia Mare Protocol is making its way to the desks of all world leaders and the City of Baia Mare has committed to build a Peace Center.
For the fifth consecutive year, the Schengen Peace Foundation and the World Peace Forum are awarding the prestigious Luxembourg Peace Prize to outstanding peacemakers and activists as part of its 9th World Peace Forum 2015.
The President of the World Peace Forum, Dominicus Rohde, expressed his pride to award this year’s laureates: ‘We are honoured to recognise this year seven innovative peacemakers from five different countries and three different continents. Their works are more relevant than ever, since worldwide displacement hits all-time high with 59.5 million people, according to UNHCR, as war and persecution increase in many parts of our world. Our focus is to give peacebuilders a platform and through the award we create a moment to celebrate their efforts and drive more actions for the future."
The award comes in alignment with the efforts of the Schengen Peace Foundation, founded in 2005, and approved in 2007 by His Royal Highness Grand Duke Henri, as a Peace Think-Tank, towards supporting peace-building key-players and promoting peace and conflict resolution.
In the ‘Spirit of Schengen’ of a world without borders, the Schengen Peace Foundation initiated the World Peace Forum, a global platform for peace activists and peace initiatives. The annual conference of the World Peace Forum connects peace activists from all around the world in order for them to meet, exchange ideas, and together achieve greater impact.
In 2011, the 'Luxembourg Peace Prize' was first introduced as an award to out-standing peace-makers. Every year the laureates are honoured with a bronze medal, designed by Luxembourg artist Sophia Rein, depicting on one side the face of Nelson Mandela and on the other the view from Mandela's prison cell window.
This year's 'Luxembourg Peace Prize' Ceremony took place at the European Parliament in Luxembourg on Friday 2 October as a conclusion to the 2015 World Peace Forum editions, held in Cairo, Egypt, and Baia Mare, Romania, in April and May 2015.
The 'Luxembourg Peace Prize' is awarded to Laureates from around the world that made an outstanding contribution to world peace in one or another way.
The 'Luxembourg Peace Prize' aims to recognize and support the work of different groups working on peace-building around the world in fields of: Outstanding Peace Activists, Outstanding Peace Education, Outstanding Peace NGOs and Outstanding Public Peace Efforts.
