On Friday, 14 June 2024, the anniversary of the signing of the Schengen Treaty, peace activists from around the world will gather for the 12th Annual Luxembourg Peace Prize ceremony; on this occasion, Luxembourg will honour eight individuals and/or associations whose contributions have promoted peace internationally.
The 2024 Luxembourg World Peace Prize ceremony will take place at MUDAM, the Museum of Modern Art of Luxembourg. The distinguished peacemakers represent a diverse mix of activists, educators, leaders and artists from all around the world, in seven categories.
The ceremony will again open with a presentation of the Global Peace Index (GPI) by Steve Killelea of the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP), the 2024 version released the same week in London. The GPI is the most comprehensive data-driven analysis on peace, its economic value, trends and how to develop peaceful societies, covering 99.7% of the world's population using 23 qualitative and quantitative indicators from highly respected sources, the organisers noted. The conversation will include how the peacebuilding field can use this evidence to better build sustainable peace. Steve Killelea was Luxembourg’s first Outstanding Technology for Peace awardee in 2016.
Luxembourg’s Peace Prize Laureates of 2024 are as follows:
Outstanding Peace Activist, Federico Mayor Zaragoza
Professor Federico Mayor Zaragoza, former head of UNESCO (1987-1999), has been a global pioneer for peace and intercultural dialogue. As co-president of the UN High-Level Group for the Alliance of Civilizations (AoC), he worked to end extremism through increased intercultural cooperation. He founded the Foundation for a Culture of Peace and co-founded the Centre Humanism, Management & Globaliyation (HMG), advocating for global understanding. Professor Zaragoza's reported mission is to "build a bastion of peace in the minds of all people" and to ensure a future where dialogue replaces power. “What we have to do is to get involved, to make possible a future in which the social gap disappears, in which the word is used instead of the power,” he said.
Outstanding Peace Education, Loving World
Loving World produces Positive Relationship Education (PRE) programmes and materials. Loving Classroom is its flagship programme for schools, aiming to cultivate and foster apparent and sustainable change in the lives of students, teachers, schools and their communities. Currently, Loving Classroom is being implemented in South Africa, Kenya, the United Kingdom and Israel, with plans for global scaling."On one hand, 'love': the infinite cosmic light of connection, on the other hand, 'engineering': we can learn practical wisdom that helps us increase the number of people we love and the depth to which we love them," said David Geffen, co-founder of Loving Classroom.
Outstanding Peace Organisation,Mobaderoon
Founded in 2010, Mobaderoon brings Syrians from different cities around Syria, and unites them around common values related to inclusion, respect for diversity, nonviolence and social responsibility. Mobaderoon is an independent civic organisation that works to promote peaceful coexistence in Syria through capacity-building programs and grassroots initiatives designed to advance peace-building, positive youth engagement and inclusive community development. “The environment is like walking on a minefield. These mines could be societal, political or related to the security of individuals. [Which is why] justice is imperative in the peacebuilding process, ” added the organisation’s representatives.
Outstanding Peace Support Centre D’estudis De Les Dones D’europa (Cede)
Centro de Estudios de las Mujeres de Europa, is the European Women's Studies Centre, headquartered in Barcelona, with others located in Madrid and Mallorca. The centres’ mission is to promote societies without gender inequalities in an integrative and inclusive way by working with local, national and international institutions, organisations and companies.
Outstanding Art for Peace, tvboy
Salvatore Benintende is an Italian neo-pop street artist. He focuses on current affairs and local icons. TVBoys work has been recognised by the humanitarian organisation Cesvi to visit the war-torn areas of Ukraine to promote positivity, peace and the unifying potential of football. His murals depict children as well as flowers and the colours of the Ukrainian flag. He is currently back in Barcelona to raise awareness of the current situation in Gaza, contributing to the "Unmute Gaza'' art movement.
Outstanding Art For Peace, Marina Abramović
Marina Abramović is a Serbian conceptual artist and performer who comes from a family of “peacemakers”. Continuing this legacy, she has pursued the arts to raise awareness of the horrors of war and why it must “end with our generation”. She is now branching into the world of Web3 and NFTs to create a collection called Hero 25FPS. She founded the Marina Abramović Institute which teaches her method and is geared towards creating an inclusive artistic process. She is considered a pioneer in performance art, the organisers noted, and her work is inspiring a new generation of artists to this day to cover controversial and important topics.
Outstanding Sport For Peace, « L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport »
Peace and Sport, "L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport", is a Monaco-based organisation that participates in the creation of a culture of peace through sport. Founded in 2007 by Modern Pentathlon Olympic medallist and World Champion Joël Bouzou, the organisation proposes solutions to support the implementation of high-impact programmes that use sport to build peaceful, inclusive and equitable communities. Peace and Sport calls on international decision-makers to deploy the intentional use of sport as a tool for transmitting values for peace. “Sport is a great vehicle for respect and inclusion because its rules apply equally to everyone. Through sport, we can build a culture of peace within communities,” said Joël Bouzou, President and Founder of L’Organisation pour la Paix par le Sport .
Outstanding Youth Peace Worker, Nadia Alexandria Kendall
Nadia Alexandria Kendall, graduated from the Netherlands with an LLM in International Law and Global Governance where she did a double specialisation in “Human Rights and Human Security” and “Global Sustainability and Environmental Law”. She is an activist for both human rights and environmental sustainability, and she did her thesis on the role of anthropocentrism in climate change law. She is now focused on raising awareness about Hidden Disabilities and combating astigmatism in the workplace. "My passion for advocacy was sparked by witnessing the disparities around me, from the forced head-covering in Iran to the precarious environments of my black and brown friends. These questions led me to delve into research and activism, ultimately aiming to create a more inclusive and just society. Activism, for me, is about amplifying marginalised voices and driving policy change to address inequalities," expressed Nadia Kendall in For Many Years From Tomorrow.
Peace Forum will be awarding the prestigious Luxembourg Peace Prize to outstanding peacemakers from across the world in Luxembourg, for the twelfth consecutive year. The award comes in alignment with the efforts of the Schengen Peace Foundation, founded in 2005, and approved in 2007 by Luxembourg’s Grand Duke Henri, as a Peace-Think-Tank, supporting peacebuilding. In the “Spirit of Schengen”, the Schengen Peace Foundation initiated the World Peace Forum, a global platform for peace activists and peace initiatives. The annual multi-disciplinarian event of the World Peace Forum connects peace activists from around the world to meet, exchange ideas and together achieve greater impact, the organisations noted.
In 2012, the Luxembourg Peace Prize was first introduced as an award to outstanding peacemakers across the world. Laureates first received a bronze medal depicting Nelson Mandela. Since 2017, Laureates have received a sculpture of a three-legged chair by the Columbian artist Duvan Lopez, for which they are the fourth leg of the chair at the table to build peace. The original life-size statue is housed in the library of the University of Luxembourg.
Registration is available online at www.LuxembourgPeacePrize.org
