Peace activists from around the world will gather for the fourteenth Annual Peace Prize ceremony on Friday 19 June 2026, in the Hemicycle at the European Convention Centre, in Luxembourg-Kirchberg.
Organisers the Schengen Peace Foundation and the World Peace Forum will award the prestigious Luxembourg Peace Prize to outstanding peacemakers from around the world in Luxembourg and this year's ceremony will honour a diverse group of peacemakers who represent a global commitment to education, art and organisational leadership.
The ceremony will open with a presentation of the Global Peace Index (GPI) by the Institute of Economics and Peace (IEP). 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 conversation will include how the peacebuilding field can use this evidence to better build sustainable peace.
Laureates are recognised in thirteen categories honouring outstanding achievements in advancing peace.
Luxembourg Peace Prize Laureates of 2026
Outstanding Peace Education: Dr. Tom Woodhouse
Emeritus Professor Tom Woodhouse has been a foundational figure in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford since 1974. Having helped shape the field during its formative years, he founded the Centre for Conflict Resolution in 1990 and has since authored textbooks that remain essential to peace education worldwide. His most recent initiatives focus on Sport Diplomacy, specifically through the Football Peace Academy, which utilises football to motivate and train young "Positive Peace Champions" in their own communities.
“Peace education provides the foundational knowledge to enable us to imagine a more peaceful world and to teach the craft and skills for making peace.”
Outstanding Art for Peace: Jan Banning
Dutch documentary photographer Jan Banning uses formal portraiture and meticulous research to explore the enduring human consequences of injustice and war. In his project Blood Bonds: Reconciliation in Post-Genocide Rwanda, he captured paired portraits of survivors alongside the perpetrators of violence against them, accompanied by their personal testimonies. By presenting reconciliation not as a symbolic end-point but as a fragile, ongoing human process, his work preserves memory and affirms human dignity across cultural divides.
“Blood Bonds is not a book about easy answers. It is a quiet and demanding work that asks how justice, responsibility and forgiveness can exist at the same time and what photography can reveal when it looks at consequences instead of events.”
Outstanding Peace Organisation: UNOY Peacebuilders
UNOY Peacebuilders is a global network that links 142 youth-led organisations across 81 countries, serving as a powerful force for youth participation in policy reform. The organisation was instrumental in the 2015 adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 2250, which officially recognised the vital role young people play in international peace and security. Through high-level advocacy and direct support for local organisers, UNOY ensures that youth are actively included in the processes of transforming conflicts and building sustainable peace.
"Youth are not just future leaders but essential change-makers in the present, driving meaningful progress towards peace."
Outstanding Peace Organisation: Initiatives of Change
Operating through a global network in over 60 countries, Initiatives of Change is built on the conviction that sustainable social change must begin with personal responsibility and inner transformation. The organisation facilitates trust building and reconciliation in post-conflict societies through key programs like Hope in the Cities and Creators of Peace. By fostering dialogue across religious and cultural divides and maintaining engagement with institutions like the United Nations, they promote a model of peacebuilding grounded in moral courage and accountability.
“Lasting peace is not only built through agreements between nations, but through transformation within people which is at the heart of Initiatives of Change’s work”.
Outstanding Inner Peace: Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar
Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar is an internationally recognised humanitarian, spiritual teacher and peace ambassador whose vision of a stress- and violence-free society has reached over 800 million people worldwide. As the founder of the Art of Living Foundation and the International Association for Human Values, he leads initiatives in more than 180 countries focused on education, conflict resolution, trauma relief and community empowerment.
Actively engaged in peacebuilding, he has facilitated dialogue in conflict zones such as Iraq, Colombia and Kashmir, while promoting personal transformation through practices like Sudarshan Kriya. His contributions to peace, non-violence and human dignity have earned him numerous international honours.
“Peace is not just the absence of conflict and bloodshed; It is not something that can be bought from the marketplace or achieved solely by high-level policies. It is a positive state of one’s existence that we all need to nurture within us. It is inner peace that can bring peace to the family, to the society and ultimately to the world.”
The Schengen Peace Foundation was founded in 2005 and approved in 2007 by His Royal Highness Grand Duke Henri as a Peace Think Tank dedicated to supporting peacebuilding initiatives. In the spirit of Schengen — a symbol of open dialogue, cooperation and unity across borders — the Foundation initiated the World Peace Forum, a global platform for peace activists and peace initiatives. This annual multidisciplinary gathering brings together peacebuilders from around the world to meet, exchange ideas and strengthen their collective impact.
The Luxembourg Peace Prize was established in 2012 to recognise exceptional contributions to peace across multiple fields of action. Initially, laureates received a bronze medal depicting Nelson Mandela. Since 2017, laureates have received a sculpture of a three-legged chair created by Colombian artist Duvan Lopez. The sculpture symbolises that each laureate becomes the fourth leg of the chair at the table of peace, helping to support and strengthen the global peace movement. The original sculpture is housed in the library of the University of Luxembourg.
