GPPAC awarded prestigious Luxembourg Peace Prize

GPPAC was recently awarded the Luxembourg Peace Prize for Outstanding Peace Support. This is a big honour and a recognition of all the great and courageous work of our members. But it is also a reminder to continue our efforts, to strive for peace and human security every day. And our efforts are more needed than ever. On behalf of the GPPAC network our Executive Director, Darynell Rodriguez Torres, accepted the award in a festive ceremony held at the European Parliament’s Robert Schuman Building. 

Conflicts in recent years have left a trail of human suffering and displacement. Military spending, refugee numbers, and battle-related death tolls - have all increased since 2005. The global economic impact of violence is almost 15 trillion USD. And 68.5 million people seek refuge in their own countries or across borders. People flee from war, violence, and persecution. The figures are at a record high. In 2017, one person was displaced every two seconds.

We cannot turn a blind eye to these numbers and the impact of conflict. But we can decide how we frame and approach the causes and roots of war, violence, and persecution. 

The Luxembourg Peace Prize stands as a testimony to our efforts to promote a global shift from reacting to conflicts to preventing them from turning violent in the first place. It acknowledges the endless endeavours of our members to place the security of people at the heart of peacebuilding. It cherishes their commitment to rebuild the social fabric of communities. And it values our members' determination to restore trust and tackle elements that cause fear and division.

The Luxembourg Peace Prize is at the same time a wake-up call to tackle the challenges and conflicts of our time. At GPPAC, we continue to empower youth to be agents of change of the present. We continue to make women’s participation in peace processes absolute priority. And we ensure that conflict prevention becomes more widely known and provide space for collaboration. 

GPPAC would not have been awarded the Luxembourg Peace Prize without the support, encouragement, and belief from its main donors. The Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Swedish Development Agency (Sida) and all those other people and institutions who have supported our network throughout these years are also recipients of the prize. For their outstanding and long-lasting peace support for GPPAC. 
 

About the Schengen Peace Foundation, World Peace Forum and Luxembourg Peace Prize

Since 2012, the Schengen Peace Foundation and the World Peace Forum award the Luxembourg Peace Prize. The award honors distinguished peacemakers that have made an outstanding contribution to world peace. 

The Luxembourg Peace Prize for Outstanding Peace Support recognizes an organisation who gives resources such as voice, financing or time, highlights an issue or participates in the process of peacebuilding.

A full list of this year’s laureates can be found here.