The Sydney Peace Foundation is proud to award the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize to Navanethem “Navi” Pillay, former United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, distinguished international jurist, and lifelong advocate for justice. Pillay is recognised for her unwavering commitment to defending fundamental human rights, promoting peace with justice, and championing the rights of women and marginalised communities. Her life’s work has been a powerful force against the global rise in impunity for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide, pushing instead for accountability, the rule of law, and the protection of human dignity.

Born into a Tamil family under apartheid in Durban, South Africa, Pillay overcame deep structural discrimination to become the first non-white woman to open a law practice in Natal Province as well as the first non-white woman judge of the High Court of South Africa. She was a pioneering voice for justice, representing political prisoners and anti-apartheid activists, often at significant personal risk, and her work has had a significant lasting impact in addressing injustice.

On accepting the 2025 Sydney Peace Prize nomination, Navi Pillay said: “I am deeply honoured to accept Australia’s premier international prize for peace, awarded by the Sydney Peace Foundation. To be recognised for a lifetime’s work devoted to human rights, peace, justice and equality, is both humbling and profoundly meaningful.

This award is not mine alone. It belongs to all those who, across decades and continents, have stood up against injustice-often at great personal cost. It belongs to every survivor who found the courage to testify, to every human rights defender who remains steadfast in the face of threats and hostility, and to every young person who dares to believe in a better, more just world.

We live in a world today still marred by war, poverty, racism and inequality. But we also live in a world where voices for justice are louder, more connected, and more courageous than ever before. The path ahead is neither easy nor short, but it is a path we must walk together- with integrity, with compassion, and with determination.”

Professor Ben Saul is Challis Chair of International Law at the University of Sydney and the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms while Countering Terrorism said:

“Navi Pillay is an icon of the international human rights movement, from confronting apartheid and promoting gender equality in South Africa, to serving on highest national and international courts, to leading the United Nations’ global human rights system. She has driven the law in progressive new directions, built lasting coalitions of human rights defenders, held the most powerful governments to account, and above all brought hope to victims.”

Pillay’s international career is marked by a series of landmark achievements:

• In 1967 was the first woman to start a law practice in Natal Province, South Africa.
• In 1992 co-founded the international women’s rights group Equality Now.
• Judge at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), where she presided over the first international ruling that rape can constitute an act of genocide, reshaping international humanitarian law and advancing justice for survivors of sexual violence in conflict.
• Judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC), playing a key role in its formative years and in the global movement toward accountability for crimes against humanity.
• UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2008–2014), where she fearlessly addressed rights abuses by both state and non-state actors, advocated for the rights of women, Indigenous peoples, and LGBTQ+ communities, and worked tirelessly to promote accountability, transparency, and the rule of law.
• From 2019 to present – Serving as Judge Ad Hoc of the International Court of Justice in the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (The Gambia v Myanmar). She is also the President of the International Commission Against the Death Penalty based in Madrid, the President of the Advisory Council of the International Nuremberg Principles Academy and the Chair of the Quasi-Judicial Inquiry into Detention in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and heads the Commission of Inquiry on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

Her unwavering independence, legal expertise, and moral clarity have made her one of the most respected human rights figures of our time. Even after leaving formal UN office, she continues to serve on high-level UN panels and international commissions, including investigations into Syria, Sri Lanka, and Gaza.

Navi Pillay’s lifelong commitment to justice, equality, and human dignity serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration for all those working to build a more just and peaceful world.

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The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

In this 75th year since the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, The Movement has been selected for its courageous and highly respected humanitarian work towards peace, respect for common humanity and understanding among all peoples.

The choice of International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement was among a field of strong and worthy candidates, decided by an eminent, independent Jury. The Jury citation reads: The 2024 Sydney Peace Prize is awarded to the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement, a humanitarian network of 16 million volunteers and staff, for saving lives and preventing the suffering of people affected by armed conflict, for its advocacy for peace, and for its commitment to International Humanitarian Law.

75 years after the adoption of the Geneva Conventions, this impartial, neutral and essential work continues, including in Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.

The Movement responded immediately to the October 7 violent attacks and remains a lifeline during the ongoing hostilities in Gaza, to civilians suffering an unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe – despite repeated attacks on ambulances, injuries and deaths of medical personnel and a non-functioning health system. This year the Sydney Peace Prize particularly acknowledges the brave members of the Palestinian Red Crescent Society working in Gaza under horrifically dangerous conditions.

Throughout the crisis, the Movement has also driven efforts to ensure respect for international humanitarian law including achieving a ceasefire, unconditional release of hostages, protection of civilians, humanitarian and healthcare workers and facilitation of the delivery of desperately needed aid.

Wherever civilians are threatened by conflict, the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement is steadfast and courageous in its support for their rights and dignity even when facing increasing risk to their own safety and security.

The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement and is guided by the Geneva Conventions and the Movement’s Fundamental Principles: Humanity, Impartiality, Neutrality, Independence, Voluntary Service, Unity and Universality.

The Red Cross has received the Nobel Peace Prize (1917, 1944, and 1963). The Nobel Peace Prize was also awarded to Henri Dunant (1901) whose vision led to the creation of the worldwide Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement.

For further information: ICRC and IFRC

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The 2024 Sydney Peace Prize winner is the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement

The Peace Prize jury selected Ms Boniadi from a strong field of nominations “for drawing attention to human rights violations, for lending a powerful voice to support Iranian women and girls and their #WomanLifeFreedom movement, and for using a high-profile platform to promote freedom and justice in Iran.”

Iranian-born human rights advocate Nazanin Boniadi is deeply committed to human and women’s rights advocacy and has used her public profile as an actress to campaign in solidarity with the people of Iran.

Following the death of 22-year-old Iranian woman Jina Mahsa Amini last year, she was instrumental in bringing the human rights of women and others in Iran into sharp focus on the world stage, advocating at the highest levels at the UN Security Council, the US Senate Human Rights Caucus, the British Parliament, Australian Senate Enquiries, and forums across the globe.

Standing up for human rights for more than 20 years, in 2020, she received the Freedom House Raising Awareness Award, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor. That same year she was also appointed as an Amnesty International UK Ambassador with a focus on women and Iran.

Nazanin Boniadi has used her platform to highlight the injustice of “gender apartheid”, calling for freedom, democracy and human rights for all.

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The 2021-22 Sydney Peace Prize winner was The Uluru Statement from the Heart

First Nations leaders and courageous architects of the Uluru Statement from the Heart Pat Anderson AO, Professor Megan Davis and Noel Pearson accepted the 2021-22 award together at the official Sydney Town Hall ceremony 10 November 2022. These leaders worked tirelessly to deliver the Statement in May 2017 and have spent the past four years leading the campaign for a referendum.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invitation to the Australian people to walk with First Nations people to create a better future. It is a gift: a strategic roadmap to peace, where all Australians can come together to realise our nation’s true potential.

The Uluru Statement is the culmination of 13 Regional Dialogues – a historic deliberative consultation process with 1200 First Nations people – on the question of what constitutional recognition means for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

At the Uluru Constitutional Convention in 2017, delegates endorsed the consensus of the Dialogues for a strategic and sequenced reform proposal: Voice, Treaty and Truth. As the Uluru Statement sets out, the first step is a Voice to Parliament, enshrined in the Australian Constitution.

A First Nations Voice, protected by the Constitution, will mean Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have a say in the laws and policies that impact them. It also means that agreement-making and truth-telling can finally be done on equal terms. With Voice, we can begin the journey of coming together after a struggle – Makarrata.

2008 Sydney Peace Prize recipient, Senator Patrick Dodson, lauds the choice for 2021-22 prize winner:

‘I have been most gratified to learn that the 2021 Sydney Peace Prize has been awarded to the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and I congratulate Pat Anderson, Megan Davis and Noel Pearson whose good work in delivering the Statement will be recognised by their receipt of the award.

More than four years have elapsed since 250 First Nations delegates attended the national constitutional convention at Uluru, and I remain immensely frustrated that the Statement from the Heart has not been comprehensively embraced by the Commonwealth Government.

I hope that this award will serve to revive and sustain public recognition and acceptance of the Statement and its modest and plaintive pleas that a First Nations Voice be enshrined in the Constitution, and that a Makarrata Commission supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations, and truth-telling about our history.’

The Sydney Peace Foundation’s Chair, Archie Law, supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart:

‘The Uluru Statement from the Heart is a call for peace. It is a game changer. The statement is a rallying call to our citizens to ‘walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future’. Uluru provides the leadership that we desperately crave to achieve respect, recognition, and reconciliation.’

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On Thursday 14 November at Sydney Town Hall, Tarana Burke and Tracey Spicer AM accepted the 2019 Sydney Peace Prize on behalf of The Me Too movement.

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Women changing the world

The 2019 Sydney Peace Prize Jury chose the Me Too movement from over 200 nominations from the community. The Me Too movement has changed the way we understand and talk about sexual harassment and violence, by highlighting the breadth and impact of sexual harassment and violence around the world, in homes, public spaces, and workplaces.

Tarana Burke began building the movement in 2006 to help survivors of sexual violence, particularly black women and girls, connect to resources for healing, and to build a survivor-led community of advocates against sexual violence. Her grassroots work has now expanded to reach a global community of survivors from all walks of life.

We owe future generations nothing less than a world free of sexual violence. I believe we can build that world. - Tarana Burke

Tracey Spicer AM is a journalist, author and broadcaster who has spearheaded the Me Too Movement in Australia. She has produced award-winning investigations into sexual harassment in media workplaces, and has been an advocate for safe workplaces.

Tarana and Tracey welcomed the Prize:

I want to express my sincere gratitude to the Sydney Peace Foundation for honoring me with this tremendous award. Knowing that my life’s work has inspired people in Australia and around the world to fight for an end to sexual violence means more to me than I can express. Receiving the Sydney Peace Prize pushes the prevalence of sexual further into the global conversation, and along with it, the belief that together we can put an end to it. This award encourages us to continue building bridges with organizations and leaders centering the healing of and advocacy for survivors. Receiving this is a true honor, and we dedicate it to those who are in the fight to interrupt sexual violence wherever it exists. We dedicate this to the survivor who hasn’t yet found the words to tell their story. The Me Too movement will continue this work until we shift the culture to one that believes that every person, no matter their identity or circumstance, has the right to consent and safety. - Tarana Burke

It is a tremendous honour to accept this international prize alongside Tarana Burke, who started the Me Too movement more than a decade ago. This movement shows that solidarity is the key to creating lasting change. We know that women from marginalised communities experience sexual violence at an exponentially higher rate than the rest of the population. It’s time for government, business and the community to help those who need it most. I dedicate this prize to everyone who is a survivor of sexual violence: your voices are being heard. - Tracey Spicer AM

2012 Sydney Peace Prize laureate Sekai Holland congratulated the Me Too movement on winning the 2019 Prize.

A demand for change sweeping the world

The Sydney Peace Foundation’s Chair Archie Law observed the incredible impact Me Too has had on the entrenched status quo in Australia and the world over:

The Me Too movement has enabled women to stand together, rise up and tell the world that we have had enough of being disregarded, undervalued and ignored. Me Too has crashed through the status quo and allowed us all to catch a glimpse of the brighter future that lies ahead.

2011 Sydney Peace Prize recipient Professor Noam Chomsky lauded the 2019 Jury’s selection of Me Too:

I was very pleased to learn that the Peace Prize is being awarded to the Me Too movement, which has effectively broken the silence on deplorable practices and significantly raised general consciousness, a major contribution to human rights.

2018 Sydney Peace Prize recipient Professor Joseph E. Stiglitz commended the awarding of the Prize to Me Too:

Around the world, the Me Too movement has given women the courage and the comradeship to speak out against sexual harassment and violence. This is not only a fight for justice, but a battle against one form of inequality that has long been entrenched in our society.

2014 Sydney Peace Prize recipient Julian Burnside AO QC applauded the choice:

It is a wonderful thing that Me Too is to be awarded the Sydney Peace Prize…The Me Too movement has done a remarkable job drawing attention to a problem which was recognised by virtually all women and virtually no men. Since men are at the heart of the problem, it is a great thing that no man will now be believed if they say they are unaware of the problem Me Too has exposed.

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On Thursday 15 November at Sydney Town Hall, American economist, Nobel laureate and lifelong champion for global economic justice, Professor Joseph Stiglitz, received the 2018 Sydney Peace Prize.

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Inequality is created

Today’s gilded age of the 1% is undermining the future of the 99% – a haunting reality and powerful concept pioneered by 2018 Sydney Peace Prize recipient Professor Joseph Stiglitz. Whilst political leaders have long preferred to speak about inequality “in quiet rooms in hushed tones”, Stiglitz has been sounding the alarm since the 1960s.

Inequality is one of the biggest challenges our world faces today. Around the world, the gap between the rich and poor is spiralling out of control. It is growing wider each year. Oxfam recently reported that 82 percent of all growth in global wealth in the last year went to the top 1 percent, whilst the bottom half of humanity saw no increase at all.

In Stiglitz’s words: “Wealth begets power, which begets more wealth“.

Our economic system is broken: and the concentration of wealth, resources and power in the hands of the 1% leaves many behind whilst big business and wealthy individuals benefit. This is an epidemic of exploitation, removing us further and further away from the just, equal and sustainable world we are working towards.

While this system is unfair, it is not accidental or inevitable. As 2018 Sydney Peace Prize recipient Professor Joseph Stiglitz says, inequality is created. It is the result of deliberate policy choices by people in power. This also means that a solution is not out of reach: our governments can act decisively to end the inequality crisis if they choose to do so.

The People’s Professor

Born in Gary, Indiana in 1943, Joseph Stiglitz grew in a politically active family. Witnessing inequality, poverty, discrimination and unemployment around him shaped Stiglitz’s understanding of the world. It motivated him to dedicate his life’s work to fighting for global social justice, changing the rules and politics that unfairly favour the wealthy.

Stiglitz established a reputation early in his career. He received his PhD from MIT in 1967, won ­Fulbright and Guggenheim fellowships in his 20s, became a full professor at Yale at 27 years, won the John Bates Clark Award for young influential economists in 1979, and taught economics at Stanford, Oxford and Princeton – all before he turned 40.

Amidst teaching complex economic theory, Professor Stiglitz offers his students a lesson to apply to both economics and life:

“Don’t settle for solving a small problem when you may be able to solve a larger one.”

It is advice he has lived by for years, as tackling and solving some of the world’s biggest problems has become his life-long mission. Dubbed ‘The People’s Professor’, Stiglitz is never one to shy away from weighing in on battles for global social justice. The theme that runs through his life’s work? Standing up for the ‘little guy’, defending the cause of the global citizen, and rewriting the unfair rules of globalisation. His priority? To win a more equitable share in the benefits of globalisation for the billion people who live on less than $1 a day.

Challenging economic conventions

As a prolific academic at world-leading universities and as an influential advocate in the policy world, Stiglitz has galvanised and shaped global debates on inequality and economic fairness over the last three decades. Whether as economic advisor to President Bill Clinton or the United Nations, or as Chief Economist at the World Bank, Professor Stiglitz speaks truth to power and challenges the all-powerful role of the markets.

In his 2001 Nobel Prize Lecture, he admitted:

As an individual I have not been content just to let others translate these ideas into practice. It was important to make people aware that in important cases, the institutions that were making the rules of the game and influencing the lives of millions around the world were getting their economics wrong [and that] there were reasons to question their technical legitimacy and their political legitimacy.

Warning that the global economic system is stacked against developing nations, Stiglitz has been credited for using his position to boldly challenge conventional economic approaches. In the hard-hitting world of policymaking, politics and strategic calculation, Stiglitz has never been afraid to rock the boat when necessary, reopening and pushing debates that far more powerful men had conveniently put to rest.

Taking his case to the public

Following his return to academia, Stiglitz continued to shape and rebalance global debates by taking his case directly to the public. Some of his most well-known books focus on topics such as the limits of globalization, fair trade, and devastating human and economic toll of the Iraq War.

He has authored international best-sellers that have been translated into 35 languages, such as Globalization and Its Discontents (2002), The Price of Inequality: How Today’s Divided Society Endangers Our Future (2012) and The Great Divide: Unequal Societies and What We Can Do About Them (2015).

In 2001, Stiglitz received a shared Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences for his pioneering work on Information Economics. Nobel Laureate and New York Times columnist Paul Krugman says Stiglitz is “an insanely great economist—almost every time you dig into some sub-field of economics … you find that much of the work rests on a seminal Stiglitz paper.”

Stiglitz has been a Professor at Columbia University in New York since 2001, where he also founded the University’s Committee on Global Thought and the Initiative for Policy Dialogue, a think tank on international development. He was also the president of the International Economic Association from 2011 to 2014, is the Chief Economist of the Roosevelt Institute, and has chaired The Brooks World Poverty Institute at the University of Manchester since 2005. In October 2008, Stiglitz chaired the UN Commission of Experts on Reforms of the International Monetary and Financial System which reviewed the global financial system and suggested steps to a more sustainable and just global economic order. Its final report, the Stiglitz Report, was released in 2009.

Throughout his career, Stiglitz has received more than 40 honorary degrees, including from Cambridge and Harvard, and he has been decorated by several governments including Bolivia, Korea, Colombia, Ecuador, and most recently France, where he was appointed a member of the Legion of Honor. He was in Time’s 2011 top 100 influential people, and is routinely called on by governments and international bodies to advise on sustainable and responsible economic policy.

Vision, leadership, and courage

Without justice, peace is hollow and fragile. When the world’s richest hold an unacceptable concentration of wealth and power whilst hundreds of millions fight to survive, we are all diminished and lose sight of our common humanity. Joseph Stiglitz’s work makes clear that society cannot function without shared prosperity, and shows us a path towards a better future where the economic system works for everyone, not just the 1%.

The 2018 Sydney Peace Prize Jury observed that a broken economic system is concentrating more wealth in the hands of the rich and powerful, fuelling an inequality crisis that leaves ordinary people struggling to scrape by, both in developing nations where people face extreme poverty, and in developed countries such as Australia:

We Australians cherish our belief in a fair go for everyone, but unless our government keeps powerful corporate interests in check and ensures our economy works to favour the 99%, people will hurt – and we know this can lead to division, fear and feelings of powerlessness.

Professor Stiglitz welcomed the Prize:

“It is a tremendous honor to receive this recognition. It comes at a time not only when there is growing recognition of the magnitude of the crisis in capitalism and democracy caused by the Great Divide in our societies, but the political and economic consequences are being felt world-wide. We cannot have durable peace without social and economic justice, and our political and economic system today are failing to create a world with such justice. Another world is possible – one marked by greater equality, more democratic participation, and stronger and more sustainable growth. We know the economic and social policies with which we can attain this better world. The challenge today is our politics.”

2011 Sydney Peace Prize recipient Professor Noam Chomsky also lauded the 2018 Jury’s selection of Professor Stiglitz:

“I am very pleased to learn that the Peace Prize will be awarded to the outstanding economist Joseph Stiglitz, whose insightful critical analysis of prevailing economic systems and doctrines has not only greatly contributed to our understanding of the contemporary world but has also provided powerful intellectual tools for creating a more just and peaceful global society.”

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On Thursday 2 November at Sydney Town Hall, Patrisse Cullors, Rodney Diverlus, and Dawn Modkins accepted the 2017 Sydney Peace Prize on behalf of the Black Lives Matter Global Network.

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In 2014, Black Lives Matter emerged as a global phenomenon when the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter turned into a rallying cry for a new generation of civil rights activists and organisers. A movement swept across the United States, affirming Black humanity in the face of relentless police brutality, mass incarceration and racial disparity.

Built and sustained by many, the Black Lives Matter Global Network (BLM) has played a vital role in growing the Movement for Black Lives, and its loud calls for justice, dignity and equality have resonated around the world.

It’s about love

Black Lives Matter started with a love letter. In 2012, 17-year-old , unarmed Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, a neighbourhood watch who felt Travyon, walking home after buying a pack of Skittles at a nearby service station, was ‘out of place’ in the middle-class area. Zimmerman was acquitted for all charges.

Alicia Garza retells the experience: “Trayvon could have been my brother. I immediately felt not only enraged, but a deep sense of grief. It was as if we had all been punched in the gut. Yet soon people shrugged, as if to say: “We knew he was never going to be convicted of killing a black child,” and “What did you expect?””

Turning to Facebook, Alicia wrote a ‘Love Letter to Black Folks’: “We don’t deserve to be killed with impunity. We need to love ourselves and fight for a world where black lives matter. Black people, I love you. I love us. We matter. Our lives matter.”

In a matter of moments, fellow community organiser Patrisse Cullors created the social media hashtag #BlackLivesMatter, and Opal Tometi created the website and social media platforms that soon connected people across the country. Black Lives Matter was born, and the hashtag #BlackLivesMatter started spreading like wildfire. A year later, it went viral during the 2013 uprising in Ferguson, Missouri, when people took to the streets with a simple demand: Stop Killing Us.

Not a moment, but a movement

Since creating the social media hashtag #BlackLivesMatter in 2013, BLM’s Co-Founders, Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi steadily and strategically built the scaffolding of a nationwide on-the-ground political network that now has more than 40 chapters worldwide.

Encouraging a broader and deeper conversation about what justice for Black people looks like — and how people can join forces to achieve it — the Black Lives Matter Network nurtures an inclusive, decentralised and leaderful movement from the bottom-up. The Founders want the faces of this movement to reflect the change they strive towards in their own communities, which is that all Black lives matter, regardless of their gender, class, sexual orientation, or age.

An intervention

For the Founders, Black Lives Matter Network is not ‘just’ about extrajudicial killings and police reform. Rather, it is an intervention: Black Lives Matter demands that American society reconsider how it values Black lives by identifying where and how Black life is cut short by the state, whether in viral videos of police brutality, the self-fulfilling prophecy of the criminal justice system, or in areas where Black communities disproportionally face homelessness, poverty and economic disparity.

Black Lives Matter is our call to action. It is about replacing narratives of Black criminality with Black humanity. It is a tool to reimagine a world where Black people are free to exist, free to live, and a tool for our allies to show up for us.

As we say ‘Black Lives Matter’, you see the light that comes inside of people from Black communities and other communities. People are like, ‘I’m going to stand on the side of Black lives.’ You see people transforming, and that’s a different type of work. For me, that is a spiritual work, a healing work. What a great time to be alive.

Patrisse Cullors, Co-Founder

Black Lives Matter is about changing culture and changing the conversation: If it is true that Black lives matter, then what does that mean for police reform, for our justice systems, for schools, for jobs, for infrastructure, and for economic development? If Black lives matter, then what needs to change in politics and in the media?

In only a few years, it has rapidly evolved well beyond a hashtag, into a social movement that is healing and organising communities across the USA, and has both political aims as well as visionary policy demands.

Vision, leadership, heart and courage

Without justice, peace is hollow and fragile. As societies and human beings, we cannot be at peace when people around us are suffering. Or when rules, institutions and behaviours that shape our daily lives – visible or invisible – tell us that the lives of people around us matter less, or don’t matter at all.

The committee noted that the conversation about Black Lives Matter is an age-old conversation, but commended today’s movement for creating a unique opportunity to change the course of history:

Black Lives Matter offers bold and visionary solutions to build societies where Black people, and by extension all people, are free to live safe and dignified lives. This vision of love, hope, resistance and dissent resonates around the globe and particularly in Australia where the struggle with racism towards our First Peoples, asylum seekers and other excluded and marginalised communities scars our country and tarnishes our international reputation.

To turn a radically inclusive message into a rallying cry for millions of people requires vision, leadership, heart and courage. Alicia Garza, Patrisse Cullors and Opal Tometi and the many other Black Lives Matter leaders challenge us all to rethink, reimagine and reconstruct the societies we live in. This is an urgent and vital challenge, not least here in Australia, a country that struggles to come to terms with its past and fails to right ongoing wrongs.

This is the first time that a movement and not a person has been awarded the Peace Prize – a timely choice. Climate change is escalating fast, increasing inequality and racism are feeding divisiveness, and we are in the middle of the worst refugee crisis since World War II. Yet many establishment leaders across the world stick their heads in the sand or turn their backs on justice, fairness and equality. The power of ordinary people is a phenomenal force for change – now more than ever, popular movements and political resistance is crucial.

The Black Lives Matter Global Network declared “we receive this award with tremendous gratitude and in solidarity with organizers throughout Australia who, in the face of egregious oppression, fightback against the state and proclaim that all Black Lives Matter.”

 

The Sydney Peace Prize is an affirmation and reminds us that we are on a righteous path. Accepting this award is about our people on the ground striving for justice every single day. It’s truly meaningful to be recognized in this way.  We’ll continue to push forward until structural racism is dismantled and every Black life matters. It’s our duty in times like this to keep our eyes steadfast on the freedom we deserve.

Opal Tometi, Co-founder Black Lives Matter and Executive Director, Black Alliance for Just Immigration (BAJI)

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On Friday 11 November at Sydney Town Hall, Naomi Klein – Canadian award-winning author, journalist, and activist – received the 2016 Sydney Peace Prize.

The 2016 Sydney Peace Prize was presented to Naomi Klein at Sydney Town Hall on Friday 11 November, at the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture and Award Ceremony. This inspiring featured music by Missy Higgins, an introduction by 2008 Sydney Peace Prize Laureate Senator Patrick Dodson, and poetry by Kathy Jetnil-Kijiner from the Marshall Islands. Professor Gillian Triggs, President of the Australian Human Rights Commission, awarded the Prize. The celebratory Sydney Peace Prize Dinner directly followed the Lecture across the road at Sydney Hilton Hotel, and was compered by journalist Tara Moss.

Climate change is at the root of violence and suffering across the world, from wars over water to fires and floods that destroy livelihoods, displacing thousands. The economic system that has created this crisis has disadvantaged many and has damaged our planet beyond repair. If we want to achieve peace, we cannot ignore climate change. It is the greatest challenge of our time, and we must recognise that this is about justice and human rights, as much as it is about the environment. It requires a transition away from fossil fuels and predatory economics, to a system that cares for people and planet. Naomi Klein shows us how.

 

A tremendous honour

Klein says “It is a tremendous honour to receive this recognition. It comes at a time when the impacts of the climate crisis are being acutely felt, from the devastating bleaching of the Great Barrier Reef to the horrific wildfires tearing across my own country. A great many people know in their hearts that now is the time for bold action. Yet political leadership is still lacking — and nowhere more so than in Australia.

This award will help further work that articulates the need for a justice-based transition from fossil fuels, highlighting policies that dramatically lower emissions while creating huge numbers of jobs and battling systemic inequalities. I have no doubt that the jury’s decision will spark healthy debate, and I look forward to participating in those discussions.”

A fine, fierce and meticulous mind

The Jury commended Klein for proposing solutions that not only reduce emissions and end fossil fuel extraction, but also aim for social justice, economic fairness:

“She challenges feelings of powerlessness, apathy and confusion, and inspires people to demand a leap towards a society based on caring for each other and for the earth,” said David Hirsch, Chair of the Foundation. “We think that Klein’s message is one that Australians really want – and need to hear.”

With publications including No Logo and The Shock Doctrine Naomi Klein dissects the systemic and fundamental challenges of our time. Throughout her career she has joined the dots between politics, economy and history, distilling powerful truths that are universally applicable, which once understood cannot be unheard or unseen. Turning to climate change in the book, film and worldwide campaign This Changes Everything, “Naomi Klein applies her fine, fierce and meticulous mind to the greatest, most urgent question of our time”, so writes 2004 Sydney Peace Prize recipient Arundhati Roy.

She is not afraid to ask the tough questions and skilfully articulates how today’s economic system preserves devastating forms of structural violence. She puts forward climate change as the great unifier; an opportunity to right the wrongs that have been committed in the name of the economy. Fixing climate change means changing how the economy works at its core, and there are many powerful movements across the world disillusioned with decades of neoliberal policies. Klein inspires people power, and encourages everyone to stand up and work together to promote a new agenda for sharing the planet. This movement is not just about climate change, it is about climate justice and it is powerful.

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The 2015 Sydney Peace Prize was presented to George Gittoes at Sydney Town Hall on Tuesday 10 November, where Gittoes delivered the 2015 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture. Directly after, guests celebrated the awarding at the Sydney Peace Prize Dinner.

Dr George Gittoes AM, Australian humanist artist, activist, and film-maker was announced as the recipient of the 2015 Sydney Peace Prize on April 11 2015.

Gittoes grew up in the Sydney suburb of Rockdale and studied Fine Arts at The University of Sydney. In 1970 he helped establish The Yellow House artists collective in Kings Cross with others including Martin Sharp and Brett Whitely.

Gittoes’ activism has evolved through his work as a painter, filmmaker and photojournalist. For the better part of the last five decades, Gittoes has been travelling the world chronicling conflicts and social upheavals in many places including Nicaragua, Somalia, Cambodia, Western Sahara, Northern Ireland, Bosnia, Bougainville, East Timor, South Africa, Palestine, Iraq and Pakistan.

In 1995 Gittoes was a witness to the massacre of thousands of Rwandans at a displaced persons camp where they had sought protection from UN peacekeeping forces.  This inspired his painting The Preacher, which won the 1995 Blake Prize for religious art.

Gittoes uses his talent and passion to transform the stories of oppressed people he has met in war zones into artwork that conveys the complicated issues at the heart of each conflict with confronting accuracy and emotive detail. Gittoes commented:

“At a time when the world is speeding into a new cycle of war it is inspiring that the Sydney Peace Foundation values art as a way to help overcome the brutality. Winning the Sydney Peace Prize is a wonderful and unexpected honour”.

The Jury commended Gittoes for his innovative and creative approach to peacebuilding: “George Gittoes is daring, brash and irreverent – qualities Australians identify with,” says David Hirsch, Chair of the Foundation. “He is also generous, open-minded and compassionate – qualities we also identify with but which have been in short supply in recent years. The Jury felt his unique approach to peacebuilding and social justice should be recognised and applauded.”

Gittoes is currently based in Jalalabad, Afghanistan – arguably the most dangerous city in the world. Against all odds, and at great personal risk from the Taliban, he has established a new Yellow House artists collective. Its mission is to bring peace and positive social change not with the weapons of war but with a broad range of creative media and strategies.

Art historian Dr Rod Pattenden says “His images pry open the door to a conversation about what it means to be human at the very limits, where petty myths, tired illusions and worn-out symbols collapse. This is the dare at the heart of his practice – to activate the imagination rather than fear, and to create hope in the face of chaos.”

“I feel privileged to have been able to spend much of my life creating beauty in the face of the destruction of war” says George Gittoes. “I have been waging a personal war against war with art.”

View some of Gittoes latest work

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Australian barrister, human rights advocate and author, Julian Burnside AO QC was awarded the 2014 Sydney Peace Prize on Wednesday 5th November 2014, at Sydney Town Hall. He delivered the 2014 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture, and Professor The Hon. Professor Dame Marie Bashir AC DVO presented him with the Prize.

Julian Burnside follows in a long line of some of the world’s most admirable and effective advocates for peace and justice. His story is one of transformation from corporate lawyer for ‘the big end of town’ to human rights advocate, spending a large portion of his time arguing the case for asylum seekers who have arrived in Australia seeking safety from conflict in their homelands.

Burnside was thrilled to receive the Prize, commenting “I am deeply honoured to be selected to receive this year’s prize, especially in a year when Australia’s reputation is being tarnished by its intentionally harsh treatment of asylum seekers. I have long admired the work of the Sydney Peace Foundation.  It continues to advocate for human rights and promote peace.  It helps keeps our focus on the importance of the rule of law, the need to treat all human beings with compassion and the need to ensure that human rights are respected.”

The Jury commented: “All nominations were remarkable people doing extraordinary things in a myriad of ways, but the Jury chose Julian Burnside for his unflinching advocacy and commitment. Australia is currently marooned at a moral and legal crossroads over policies towards asylum seekers and refugees.

Julian Burnside’s decades long advocacy of the human rights of some of the world’s most vulnerable people makes him an extremely worthy recipient.”

Burnside has been a persistent thorn in the side for governments on both sides. He reaches across the aisle to explain how existing policies against asylum seekers are not just cruel but represent an astonishingly expensive legal and moral failure.

Burnside acted for the Victorian Council for Civil Liberties against the Australian Government in the MV Tampa affair arguing that Howard government’s treatment of those asylum seekers denied them rights afforded under the Migration Act and international treaties.  He is also a staunch opponent of indefinite, mandatory detention which current policy permits.

It has been an uphill battle all the way, but Burnside has been in the thick of it.  He is an inspiration to those of us who believe that Australians are better than those policies make us out to be.

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Dr Cynthia Maung, founder of Mae Tao Clinic, delivered her 2013 City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture at Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday 6 November, where she appeared in conversation with Mary Kostakidis. On 7 November she received the Prize from Lord  Mayor Clover Moore at the University of Sydney’s MacLaurin Hall.

Dr Cynthia Maung, an ethnic Karen, fled her native Burma during the pro-democracy uprising of 1988 and set up the Mae Tao Clinic on the Thai-Burmese border. Each year 700 staff treat over 150,000 people including refugees, migrant workers and orphans. Dr Maung has advanced the cause of peace in the Asia Pacific region and upheld the best humanitarian and ethical traditions of the medical profession.

Dr Maung was deeply honoured to be selected as the 2013 recipient, saying the award will help to highlight the plight of refugees displaced by not just conflicts, but also economic development in Myanmar: “The prize is a way of bringing international attention to the plight of Burma. It highlights that the peace process needs to be monitored by the international community.”

What Dr Cynthia has achieved against the odds really impressed the jury” said the Founder of the Foundation, Professor Stuart Rees.

Her selflessness and the notion that justice is about not financially penalising people for being sick, that healthcare shouldn’t be a commercial proposition, affected them greatly.

Over the years, the clinic has grown from a one-room hut – where Dr. Maung used a rice cooker to sterilize instruments – to a veritable village with a hospital, school and canteen. The Jury drew urgent attention to Dr. Maung’s work, as the Mao Tao Clinic will be severely affected by the cessation of annual funding from AusAID.

What Dr. Maung has achieved against the most appalling odds is extraordinary. Her selflessness and the conviction that health care must be available to all, regardless of their poverty, race or political conviction, is central to the realisation of human rights and meaningful peace. Without her clinic, many thousands of Burmese would have died and many more would face a lifetime of disability and disease.

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Sekai Holland delivered the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture in the Sydney Town Hall on Wednesday November 7th and was presented with the 2012 Peace Prize by Lord Mayor Clover Moore, at a Gala Dinner and Award Ceremony on Thursday November 8th at the University of Sydney’s McLaurin Hall. 

Senator Mrs. Sekai Holland, Co-Minister for Reconciliation, Healing and Integration in the Cabinet of President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister Morgan Tsvangirai, was announced as the recipient of the 2012 Sydney Peace Prize on April 30 2012. The announcement was made by Dr Meredith Burgmann at a reception hosted by the Australian Embassy in Harare.

Sekai has been involved in a number of human rights issues, including democratic renewal in Zimbabwe, justice for Aboriginal Australians, ending the apartheid system in South Africa, the rights and education of women in rural Zimbabwe. In addition, Sekai Holland has been a significant leader of non violent, democracy campaigns, and is a key figure in her country’s national dialogue on how to heal the deep wounds of social conflict.

Senator Holland commented:

‘This award comes as a wonderful surprise but one which is so encouraging. I accept on behalf of the brave women I have worked with for so many years and for my colleagues in our present Organ for National Healing Reconciliation and Integration. I also acknowledge the long term support and friendship which I have received from Australian Aboriginal campaigners for human rights and for peace with justice.’

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On 3 November, the 2011 Sydney Peace Prize was presented to Professor Noam Chomsky by 2008 Peace Prize Laureate, Patrick Dodson, at the McLaurin Hall at the University of Sydney.

Earlier that day, at the Sydney Opera House, Prof Chomsky answered audience questions on ‘Problems of Knowledge and Freedom’- linguistics, global politics, human rights, responses to climate change, the nature of democracy. This event was chaired by veteran Australian broadcaster Mary Kostakidis.

On Wednesday 2 November, a 2000-strong crowd at the Sydney Town Hall were eager to show their appreciation to Professor Chomsky, whose life’s work as a challenger of unjust power has lent influence and inspiration to activists world wide.

Professor Noam Chomsky is often described as one of the West’s most influential intellectuals in the cause of peace, and the most significant challenger of unjust power and as an individual who is not only brilliant but heroic. Chomsky first became widely known through his work on modern linguistics especially his theory of a universal grammar. Since the 1960s, when he opposed the Vietnam War, he has forged a reputation as a political activist or “libertarian socialist”, especially as a critic of American foreign and domestic policy. He has written more than 150 books.

The award to Noam Chomsky came at a time of violence and protest around the world. Across the Middle East brave people challenged authoritarian rule, yearned for human rights and for a state of their own. Yet instead of deliberating on how we might also foster dialogue about justice, Australia was producing an ugly state of politics. Those who expressed the needs of the planet and of vulnerable people were demonised by radio commentators, demeaned by powerful leaders, and even threatened in the streets. In contrast to those developments, the Jury’s choice for Noam Chomsky produced a great opportunity to promote inspiring conversations about peace with justice.

The Peace Prize Jury noted that for more than 50 years, Chomsky has been a world champion of freedom of speech, of the value of transparency in government and the need to challenge secrecy and censorship. In his study of the political economy of human rights, he exposed state crimes, induced by US foreign policy, across South America, the Middle East and South East Asia. The committee applauded Chomsky for challenging abusive uses of power with unfailing moral courage, and for commitment to the principle that forces for change should be nonviolent.

The Jury also commended Professor Chomsky for his dual role as an activist as well as intellectual and would not separate those responsibilities. Urging academics to find the courage to move far beyond the ivory tower, he hopes they can play a fuller role as citizen educator — about human rights, about violent militaristic ways of thinking and acting, about those peace with justice issues, such as poverty and hunger.

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Chomsky’s intellectual stature has been compared to that of Galileo, Newton and Descartes. His influence has been felt in fields as diverse as artificial intelligence, cognitive neurology, music theory, anthropology, law and theology. His moral stature has been described as prophetic. He was the only scientist or philosopher on the White House ‘Enemies List.’

During his stay, Noam Chomsky delivered lectures and answered questions about economics, history, international relations, linguistics, philosophy, justice and much more: What is unique about human language? How is it related to core components of human nature: cognition, moral judgment and other human activity? How can peace in the Middle East be achieved? What does the rise of China mean? What ought to be done about global economic problems? Is there a difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter?

An edited book was published, reconstructing Chomsky’s extemporaneous talks, informal notes, interviews and transcripts during his few days in Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide.

Click here to order the 2012 Book “Peace with Justice – Noam Chomsky in Australia”, Edited by Clinton Fernandes.

Ideas at the House: “Problems of Knowledge and Freedom”
Noam Chomsky’s in conversation with Mary Kostakidis

2011 Sydney Peace Prize recipient Professor Chomsky
Interviewed on SBS Australia

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The 2010 Sydney Peace Prize was presented to Dr Shiva, courageous scientist, environmentalist and feminist, by environmentalist Tim Flannery, and Her Excellency Professor Marie Bashir AC, the Governor of New South Wales, at the McLaurin Hall, the University of Sydney.

Born in 1952 to a father who was the conservator of forests and a farmer mother with a deep love for nature, Vandana Shiva received her first lessons on environment protection in the lap of the Himalayas. A student of St Mary’s School in Nainital and later of Convent of Jesus and Mary, Dehradun, she aspired to be a scientist.

Dr Shiva trained as a physicist and did her Ph.D on the subject “Hidden Variables and Non-locality in Quantum Theory” at the University of Western Ontario. She later shifted to inter-disciplinary research in science, technology and environmental policy, which she carried out at the Indian Institute of Science and the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore.

In 1982, she founded an independent institute, the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Ecology, dedicated to high quality and independent research to address the most significant ecological and social issues of our times, in close partnership with local communities and social movements.

In 1991, she founded Navdanya, a national movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seeds. It places the farmer at the center of conservation and empowers her/him to take control over the political, ecological and economic aspects of agriculture.

If commerce starts to undermine life support, then commerce must stop, because life has to carry on.

Dr Shiva delivered the City of Sydney Peace Prize Lecture in the Concert Hall at the Sydney Opera House. She spoke on “Making Peace with the Earth“, lambasting global corporations for waging war against nature in the name of profits.

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John Pilger was born and grew up in Bondi, Sydney, Australia. He is a world-renowned journalist and documentary film maker committed to exposing injustices of Aboriginal peoples, and other exploited groups worldwide. The Peace Prize Jury was impressed by Pilger’s courage as well as by his skills and creativity. His commitment to uncovering human rights abuses shines through his numerous books, films and articles. His work inspires all those who value peace with justice.

Speaking from London about news of this award, John Pilger responded:

Coming from my homeland and the city where I was born and grew up, this is an honour I shall cherish, with the hope that it encourages young Australian journalists, writers and film-makers to break the silences that perpetuate injustice both far away and close to home.

Like many of his Australian generation, Pilger and two colleagues left for Europe in the early 1960s. They set up an ill-fated freelance ‘agency’ in Italy (with the grand title of ‘Interep’) and quickly went broke. Arriving in London, Pilger freelanced, then joined Reuters, moving to the London Daily Mirror, Britain’s biggest selling newspaper, which was then changing to a serious tabloid.

He became chief foreign correspondent and reported from all over the world, covering numerous wars, notably Vietnam. Still in his twenties, he became the youngest journalist to receive Britain’s highest award for journalism, Journalist of the Year and was the first to win it twice. Moving to the United States, he reported the upheavals there in the late 1960s and 1970s. He marched with America’s poor from Alabama to Washington, following the assassination of Martin Luther King. He was in the same room when Robert Kennedy, the presidential candidate, was assassinated in June 1968.

His work in South East Asia produced an iconic issue of the London Mirror, devoted almost entirely to his world exclusive dispatches from Cambodia in the aftermath of Pol Pot’s reign. The combined impact of his Mirror reports and his subsequent documentary, Year Zero: the Silent Death of Cambodia, raised almost $50 million for the people of that stricken country. Similarly, his 1994 documentary and dispatches report from East Timor, where he travelled under cover, helped galvanise support for the East Timorese, then occupied by Indonesia.

In Britain, his four-year investigation on behalf of a group of children damaged at birth by the drug Thalidomide, and left out of the settlement with the drugs company, resulted in a special settlement.

His numerous documentaries on Australia, notably The Secret Country (1983), the bicentary trilogy The Last Dream (1988), Welcome to Australia (1999) and Utopia (2013) all celebrated and revealed much of his own country’s ‘forgotten past’, especially its indigenous past and present.

In his most recent film ‘The Coming War on China’ Pilger investigates America’s ongoing military presence in the Pacific at significant cost to the indigenous population. His expose of the atrocities still being committed there is just part of this far-reaching documentary about the relationship between the US and China since World War II, in light of recent inflammatory statements made by President Trump. Here are stories apparently left untold by the mainstream news media – fake or otherwise.

He has won an Emmy and a BAFTA for his documentaries, which have also won numerous US and European awards, such as as the Royal Television Society’s Best Documentary. His articles appear worldwide in newspapers such as the Guardian, the Independent, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Mail & Guardian (South Africa), Aftonbladet (Sweden), Il Manifesto (Italy). He writes a regular column for the New Statesman, London. In 2001, he curated a major exhibition at the London Barbican, Reporting the World: John Pilger’s Eyewitness Photographers, a tribute to the great black-and-white photographers he has worked alongside.

Source: JohnPilger.com

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