The Sydney Peace Prize is awarded by the Sydney Peace Foundation, a non profit organisation associated with the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD) is a public university, public research university in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in both Australia and Oceania. One of Australia's six sandstone universities, it was one of the ...

. The prize promotes peace with justice and the practice of nonviolence. It aims to encourage public interest and discussion about issues of peace,

social justice Social justice is justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society where individuals' rights are recognized and protected. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has of ...

, human rights, and non-violent conflict resolution.

Support

The

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the Local government in Australia, local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the Greater Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament ...

is a major supporter of the Sydney Peace Prize. This involves a significant financial contribution along with other in-kind support in order to foster peace with justice.

The prize

Over three months each year, the Sydney Peace Prize jury – comprising seven individuals who represent corporate, media, academic and community sector interests – assesses the merits of the nominees' efforts to promote peace with justice. It is awarded to an organisation or individual: * who has made significant contributions to global peace including improvements in personal security and steps towards eradicating poverty, and other forms of

structural violence Structural violence is a form of violence wherein some social structure or social institution may harm people by preventing them from meeting their basic needs or rights. The term was coined by Norwegian sociologist Johan Galtung, who intr ...

* whose role and responsibilities enable the recipient to use the prize to further the cause of peace with justice * whose work illustrates the philosophy and principles of non-violence

Considerations

The jury has been prepared to make some controversial choices. Sydney Peace Foundation Founder, Emeritus Professor Stuart Rees, said, "The initiators of the Sydney Peace Prize aimed to influence public interest in peace with justice, an ideal which is often perceived as controversial. The choice of a non-controversial candidate for a peace prize would be a safe option but unlikely to prompt debate or to increase understanding. Consensus usually encourages compliance, often anaesthetises and seldom informs."

Prize winners

* 1998 – Professor

Muhammad Yunus Muhammad Yunus (born 28 June 1940) is a Bangladeshi economist, entrepreneur, and civil society leader who has been serving as the Chief Adviser of Bangladesh, Chief Adviser of the Interim government of Muhammad Yunus, interim Yunus ministry, g ...

, the founder of the

Grameen Bank Grameen Bank () is a microfinance, specialized community development bank founded in Bangladesh. It provides small loans (known as microcredit or "grameencredit") to the impoverished without requiring collateral. Grameen Bank is a statutory ...

for the poor and Nobel Peace Prize recipient * 1999 – Archbishop Emeritus

Desmond Tutu Desmond Mpilo Tutu (7 October 193126 December 2021) was a South African Anglican bishop and theologian, known for his work as an anti-apartheid and human rights activist. He was Bishop of Johannesburg from 1985 to 1986 and then Archbishop ...

Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...

recipient * 2000 –

Xanana Gusmão José Alexandre "Xanana" Gusmão (; born 20 June 1946) is an East Timorese politician. He has served as the 6th prime minister of East Timor since 2023, previously serving in that position from 2007 to 2015. A former rebel, he also served as E ...

, the poet-artist and president of

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

* 2001 – Sir William Deane, the former Governor-General of Australia * 2002 –

Mary Robinson Mary Therese Winifred Robinson (; ; born 21 May 1944) is an Irish politician who served as the president of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997. She was the country's first female president. Robinson had previously served as a senato ...

, former

United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univers ...

* 2003 –

Hanan Ashrawi Hanan Daoud Mikhael Ashrawi (; born 8 October 1946) is a Palestinian politician, activist, and scholar. Ashrawi began her career at Birzeit University. Beginning in the 1990s, Ashrawi was a member of the PLO's Leadership Committee, serving as t ...

, Palestinian academic and human rights campaigner * 2004 –

Arundhati Roy Suzanna Arundhati Roy (; born 24 November 1961) is an Indian author best known for her novel ''The God of Small Things'' (1997), which won the Booker Prize for Fiction in 1997 and became the best-selling book by a non-expatriate Indian author. ...

, Indian novelist and peace activist * 2005 –

Olara Otunnu Olara A. Otunnu (born 6 September 1950) is a Ugandan politician, diplomat, and lawyer. He was President of the Uganda People's Congress (UPC), a political party, from 2010 to 2015 and stood as the party's candidate in the 2011 presidential elect ...

, United Nations Under Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict from

Uganda Uganda, officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered to the east by Kenya, to the north by South Sudan, to the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to the south-west by Rwanda, and to the ...

* 2006 –

Irene Khan Irene Zubaida Khan (; born 24 December 1956) is a Bangladeshi British lawyer and human rights activist. She is serving as the United Nations Special Rapporteur for freedom of expression and opinion. She previously served as the seventh Secreta ...

, Secretary General of

Amnesty International Amnesty International (also referred to as Amnesty or AI) is an international non-governmental organization focused on human rights, with its headquarters in the United Kingdom. The organization says that it has more than ten million members a ...

* 2007 –

Hans Blix Hans Martin Blix (; born 28 June 1928) is a Swedish diplomat and politician for the Liberal People's Party. He was Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs (1978–1979) and later became the head of the International Atomic Energy Agency. Blix wa ...

, chairman of the UN Weapons of Mass Destruction Commission * 2008 – Patrick Dodson, chairman of the Lingiari Foundation, "father of reconciliation" * 2009 –

John Pilger John Richard Pilger (; 9 October 1939 – 30 December 2023) was an Australian journalist, writer, scholar and documentary filmmaker. From 1962, he was based mainly in Britain. He was also a visiting professor at Cornell University in New York. ...

, Australian journalist and documentary maker * 2010 –

Vandana Shiva Vandana Shiva (born 5 November 1952) is an Indian scholar, environmental activist, food sovereignty advocate, ecofeminist and anti-globalization author. Based in Delhi, Shiva has written more than 20 books. She is often referred to as "Ga ...

, Indian social justice and environmental activist, eco-feminist and author * 2011 –

Noam Chomsky Avram Noam Chomsky (born December 7, 1928) is an American professor and public intellectual known for his work in linguistics, political activism, and social criticism. Sometimes called "the father of modern linguistics", Chomsky is also a ...

, American

linguist Linguistics is the scientific study of language. The areas of linguistic analysis are syntax (rules governing the structure of sentences), semantics (meaning), Morphology (linguistics), morphology (structure of words), phonetics (speech sounds ...

and activist * 2012 – Sekai Holland, Zimbabwean Senator * 2013 –

Cynthia Maung Cynthia Maung ( ; born 6 December 1959) is a Karen medical doctor and founder of Mae Tao Clinic that has been providing free healthcare services for internally displaced persons (IDP) and migrant workers on the Thai-Burmese border for three ...

, Burmese doctor * 2014 –

Julian Burnside Julian William Kennedy Burnside (born 9 June 1949) is an Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate, and author. He practises principally in commercial litigation, trade practices and administrative law. He is best known for his st ...

, Australian barrister, human rights and refugee advocate * 2015 –

George Gittoes George Noel Gittoes, (born 7 December 1949) is an Australian artist, film producer, director and writer. In 1970, he was a founder of the Yellow House Artist Collective in Sydney. After the Yellow House finished, he established himself in ...

, Australian artist who chronicles conflicts around the world * 2016 –

Naomi Klein Naomi Klein (born May 8, 1970) is a Canadian author, social activist, and filmmaker known for her political analyses; support of ecofeminism, organized labour, and criticism of corporate globalization, fascism and Criticism of capitalism, ca ...

, Canadian journalist, author and prominent activist for

climate justice Climate justice is a type of environmental justice that focuses on the unequal impacts of climate change on marginalized or otherwise vulnerable populations. Climate justice seeks to achieve an equitable distribution of both the burdens of clima ...

* 2017 –

Black Lives Matter Black Lives Matter (BLM) is a Decentralization, decentralized political and social movement that aims to highlight racism, discrimination and Racial inequality in the United States, racial inequality experienced by black people, and to pro ...

, International civil rights activist movement * 2018 –

Joseph E. Stiglitz Joseph Eugene Stiglitz (; born February 9, 1943) is an American New Keynesian economist, a public policy analyst, political activist, and a professor at Columbia University. He is a recipient of the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences (2 ...

, American economist and academic *2019 – Tarana Burke and

Tracey Spicer Tracey Leigh Spicer is an Australian newsreader, Walkley Award-winning journalist and social justice advocate. She is known for her association with Network Ten as a newsreader in the 1990s and 2000s when she co-hosted '' Ten Eyewitness News' ...

, American founders of the #MeToo Movement *2020 –

Midnight Oil Midnight Oil (known informally as "The Oils") are an Australian rock band composed of Peter Garrett (vocals, harmonica), Rob Hirst (drums), Jim Moginie (guitar, keyboard) and Martin Rotsey (guitar). The group was formed in Sydney in 1972 by H ...

, Australian rock band *2021–2022 – The ''

Uluru Statement from the Heart The ''Uluru Statement from the Heart'' is a 2017 petition to the people of Australia, written and endorsed by the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders selected as delegates to the First Nations National Constitutional Conv ...

'' *2023 –

Nazanin Boniadi Nazanin Boniadi (; ; born 1980) is a British actress and activist. Born in Tehran and raised in London, she attended university in the United States, where she landed her first major acting role as Leyla Mir in the soap opera ''General Hospita ...

, British actress and activist *2025 –

Navi Pillay Navanethem "Navi" Pillay (born 23 September 1941) is a South African jurist who served as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 2008 to 2014. A South African of Indian Tamil origin, Pillay was the first non-white woman judg ...

, former

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) is a department of the United Nations Secretariat that works to promote and protect human rights that are guaranteed under international law and stipulated in the Univer ...

Gold medal for Peace with Justice

The foundation also occasionally awards a special gold medal for significant contributions to peace and justice. Winners of the gold medal include South African statesman

Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela ( , ; born Rolihlahla Mandela; 18 July 1918 – 5 December 2013) was a South African Internal resistance to apartheid, anti-apartheid activist and politician who served as the first president of South Africa f ...

, 14th

Dalai Lama The Dalai Lama (, ; ) is the head of the Gelug school of Tibetan Buddhism. The term is part of the full title "Holiness Knowing Everything Vajradhara Dalai Lama" (圣识一切瓦齐尔达喇达赖喇嘛) given by Altan Khan, the first Shu ...

Tenzin Gyatso The 14th Dalai Lama (born 6 July 1935; full spiritual name: Jetsun Jamphel Ngawang Lobsang Yeshe Tenzin Gyatso, shortened as Tenzin Gyatso; ) is the incumbent Dalai Lama, the highest spiritual leader and head of Tibetan Buddhism. He served a ...

, Japanese

Buddhist Buddhism, also known as Buddhadharma and Dharmavinaya, is an Indian religion and List of philosophies, philosophical tradition based on Pre-sectarian Buddhism, teachings attributed to the Buddha, a wandering teacher who lived in the 6th or ...

leader

Daisaku Ikeda was a Japanese Buddhist leader, author, educator and nuclear disarmament advocate. He served as the third president and then honorary president of the Soka Gakkai, which is considered among the largest of Japan's new religious movements but ...

WikiLeaks WikiLeaks () is a non-profit media organisation and publisher of leaked documents. It is funded by donations and media partnerships. It has published classified documents and other media provided by anonymous sources. It was founded in 2006 by ...

publisher

Julian Assange Julian Paul Assange ( ; Hawkins; born 3 July 1971) is an Australian editor, publisher, and activist who founded WikiLeaks in 2006. He came to international attention in 2010 after WikiLeaks published a series of News leak, leaks from Chels ...

, Costa Rican Christina Figueres and Australian band

Notes

External links

Sydney Peace Foundation
{{Sydney Peace Prize laureates Australian humanitarian and service awards Culture of Sydney Peace awards Awards established in 1998