21 February 2025, Berlin, Germany
The 2024 Seán MacBride Peace Prize honors the selfless efforts and dedication of organizations and individuals who promote healing, restoration, and human rights while embodying the principles of peace amidst diversity. This year, the prize is awarded to two joint organizations and three outstanding Indigenous women whose work reflects bravery, resilience, nonviolence, and genuine peacebuilding.
Individual Peace Advocates: Ima Lourembam Nganbi, Dr. Pantibonliu Gonmei, and Third Indigenous Woman Peace Advocate (Name Withheld for Security Reasons)
The 2024 Seán MacBride Peace Prize also honors three exceptional Indigenous women—mothers and activists—who have bravely worked tirelessly for the protection of Indigenous Peoples rights, for gender justice and challenged engineered conflicts and militarization of Manipur in Northeast India.
Manipur, once a former Asiatic nation-state with over 2,000-years old history now currently located in Northeast India, is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state, home to 3.3 million Indigenous Peoples. Since 1958, even after the British left the subcontinent, the former Colonial Act called the Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act (AFSPA)—a form of martial law has been imposed—on Indigenous populations in Northeast India, including Manipur for the past 67 years non-stop. The history of 45 million Indigenous Peoples has been blanked from the national curriculum, and violent armed conflicts engineered till today against the Indigenous peoples till today. Over 200 lives have been lost, 10,000 homes burnt and over 70,000 currently displaced in the latest violence that was engineered in the state since 3 May 2023. In protest of these injustices, women across Manipur have led sit-ins and protest marches demanding their rights and the protection of the Indigenous Peoples in this sensitive border region.
The nonviolent struggle, sacrifice and determination of Manipuri women, the Mothers in such difficult circumstance is exemplary in history, a testament to their fight for equal access to survival, dignity as well as their vision for a just and peaceful society. Their activism cannot be captured in words alone. This award is not just about recognizing their actions—it is about honoring their extraordinary courage and resilience. The International Peace Bureau (IPB) is humbled to present this award to them for their tireless efforts to uphold Indigenous rights, women’s empowerment, and lasting peace in a region marked by political unrest for over 70 years.
Despite significant personal risks, these women have worked fearlessly to defend vulnerable populations, challenge militarization, and amplify the voices of communities affected by conflict. The very fact that the third Indigenous woman awardee’s name is withheld for security reasons is itself a testament to the dangers they face in pursuing peace and justice at their work.
Joint Organization Award: Parents Circle-Families Forum and Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP)
The Parents Circle-Families Forum and the Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) are grassroots organizations that have played a crucial role in fostering trust, healing, understanding, and hope between Israelis and Palestinians. More than just organizations, they are building families and communities during these challenging times.
The Parents Circle-Families Forum is a network of bereaved Israeli and Palestinian families who have lost loved ones to the conflict. Through remarkable efforts in dialogue and reconciliation, they work to promote mutual understanding and nonviolence. Their unwavering commitment to human dignity and healing serves as a powerful reminder that even the deepest wounds of war can be mended.
The Alliance for Middle East Peace (ALLMEP) unites over 150 organizations across the region, advancing peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and grassroots cooperation. By amplifying local peace initiatives and fostering cross-border dialogues, ALLMEP lays the groundwork for coexistence, transcending political divisions and historical grievances.
These organizations are recognized for their extraordinary courage in pursuing justice amid immense challenges and for their commitment to the belief that healing and reconciliation are possible, even in the most divided and conflict-ridden environments.
The 2024 Seán MacBride Peace Prize serves as a tribute to these distinguished organizations and individuals as heroes of their lifetime. Their work stands as an enduring symbol of the power of peacebuilding in the face of adversity. Their unwavering commitment to justice, recognition, human rights, and reconciliation offers hope for a future where peace is not merely the absence of conflict but a reality built through collective action, compassion, and courage.uals, whose efforts shine as examples of the enduring strength of peacebuilding in the face of adversity. Their unwavering commitment to justice, human rights, and reconciliation provides hope for a future where peace is not merely the absence of conflict but a reality created through collective action, compassion, and courage.