21 November 2025, Berlin, Germany
The Seán MacBride Peace Prize, named after the Nobel Peace Laureate and IPB co-founder Seán MacBride, honors individuals and organizations who conduct outstanding work for peace, disarmament, and human rights.
2025 Seán MacBride Peace Prize: A recognition of individual efforts towards peace and justice
“In a world scarred by occupation, genocide, and war, Hania, Randa, and Boris light the path forward. They show us that peace is not the quiet after violence, but the fire of resistance to injustice. Their voices rise where others are silenced. Their courage endures where repression tries to break the human spirit. We honor them and the organizations and sectors they represent — and every person who believes that justice is the only path to peace.” – Corazon Fabros, Co-President of IPB.
This year’s award recognizes Palestinian peace activists Hania Bitar and Randa Siniora, alongside Russian intellectual Boris Kagarlitsky, for their enduring work in promoting peace, challenging oppression and defending human dignity in times of injustice and war. The 2025 award aims to honor those who dedicate their lives to eliminating violence and oppression in their homelands, speaking up about the injustices of occupation and militarism. By honoring their work, IPB emphasizes the need to stop the genocide in Palestine and the war in Ukraine, while highlighting that peace is not only the elimination of violence.
Hania Bitar – General Director of the Palestinian Youth Association for Leadership and Rights Activation (PYALARA)
Through her leadership of PYALARA, which she founded in 1999, Hania frames peace as a dynamic process of empowering young Palestinians to resist injustice and aspire for freedom via knowledge, resilience, civic and political engagement. She transformed a youth media initiative into a comprehensive institution, using media and communication to challenge narratives and highlight Palestinian struggle on the levels of human rights, women’s rights and leadership development.
Randa Siniora – General Director, Women’s Center for Legal Aid and Counseling (WCLAC)
Randa Siniora is a Palestinian human rights and women’s rights activist who has documented human rights violations in the occupied Palestinian territories for three decades. Currently General Director of WCLAC in Jerusalem, Randa provides legal aid, social counseling and protection services to women victims of gender-based violence.
Throughout Israel’s genocide in Gaza and the OPT, Hania and Randa have been two of the strongest voices calling for a ceasefire and justice for the Palestinian people, based on human rights, dignity, and democracy. IPB has worked closely with both through the Global Solidarity for Peace in Palestine Coalition, the Women As Agents of Change, a podcast series that celebrates the transformative power of women in creating a more peaceful, just, and sustainable future, and the UN Commission on the Status of Women in March 2025.
“At considerable personal sacrifice, Hania Bitar and Randa Siniora have made important contributions to raising the next generation of Palestinian justice and peace figures and to documenting Israeli brutal human rights violations. They and others in their circles are sources of hope, inspiration for a just and peaceful Palestinian future.” – Joseph Gerson, Co-President of IPB.
Boris Kagarlitsky – Political scientist, writer, and anti-war activist
Boris Kagarlitsky is a renowned Russian intellectual, writer, and anti-war activist. Following his public opposition to Russia’s War in Ukraine, Kagarlitsky was sentenced to five years of jail on February 13, 2024, in Russia, on charges of “justifying terrorism”. Boris’s worldwide reputation stems from the writer’s critical stance against capitalism, imperialism, and militarism. By honoring Kagarlitsky, we also wish to highlight the work of anti-war Russian political prisoners.
“It has been my privilege to know and to host Boris Kargaralitsky, an extraordinarily courageous truth and justice advocate. Our hearts are with him as he endures yet another period of imprisonment, this time for defiantly speaking the truth about President Putin’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine. May he endure his incarceration as well as can be hoped, and we look forward to working with him again when he is finally free. He is a model for us all” – Joseph Gerson, Co-President of IPB.
Let the voices of this year’s awardees remind us that peace cannot exist without justice, equality, and accountability.