John Paul Lederach to receive Niwano Peace Prize
Lederach is being honored for his four-decade-long peacebuilding career.
John Paul Lederach, a practitioner-scholar of justice and peacebuilding, will receive the 2019 Niwano Peace Prize.
The award, presented May 8 in Tokyo, includes 20 million yen, roughly $179,000. The Niwano Peace Foundation gives the award “to honor and encourage those who are devoting themselves to interreligious cooperation in the cause of peace,” the foundation writes on its website.
“While Dr. Lederach has consulted with the highest-level government officials and national opposition movements in war-torn settings like Nicaragua, Somalia, Northern Ireland, Colombia, Nepal, and the Philippines, in many of those same locations he has provided accompaniment for local communities most affected by the decades of violence,” the prize committee wrote. “Lederach’s academic work draws on this rich experience in the field as a mediator, negotiator, peacebuilding practitioner, trainer, and consultant.”
