Nominees for 2017 Peace Award announced today

A shortlist of nominees for the 2017 Tipperary International Peace award has been announced.

This years shortlist includes the Irish Defence forces, a Palestinian teenager, the Columbian President and a Kurdish humanitariaN.

Former winners of the award include Nelson Mandela, Bob Geldoff, Bill Clinton, UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon and Malala Yousafsai

The nominees for the 2017 Tipperary Peace award have been released today.

This years nominees for the prestigous award as the Irish Defence Forces Peace keeping mission.
Ireland is the only nation to have a continuous presence on peace support operations since 1958.
They are currently deplaoyed in Lebanon but have also served in Syria, Israel, Bornia, Kosovo and the Congo to name a few.

Also nominated is Palestinian teenager Ahed Tamimi. The 17 year received worldwide attention after a video of her slapping an Israeli soldier outside her home in the West Bank, became a worldwide symbol of resistance.
She was sentenced to eight months in prison for the incident.

The Columbian President Juan Manuel Santos is also nominated for his efforts in trying to end the long conflict in Columbia which has raged between the Government and FARC militia since the 60’s.

The final nominee is Kurdish humanitarian Dr Widad Akreyi ( Wee-dad Ak-ree) who is the youngest female human rights defender who has spoken out about the enslavement of women and girls in the Middle East and helped to establish a working group against torture in Iraq.

The shortlist will be considered by the Peace Convention committee over the next couple of weeks and the winner will be announced at the end of April