Search for Common Ground Honors Five of the World’s Leading Peace Activists

F.P. Report

WASHINGTON DC: Search for Common Ground, the world’s largest dedicated peace building organization, will honor five of the world’s leading peace activists at its Annual Common Ground Awards, on November 30, 2017. More than two hundred leaders from the US government, diplomatic, business, cultural, and international communities are scheduled to gather at 6pm at The Pierre hotel in New York City for the event.

Now in its 19th year, the Common Ground Awards is dedicated to honoring people who have made significant contributions toward finding solutions to seemingly intractable conflict and violence. This year’s Awardees are being recognized for their unprecedented work in the fields of peace building, racial equality, women’s empowerment, and countering violent extremism, both in their local communities and internationally.

The 2017 Awardees include:

Arno Michaelis, a former white supremacist skinhead, and Pardeep Kaleka, the son of a victim of a massacre perpetrated against the Sikh community in 2012. The pair preaches a message of unity through their organization Serve 2 Unite and is advising the development of Battle for Humanity, Search’s social pervasive game to end violent conflict.

Daniel Lubetzky, Founder and CEO of KIND Snacks, who works to foster kinder and more empathetic communities through a myriad of social and philanthropic commitments.

Fatima Ezzahrae Benoughazi, a leading youth activist from Morocco working to counter recruitment into violent extremist groups.

Sylvie Mutwambaka Mirindi, the founder of the Mamans Sensibilisateurs, a committee of wives of Congolese Army soldiers who offer a counseling system to combat domestic violence.

Boniface Mudenge, a survivor of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, and founder of Inyenyeri Itazima Association, through which he has risked his life to build tolerance and understanding as a mediator and peacebuilder in Rwanda.

Previous Awardees include President Jimmy Carter, Rep. Gabrielle Gifford, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, and former U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry.