MUSAWAH TO RECEIVE 42ND NIWANO PEACE PRIZE FOR ADVANCING WOMEN’S RIGHTS IN MUSLIM CONTEXT

KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 18 (Bernama) -- The Niwano Peace Foundation has awarded "Musawah", a global movement for equality and justice in the Muslim family, as the 42nd Niwano Peace Prize winner, in recognition of its dedication to advocating women's human rights in a Muslim context.

The award ceremony will be held in Tokyo on May 14, where Musawah will be presented with an award certificate, a medal, and a cash prize of 20 million Japanese yen, according to a statement. (100 Japanese yen = RM2.92)

Founded in 2009, Musawah aims to "uncover the voices of women that have long been silenced in cultural and religious societies".

With a network of advocates from over 40 countries, including in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the developed world, Musawah works to support women's leadership in interfaith dialogue and the protection of human rights.

In selecting Musawah for the award, the Niwano Peace Prize Committee praised the movement for its significant contributions to women's empowerment, political involvement, and civic engagement, which align with the prize's mission of fostering peaceful coexistence and justice.

The committee cited a range of Musawah’s training workshops and networking opportunities that bring awareness to women in the world to stand for justice in getting involved in political processes and civic engagement for the benefit of humanity.

Chartered in 1978, the Niwano Peace Foundation established the Niwano Peace Prize to honour and encourage individuals and organisations that have contributed significantly to inter-religious cooperation, thereby furthering the cause of world peace, and to make their achievements known as widely as possible.

In this way, the foundation hopes both to enhance inter-religious understanding and cooperation and to encourage the emergence of still more persons devoted to working for world peace.

The foundation promotes research and other activities based on the spirit of religious principles and serves the cause of peace in such fields as education, science, religion and philosophy.

-- BERNAMA