Add us to your Facebook network

The Bremen schwelle Foundation was founded in 1979 by the Bremen stevedore company businessman Dirk Heinrichs and his wife Ruth-Christa. In 1994 Wiebke and Reinhard Jung became co-sponsors. The Foundation presently supports projects in southeastern Europe, East and Central Africa, Israel and Palestine, as well as in Bremen.


About the schwelle Foundation

Press Release: The Bremen Peace Award 2019 winners have been chosen

Bremen, 10.9.2019. The schwelle Foundation honours activists from Israel, Nicaragua and Belarus /  Women fight for peace, democracy and human rights / Award Ceremony to be held on the 15th November in the Bremen Town Hall.

They campaign for transparency and democracy in Belarus, human rights in Nicaragua or a peace treaty between Israelis and Palestinians: The 9th International Bremen Peace Award held by the schwelle Foundation focuses on the commitment shown by women. The award is endowed with a total of 15,000 euros to be awarded on Friday 15th November at 6 pm in the upper chamber in the Bremen Town Hall.

Olga Karatch from Belarus receives the award for the Grassroots Peace Worker. The political scientist is regarded as the head and the driving force behind the human and civil rights network “Nash Dom”, which she founded at the end of 2005 at the age of 26 and to which currently 20 group belong nationally. Her aim is to make shortcomings in communal and national politics visible and to organise public campaigns to make politicians accountable. Such public engagement is not well received in Belarus, particularly when directed against the government. Activists are threatened, mistreated and arrested. "This award is not only for me, but also for the invisible women and men in Belarus who for years have risked their lives and freedom every day and every minute",  says Olga Karatch. "Only very few people actually know about the terrible things happening in Belarus at the moment. It is the voices of women and human rights activists that are particularly inaudible. They are forced to fight for their rights and to rely on themselves."

The award for the Peace Ambassador in Public Life goes to Vilma Nuñez de Escorcia. The 80-year old has been fighting since the 1970s for human rights in Nicaragua.  Amongst other things, she worked as a lawyer and represented political prisoners in court, without payment. She also headed the National Commission for Human Rights. In 1990, she founded the non-government and non-partisan Nicaraguan Centre for Human Rights (CENIDH). The key concept behind the work carried out by CENIDH is founded on the principle of the indivisibility of human rights: political and civic rights are equally as important as economic, social and cultural rights.  "Receiving the Bremen Peace Award gives me the courage to carry on", says Vilma Nunez de Escorcia. "The prize gives us the feeling that we are not alone, for it embodies the irreplaceable value of solidarity expressed by the city and people of Bremen which touches us deeply."

The Donars' Award for Encouraging Initiatives is awarded to Women Wage Peace from Israel. The independent grassroots movement began in the summer of 2014 and does not only campaign for a peace treaty between Israelis and Palestinians acceptable to both sides. It also wants to be included in the decision-making process. With approximately 40,000 members and more than 100 local groups, Women Wage Peace is regarded as the largest grass-roots movements in Israel.  Amongst other activities, the women organise peace marches, in which tens of thousands of people participate, demonstrate peacefully in front of the Israeli parliament and create spaces for meeting and encounter for people from Israel and Palestine. "Our movement is made up of normal women from different backgrounds who are in despair at waiting passively for the government and the political parties to solve the Israeli-Palestine conflict. For us, the Bremen Peace Award means that our efforts are seen, honoured and supported by the international community", the initiative states.

The schwelle Foundation has presented the International Peace Award since 2003. Foundation President Anette Klasing emphasises that all Peace Award winners courageously oppose their own government policies in order to overcome discrimination, violence and nationalism and demand human rights.

Patron Karoline Linnert emphasises the exemplary, often selfless, commitment shown by the award winners. “This year, we honour courageous women for their engagement for peace”, says Bremen’s former mayoress. The commitment demonstrated by the award winners is more important than ever in times and in countries with growing nationalism and an increasing level of human rights violations.

Contact person for queries:
Petra Titze
Managing Director schwelle Foundation

Telefon: +49 (0)421 - 30 32 – 577

E-Mail: petra.titze@dieschwelle.de

About the International Bremen Peace Award 

The International Bremen Peace Award has been presented every two years since 2003. The schwelle Foundation honours people and organizations whose work is a role-model for reconciliation, human rights, overcoming racism, for social justice, future-oriented and sustainable way of dealing with nature, as well as intercultural and interreligious understanding and communication.

 

 

Bank details

IBAN: DE67 4306 0967 4028 9726 00
BIC (SWIFT)-Code: GENODEM1GLS
GLS Bank

> To the donation form

       > Subscribe to newsletter

 

 

 

Contact

schwelle Foundation
Wachmannstrasse 79
D-28209 Bremen
Tel: +49 - (0)421 - 3032-575

> stiftung[at]dieschwelle.de

> Contact