Today, students are playing crucial roles in opposition movements throughout the world, fighting for democracy and the implementation of human rights. Though they often are the first ones to climb the barricades, sadly they are also the first ones to be forgotten. The purpose of the Student Peace Prize is to make their voices heard, their sacrifices known and contribute to their cause in any way we can.

The Student Peace Prize 2009 is awarded the human rights activist Elkouria “Rabab” Amidane from Western Sahara. Amidane is awarded the Prize for her work for human rights, students’ rights and peace in Western Sahara.
Amidane is contributing to inform the world about the discrimination and the violence that the Sahrawis are exposed to by the Moroccan government. Even though Amidane uses peaceful means in her fight for human rights, she has been exposed to torture and arrested by the Moroccan police several times.

Read more at OpenDemocracy…

The Student Peace Prize ceremony took place as part of ISFiT, the International Student Festival in Trondheim, with peace building as a central topic. Guest speaker was Nobel Peace Laureate Betty Williams. During the festival, among others WMDC Chairman Hans Blix and Nobel Laureates Desmond Tutu and  Shirin Ebadi were notorious guest speakers.

More at studentpeaceprize.org…

…or at Isfit.org

It a time of rising unemployment and economic insecurity, some argue that protecting the environment is a ‘luxury’; but a new report, Tackling Climate Change, Reducing Poverty shows that tackling climate change actually offers a huge opportunity to boost the economy and tackle UK poverty at the same time. For example, government investment in home insulation, public transport and community projects to improve local resilience would not only cut carbon emissions, they would also create new ‘green collar jobs’ and help those living on low incomes. The report, from a new coalition of leading UK environmental and social justice groups (convened by Oxfam and nef, including Friends of the Earth and the Royal College of Nursing) called on government to take a joined-up approach to tackling climate change and poverty.

Read more at the New Economics Foundation….