The Peace, nuclear Abolition and Climate Engaged Youth (PACEY) Award ceremony took place as an online event on Saturday January 21 at 4:30pm - 6pm Central Europe Time / 10:30am Eastern Time USA. (watch the event video).
Three prizes of €5000 each were awarded at the event for youth-led projects that have the potential to make a significant difference on peace, nuclear disarmament and climate issues. The nine finalists (3 for each award) presented their youth projects. The audience then voted for the winners. The winners are Peace in our Schools (Georgia), Adopt a tree, not a weapon (Democratic Republic of Congo) and Storytelling as a Catalyst of Action for Peace, Love, and Climate Justice in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa).
The PACEY Awards are held conferred annually in conjunction with the Basel Peace Forum and the Basel Intergenerational Forum on Peace, climate action and nuclear disarmament.
The Award ceremony also featured short presentations from two youth projects that have won the award in previous years World's Youth for Climate Justice which is taking the issue of climate change to the International Court of Justice, and Platform for Peace and Humanity for their Youth Ambassadors for the Right to Peace program.
Watch the video of the event. Learn about inspiring youth projects on these issues.
The Finalists
The three finalists in the European project category (1 prize) are:
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Global Perspectives on Corporate Climate Legal Tactics (United Kingdom)
A project to examine the unique aspects of climate litigation across the corporate world leading to the production of a toolbox for the effective implementation of climate law. -
Peace in our Schools (Georgia)
Founded by Jewish and Muslim peacemakers from Georgia and Afghanistan, this project will provide emotional intelligence and conflict resolution training to young Ukrainian refugees and Russian immigrants, who have fled the Russia-Ukraine war. -
SAFNA Youth Forum Database Project (Switzerland)
Submitted by the Swiss Association of Lawyers for Nuclear Disarmament (SAFNA) Youth Forum, the objective of this project is to create a database on nuclear disarmament and arms control, with commentaries on national legislation and jurisprudence.
The six finalists in the Beyond Europe category (2 prizes) are:
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Adopt a tree, not a weapon (Democratic Republic of Congo)
A program run by former child soldiers and other young volunteers, using innovative techniques like inter-active theatre, to educate and engage youth in addressing the climate crisis and armed violence in the region. -
Ertis Mektebi school (Kazakhstan)
A project to provide mainstreamed education for third and fourth generation victims of Soviet nuclear testing. Over 4000 children in the Semipalatinsk region have neuropsychological and musculoskeletal disabilities arising from the transgenerational impact of more than 460 nuclear tests. -
Nuclear Lives: Uranium Mining on Indigenous Communities of Meghalaya (India)
An interview series documenting the testimonies of victims of uranium mining in Meghalaya. The uranium is used for both nuclear weapons and nuclear energy. -
Silence the Guns (Cameroon)
A program led by Children for Peace to educate and engage children, especially girls, in Central Africa in non-violence and peace-building in order to counter violent extremism, armed conflict and the illicit proliferation of weapons. -
Storytelling as a Catalyst of Action for Peace, Love, and Climate Justice in the MENA region (Middle East and North Africa)
A project led by the MENA Youth Network which aims to establish an online media archive of stories and voices of youth in the MENA region most affected by the intersection of conflict and climate change, -
Youth Peace Caravans (Sudan/Uganda)
A peacebuilding program initiated and led by a former child soldier from South Sudan in the refugee settlements in northern Uganda to foster peace among the South Sudanese young refugees, who come from a range of tribes with a long history of animosity.
For more information on the nine finalists, please see Basel Peace Office announces the nine finalists for the 2023 PACEY Youth Award.