2012 Right Livelihood Awards announced!!

2012 Laureates define essential conditions for global peace and security

The 2012 Right Livelihood Awards go to four recipients. One award is an honorary award, the three other laureates will share the € 150,000 cash award.

HAYRETTIN KARACA (Turkey) receives the 2012 Honorary Award “for a lifetime of tireless advocacy and support for the protection and stewardship of our natural world, combining successful entrepreneurship with effective environmental activism”.

The Jury awards SIMA SAMAR (Afghanistan) “for her longstanding and courageous dedication to human rights, especially the rights of women, in one of the most complex and dangerous regions in the world”.
It is the first time that a Right Livelihood Award goes to Afghanistan.

The Jury recognises GENE SHARP (USA) “for developing and articulating the core principles and strategies of nonviolent resistance and supporting their practical implementation in conflict areas around the world”.

The Jury awards the CAMPAIGN AGAINST ARMS TRADE (UK) “for their innovative and effective campaigning against the global trade in arms”.

The 2012 Right Livelihood Awards were announced today at a press conference in Stockholm by Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director, and Monika Griefahn, Co-Chair and Jury member of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation.

Further information and material supporting this press release can be accessed via our website.

For videos and high-resolution pictures, please also refer to our ftp-server.

Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation said:

“This year’s group of four Laureates highlights the essential conditions for global peace and security: effective nonviolent resistance, a recognition that the arms industry is part of the problem, human and women’s rights, and the preservation of our precious ecological resources.”

* For Hayrettin Karaca, his colleagues M. Serdar Sarıgül and Özgül Erdemli Mutlu will be available in Turkey:

Mr Serdar Sarıgül – General Manager of TEMA:  office +90 212 283 78 16 (dial: 118), or +90 530 407 9670 (mobile)
Mrs Özgül Erdemli Mutlu – Director of Corporate Communications and Environment Policies: office +90 212 283 78 16 (dial: 203), or +90 530 237 32 03 (mobile)

* Sima Samar (available in Afghanistan): +93 799 307046, or +93 700 63 66 66

* For Gene Sharp, Jamila Raqib, Exec. Dir. of the Albert Einstein Institution, will be available in Boston, U.S.:
+1 617 247 4882, jamila@aeinstein.org (Media outside the U.S., please contact our Stockholm office. Thank you for your understanding.)

* CAAT (UK): +44 20 7281 0297 (office), or +44 7990 673232 (mobile of Kaye Stearman, Media Coordinator)

* Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation (Sweden, afternoon): +46 8 70 20 337

The Awards will be presented at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on December 7, 2012, at 4 pm, hosted by the Society for the Right Livelihood Award in the Swedish Parliament.

A press conference with the 2012 Laureates will take place the day before (December 6) at the Swedish Foreign Office Press Room at 9.30 am.

Founded in 1980, the Right Livelihood Awards are presented annually in the Swedish Parliament and are often referred to as ‘Alternative Nobel Prizes’. They were introduced “to honour and support those offering practical and exemplary answers to the most urgent challenges facing us today”.

Jakob von Uexkull, a Swedish-German professional philatelist, sold his business to provide the original funding. Since then, the Awards have been financed by individual donors.

This year, there were 122 proposals from 52 countries. From today, there are 149 Right Livelihood Award Laureates from 62 countries.

RIGHT LIVELIHOOD AWARD FOUNDATION
Birgit Jaeckel, Communications Consultant;
Sharan Srinivas, Programme Manager
info@rightlivelihood.org
Phone: +46 8 70 20 340
Cell phone: +49 170 24 49 348

For German, Swiss & Austrian media:
Holger Michel
michel@laut-und-deutlich.com
Phone: +49 30 600 319 33-42
Cell phone: +49 178 6623 679