Representatives of the 2024 Sydney Peace Prize recipient — the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement — were honoured at Cabramatta High School’s annual Peace Day celebration on Friday 22 November.
Every year, the Sydney Peace Foundation brings the annual Peace Prize winner to Cabramatta High to be honoured by the school community and welcomed by a remarkable celebration of shared humanity.
Federation was a sponsor of the 2024 Sydney Peace Prize publicly acknowledged at each of the events throughout the week.
Writer Benjamin Law hosted the annual Sydney Peace Prize Lecture and Award Ceremony on Monday 18 November, which saw City of Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore bestow International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Secretary General Jagan Chapagain with this year’s Prize on the Societies’ behalf.
Students from several public schools, their teachers and their families were invited to the occasion, seated alongside Federation officers.
They heard how the International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement’s 16 million volunteers and staff risk their lives every day to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians and non-combatants in war and conflict, climate disasters and other health, food and water insecurity crises around the world.
The Sydney Peace Foundation’s annual Peace Prize Gala Dinner was held on Thursday 21 November, raising much-needed money for the Foundation to continue its work advocating for global peace and justice.
The dinner was hosted by SBS World News co-presenter Anton Enus and addressed by International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Regional Director for Asia Pacific Alexander Matheou, Amnesty International Occupied Palestinian Territories spokesperson and Sydney Peace Foundation council member Mohamed Duar, Sydney Centre for International Law Co-director Professor Emily Crawford, and Red Cross nurse Christine Evans, who had just returned from deployment in a hospital in Rafah.
The annual Peace Day at Cabramatta High marked Sydney Peace Week’s final event. A spectacular event showcasing the best of public education, students and attendees were addressed by not just Matheou and Evans but also federal Member for Fowler Dai Le and the NSW Department of Education Director Educational Leadership Lisa Porter.
Federation Peace, Environment and International Issues Special Interest Group convenor Kelly Marks, Multicultural Officer Mandy Wells and Liverpool Organiser Antoniette Sirianni attended on the union’s behalf.
Peace Prize recipients were welcomed into the school by student lion dancers and accompanying music, as well as a guard of honour formed by students proudly wearing cultural dress who led them into the school hall. The ceremony was also attended by student representatives from other public primary and secondary schools in the local area.
The International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement now has a plaque in the Cabramatta High peace garden, alongside the plaques of each of the Sydney Peace Prize’s previous winners.
Federation looks forward to working further with the Sydney Peace Foundation, commencing with the second day of the Association Peace Contacts trade union training course on 2 December.