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Bishop Samuel Ruiz Garcia, aged 77, of San Cristobal, Mexico, has
been awarded the 19th Niwano Peace Prize in memory of
Japanese Buddhist leader Nikkyo Niwano. The prize is awarded to
those who devote themselves to interreligious cooperation and to
promoting peace. A medal, a certificate and 20 million Yen (US$
148.732, Euro 170.750,00) will be presented to this year’s winner
during a special ceremony on May 9 in Tokyo. The Catholic Bishop was
selected by a seven member committee, including representatives of
Buddhism, Christianity and Islam, from numerous candidates proposed
by about 1,000 people representing 125 countries.
Niwano Peace Prize
This Japanese prize is awarded annually to an "individual or an organization that is making a significant contribution to world peace through promoting, inter-religious cooperation."
Bishop Ruiz said he is honored to receive the prize which he sees as "a gesture of solidarity with the Indian peoples of Chiapas, Mexico and all the American hemisphere. This is truly a recognition of their human dignity and rights and their efforts to find peace through dialogue," the Bishop said. For over forty years Mgr Ruiz, serving as a Bishop in Mexico, has been engaged in human rights activities. He devoted himself untiringly to raising the social standing of the indigenous communities of Mexico and to the reclamation and preservation of their native cultures. From his diocese he started a series of reforms, aid programs for the poverty-stricken people. He organized a National Indigenous Congress in 1974, inviting representatives of these peoples to speak up and share their problems. Bishop Ruiz was the only mediator in the war between the Chiapas-based Zapatista National Liberation Army and the Mexican army, and later became head of a National Committee organized for consolidating mediation capability.
(from Fides)