Peacekeeper Award goes to Mr. Robert J. Rivers - 21 September 2013
On the occasion of the International Day of Peace, September 21, 2013, Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP) names Robert J. Rivers as International Civilian Peacekeeper of the Year 2013.
The annual award, given for outstanding service in the practical application of unarmed civilian peacekeeping, was announced by Ms. Simonetta Costanzo Pittaluga, co‐chair of NP’s International Governing Council. For over a decade, Nonviolent Peaceforce has been demonstrating the usefulness of unarmed civilian peacekeeping in violent conflict zones around the world.
The purpose of the award is to honor the successful application of unarmed civilian peacekeeping, so as to promote this method as a routine part of global conflict management.
Robert J. Rivers is presented with this award for his many years of constant service to Nonviolent Peaceforce, starting with his own active peacekeeping service in Sri Lanka in 2006. Subsequently, he has trained over 2000 people from 80 countries to carry out unarmed civilian peacekeeping in 9 different conflict zones around the world
Nonviolent Peaceforce is an INGO engaged in the creation of a large-scale international unarmed peacekeeping force, composed of trained civilians. Its mission is to promote, develop and implement unarmed civilian peacekeeping as a tool for reducing violence and protecting civilians who are in caught in armed conflict. Conceived at the 1999 Hague Appeal for Peace, and constituted in NP’s 2002 Convening Event in India, NP has a growing international network which now includes 70 member organizations from Africa, Asia, Europe, the Middle East and the Americas. Since 2007, NP enjoys Special Consultative Status with the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC).
Currently, NP has active programs in the Philippines, Myanmar, South Sudan and South Caucasus and employs nearly 200 people in the field. NP’s headquarters is located in Brussels. In the US, NP is registered as a 501(c)(3) organization, and has an office in Minneapolis, Minnesota and staff in New York and San Francisco
For more information, please see www.nonviolentpeaceforce.org or contact Marna Anderson (USA) on +1 612 871 0005 or [email protected]