2010 Award Announced...

The 2010 Tipperary International Peace Prize is being awarded to Afghan human rights activist, Dr. Sima Samar. The announcement of the award was made on January 1st, 2011 in a statement issued by Tipperary Peace Convention. The statement says that Dr. Samar is an amazingly brave woman who has risked her life to fight for the rights of women and girls in both Afghanistan and Pakistan. "Dr. Samar has devoted her life to fighting for freedom and democracy in Afghanistan, putting her life in immense risk and overcoming numerous obstacles for the welfare of oppressed women and chidlren. She has led a life full of firsts, displaying remarkable courage and commitment in improving the lives of Afghan girls and women and has refused to yield on principle — even at the risk to her own life. Dr. Simar is a principled and outspoken proponent of human rights and the need for a true reconciliatory process, and is a very worthy recipient of the Tipperary International Peace Award". Currently, Dr. Samar leads the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC). A mediacl doctor by profession she served as the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan from 2005 to 2009. She has been heavily engaged in humanitarian welfare work, establishing Shuhada, an organization that focuses on health care, particularly to female Afghans. In 2002, Samar was appointed as a Minister of Women’s Affairs in Hamid Karzai’s transitional administration. She has been under frequent attacks from both conservative religious leaders and from Islamist radicals, and she is a prominent voice for the rights of women. Samar was nominated for the post of United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2008. She has had to repeatedly flee for her life but has insisted on returning time and time again to treat the poor and to fight for the rights and education of females in Afghanistan and Pakistan. In Afghanistan, the AIHRC has played an important role in monitoring human rights abuses, including bringing attention to the issue of civilian casualties. Dr. Simar will travel to Tipperary, Ireland on a date to be arranged in 2011 to receive the specially commissioned Tipperary Crystal Peace Award. Previous recipients of the Tipperary International Peace Award include former South African President Nelson Mandela; Live Aid organiser, Bob Geldof; former US President Bill Clinton; the Cluster Munition Coalition; GOAL founder John O'Shea and the late US Senator Edward Kennedy and his sister former US Ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith.

The Tippeary Internation Peace convention had a very special weekend in June this year in presenting the International peace award to former US ambassador Jean Kennedy Smith and her sister-in-law and wife of the late senator Edward Kennedy, Victoria. Jean and her brother Edward had been jointly awarded for their "lifelong commitment towards peace in Northern Ireland and on the greater world stage.

The above is the RTE news coverage of the Award ceremory.. Please give this a few minutes to load..

The Tipperary Peace Convention was established in 1983 to promote peace at home and abroad. Previous recipients of the award include Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton, Adi Roche, Senator George Mitchell, Archbishop Robin Eames and, last year the CLuster Munition Coalition.

Martin Quinn, secretary of the convention committee, read a message of congratulations form President McAleese and a letter from Taoiseach Brian Cowen which stated that the work of Ms Kennedy Smith and Ted Kennedy was "deeply appreciated by the people of Ireland and they and the Kennedy family will always be held in great affection and esteem by us". The Taoiseach concluded: " We are very fortunate to have such true friends".

Ms Kennedy Smith said she was "proud of the role the United States played in the peace process" and had been "privileged" to work with Albert Reynolds, Bertie Ahern and Jhn Hume whom she described as " extraordinary leaders".

She was "delighted" that her "children and grandchildren" were present. In an emotional address, Mrs Kennedy recalled her husband's love of "this country and its people" and said Ted Kennedy: " The map of Ireland was on his face, the Irish sea was in his blood and the songs of Erin were in his heart." Speaking of his career and political achievements, she described him as on of the rare and happy few who bend the course of history.

The event was attended by no more that 13 members of the Kennedy family who had travelled form the US for their largest gatherings in Ireland. Among the 200 guests were former taoisigh Albert Reynolds and Bertie Ahern, members of the Oireachtas, Nothern Ireland Assembly and European Parliament, representatives of the Gards and the Defence Forces.