Kenyan activist, Sant’Egidio Community win 2023 Zayed Human Fraternity Award
By Joseph Tulloch
This year’s Zayed Award for Human Fraternity has been awarded to Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil, a Kenyan community organiser and activist, and the Community of Sant’Egidio, a Catholic lay group.
The Zayed Award for Human Fraternity, now in its fourth year, was awarded by a panel of judges including politicians, Nobel Peace Laureates, and Catholic and Muslim religious leaders.
The winners
Shamsa Abubakar Fadhil, known as “Mama Shamsa”, is a Kenyan community mobiliser and peace-builder. She has run campaigns in Kenya and elsewhere in Africa to raise awareness of violence against women, and worked for the empowerment of women and young people.
A statement released on Tuesday by the Zayed Award committee said that she had been recognised “for nurturing youth in Kenya and saving young people from lives of violence, crime, and extremism, by providing them with counselling, care, and training.”
The Community of Sant’Egidio, meanwhile, is a lay Catholic association dedicated to humanitarian work.
The organisers said it was being recognised for its “contribution to successful peace negotiations and conflict resolution through religious diplomacy and intercultural dialogue”, the community services it provides in different parts of the world, and its “Humanitarian Corridors” initiative, which brings refugees from war-torn countries to Europe.
