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Colombia's Ricardo Esquivia wins Peacemaking Award
Ricardo Esquivia and the Tanenbaum Center's Joyce Dubensky at the Peacemakers in Action dinner in New York. The Center named Esquivia 2005 Peacemaker in Action.
Photo: T. Abraham/CWS
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NEW YORK--Colombian peace activist Ricardo Esquivia was named 2005 Peacemaker in Action by the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Action. The Center made the award at a September 28 dinner in New York.
"In Colombia, we devote our efforts to the seeds of hope," said Esquivia, who is a member of the Education and Advocacy Program Committee of Church World Service (CWS).
The global humanitarian organization's Andean Region office is located in Bogota, the Colombian capital. CWS delegations have visited Bogota and Cali several times over the past several years. This summer, representatives also visited Colombia's Caribbean north, where Esquivia is active.
"We want people to be able to see the tree in the seed," said the lay leader and lawyer who has taken part in national and regional dialogues and peace initiatives in his country. Since 1985, more than 200,000 people have been killed in Colombia and more than two million uprooted in the Western Hemisphere's worst humanitarian crisis.
A Colombian Mennonite of African descent who has faced death threats from paramilitary forces, Esquivia said he wanted his people to be able to taste the fruit that will come from the tree.
The Tanenbaum Center was founded in 1992 to defuse the verbal and physical violence done in the name of religion.
Sixteen award-winners from previous years were present, including former leaders on both sides of Christian-Muslim violence in Nigeria. The activists, many of them resplendent in the formal attire of their native lands, came from nations riven by conflicts with religious undercurrents.
Among them was Alimamy Koroma, General Secretary of the Council of Churches of Sierra Leone, a Church World Service partner. He received the Peacemaker in Action award in 2000.
Other Peacemakers are active in Afghanistan, Bosnia, East Timor, El Salvador, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Indonesia, Israel and the Palestinian territories, Kosovo, Northern Ireland, South Africa and Sudan.
During a retreat, the Peacemakers met with members of the Peace Council, a group of internationally-known religious and spiritual leaders including the Dalai Lama. They took part in an interfaith service at Riverside Church on September 26.
At the New York retreat, the 16 Peacemakers shared ways in which they have applied their faith and religious traditions to mediate peace negotiations, persuade militants to disarm and negotiate the release of hostages.
By disseminating these insights, the Center aims to show how religious leaders can help bridge the gap between ordinary citizens and governments in the midst of difficult peace initiatives.
Media Contact:
Lesley Crosson, CWS/New York, 212-870-2676;
Jan Dragin, 781-925-1526;
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