The founder of Emergency, Gino Strada, has received the Sunhak peace prize 2017, an award established in Seoul, the capital of South Korea, in 2015, which is presented every year to individuals or figures who have contributed to developing and spreading peace in the world and improving the quality of life of its inhabitants. It is both a prize and a tool for contributing to the search for a peaceful solution to the largest flow of refugees since the Second World War. It is no coincidence that in 2015 itself, the year the Sunhak was founded, more than 65 million people had abandoned their homes — often without any choice — because of wars, persecution and violence.

EMERGENCY @emergency_ong

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"Abbiamo imparato che ogni atto di violenza ne produce un altro, ogni #guerra prepara la successiva" @GinoStrada #SunhakPeacePrize

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The Milanese surgeon Strada, who in 1994 founded one of the most internationally renowned Italian NGOs, took part in the award ceremony held on 3 February in Seoul during the annual conference of the Universal peace federation, which brought together more than 800 ministers, parliamentarians, academics and humanitarian organisations from over 100 countries around the world. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72j-v1ePShY

Why Gino Strada was given the prize

Among the reasons that led the Sunhak committee to choose Strada are "the front-line care provided to victims of conflict" and "the defence of people's rights and dignity through guaranteeing the right to treatment." Also cited were "the cultural commitment against war and in favour of a ban on anti-personnel landmines." Since 1994, Emergency has indeed guaranteed free and indiscriminate access to medical and healthcare services for eight million people across 17 countries. Alongside him, Dr Sakena Yacoobi was also recognised for having "developed innovative educational programmes" — namely the Afghan Institute of Learning, which she founded and which has so far provided education and healthcare to more than 13 million refugees.

Gino Strada @GinoStrada

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Abolire la guerra è l'unico modo di salvare l'umanità #SunhakPeacePrize

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"It is an honour for me to receive the Sunhak peace prize, especially at a historic moment increasingly marked by wars and violence, in which speaking of peace is perceived as unreal and utopian," Gino Strada declared in his acceptance speech. "Eight people hold the same wealth as half the world's population, amounting to 3.6 billion people. Meanwhile, every day, one in nine people goes to bed hungry. Are we still surprised that more and more human beings undertake dangerous journeys and struggle to seek a better future? Those who were forced to leave their homes had the dream of living in peace, but we are deaf to their hopes," Strada explained.

So that there may be no more war

The president of the Sunhak peace prize committee stated that it is "necessary for citizens throughout the world to have a clear sense of the value of every human being's life. Through solidarity and cooperation we must resolve this problem. Together."

"If we want to work for the survival of the human race, the abolition of war is necessary and inevitable." And Emergency is working towards precisely this goal, seeking to engage world-famous figures as well as people who every day fight on the ground, in their own communities, Gino Strada concluded. Because putting an end to armed violence and conflict is not, and must not be perceived as, a utopia.