Background information on the Sievershausen Encouragement
The Sievershausen Encouragement has been awarded every two years since 1988 for exemplary peace and human rights work. The award ceremony takes place close to Human Rights Day on December 10th. The call for entries is based on changing thematic focuses. In 2016, amica e.V. from Freiburg was honored for its work with traumatized refugees, and in 2014, forumZFD was honored for its work in civil conflict resolution. The encouragement is intended to strengthen and support the award winners in their work, but also to encourage them to work for the goals of peace and human rights, as Rupert Neudeck emphasized in his 2006 laudation for the Chechen human rights activist Taita Junusova.
The Sievershausen e.V. Documentation Center for War Events and Peace Work Association was founded in 1978 and operates the Anti-War House in Sievershausen near Hanover as an event and exhibition center and the Anti-War Workshop as a seminar house with overnight accommodation. The Anti-War House in the Peace and Cross of Nails Center is located in a historic location on the edge of the battlefield of the 'Battle of Sievershausen', which is considered to be the battle with the highest number of casualties of the Reformation period (approx. 4,000 dead and 8,000 injured). The association follows a comprehensive understanding of peace work, which, in addition to dealing with global crises and conflicts, also includes human rights issues, ecological questions, remembrance work and possibilities for non-violent conflict resolution in the local area. The association is a member organization of the Action Community Service for Peace e.V. (AGDF) and, together with the parish of St. Martin Sievershausen, is a member of the Cross of Nails Community.
The Peace is a Human Right Foundation was established in 2014 to secure and intensify the work of the Anti-War House in the future. At present, the primary task is to ensure the prize money for the Sievershausen Encouragement. Should financial resources increase, further tasks in the field of peace work will also be supported.
