Shalom Prize 2023: Peace for Buenaventura - Celebration in Eichstätt!

Shalom Prize 2023: Peace for Buenaventura - Celebration in Eichstätt!

Eichstätt, Deutschland - On June 29, 2025, the Shalom Prize 2025 was awarded in the Sommergreis Sommer residence, and the honor went to the impressive human rights project Casa Social Y memoria from Buenavura, Colombia. The representatives of the project, Carmen Rocío Murillo and Marvin Castro, accepted the award in the festive framework. Buenaventura, the largest port city of Colombia, unfortunately has to struggle with long -lasting armed conflicts and structural violence.

The Casa, founded in 2009 by committed activists, acts as an important place for encounter and creative expression. Women, adolescents and marginalized groups in particular find a place here to develop and raise their voices. Ulrike Schurr-Schöpfel, the spokeswoman for the Shalom working group at the Catholic University of Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, emphasized the importance of such spaces, especially in times of social division and dehumanization.

artistic expression and security

The versatility of Casa is particularly impressive: it not only offers space for political education projects and daily meetings of leading social movements, but also creative forms of expression such as wall paintings and lay theater. In Casa, work is actively working on fighting gang violence and the drug war and creating a symbolic place of peace. Prof. Dr. Thomas Fischer pointed out the high potential for violence in Buenaventura and described the Casa as a safer retreat for those affected.

The prize money of the Shalom Prize is used, among other things, for wall painting workshops and to promote urban peace. The commitment of Gerhard Rott, the head of the World Church of the Diocese of Eichstätt, is crucial. He described the price as a lighthouse for human rights and peace, which underlines the meaning of the Casa as a symbol of a better living together.

This award brings hope

The award ceremony was not only an award, but also a sign of solidarity and support. In their acceptance speech, Murillo and Castro expressed that international attention enables new connections to them, which strengthens their work enormously. The Shalom Prize is one of the highly doped civil society human rights prices in Europe and is financed exclusively by donations. In recent years, the Shalom working group has been able to collect over 30,000 euros to support such important projects.

The possibility of donating to the Shalom Prize by December 2025 remains vital, because the project does not receive any state subsidies. Donations can be transferred to the account of the Eichstätt diocese (KDör) with the account number DE52 7509 0300 0007 6521 00. Every little commitment counts to continue the valuable work of the CASA and its representatives, as well as diocese of Eichstätt reported.