Chernobyl charity founder Adi Roche to receive major international peace prize

Adi Roche will receive the award in recognition of her 'life-long contribution for the advancement of the cause of peace'. File picture: Gareth Chaney/ Collins 

Chernobyl crusader Adi Roche will finally collect a major international peace prize this weekend after covid delayed the formal ceremony.

The founder and voluntary chief executive of the Chernobyl Children International charity will become the first Irish person to collect the Ahmadiyya Muslim Peace Prize on Saturday, in recognition of her "life-long contribution for the advancement of the cause of peace”, when she attends the National Peace Symposium at the Baitul Futuh Mosque, in London — one of the largest mosques in Europe.

Although she was chosen as the recipient of the award in 2020, the pandemic delayed the formal presentation until now.

“It is an honour to receive the prize,” she said ahead of the ceremony.

“Awards like this highlight that when we come together, we renew our commitment not to give up, not to stand idly by, but stand up, speak out and give witness and be on the frontline of humanitarian efforts, offering that most precious of gifts — hope,” she said 

“Particularly needed, in these turbulent times of war and planetary degradation, it is easy to become despairing, paralysed and hopeless.

So much is lost in the cacophony of noise from the beating drums of winnerless wars, it is easy to forget the power of all the goodness around us.

“The Ahmadiyya Peace Symposium allows us to renew our commitment to the human race, and by extension to each other. We are taking a side — we are on the side of peace with justice.".

The Ahmadiyya Muslim community is dedicated to establishing peace, promoting inter-faith dialogue and protecting the basic human rights of people around the world.

Previous recipients of its peace award include peace activist and Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow, and former mayor of Hiroshimi, Tadatoshi Akiba.

A spokesman said their charitable work, domestically and internationally, and their faith is underpinned by five values that are largely shared with Adi and her lifelong work — those of loyalty, freedom, equality, respect and peace.

Having worked for a number of years in Aer Lingus, Ms Roche left the airline in 1977 to work full-time as a volunteer for the Irish Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, where she devised a peace education programme and delivered it in over 50 schools countrywide promoting peace and active citizenship.

She has since dedicated her life to campaigning for the environment, peace and social justice.

She began working for the victims of the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the immediate aftermath of the accident and formally founded Chernobyl Children International in 1991.

It has over the years delivered more than €108m in humanitarian aid to the Chernobyl affected regions, including the front-line of war-torn Ukraine.

It has continued its pioneering cardiac care surgery mission to save the lives of newborn babies with cardiac defects, and it is the only UN-recognised NGO working in the area.