The presentation ceremony for the 2022 Tipperary International Peace Award has been confirmed for May 2nd. The award to Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya is a statement of support for the rights to freedom of speech, freedom of association, and freedom of assembly in Belarus, which she has so actively campaigned for according to the event organisers.
The formal ceremony is invitation only and will take place on the morning of May 2nd at St. Mary’s Church of Ireland, John St, Tipperary town. The event will commence with a short Ecumenical Prayer Service, to be followed by the presentation ceremony.
Ms Tsikhanouskaya will have a number of engagements in Tipperary town on the day. Members of the public are welcome to attend a wreath laying ceremony by Ms Tsikhanouskaya at the Tipperary Remembrance Arch, scheduled for 1.30pm, to commemorate all those who have died in wars and violence in different parts of the world.
Anyone wishing to lay an additional wreath on this occasion is also welcome to do so according to the Mr Martin Quinn, Honorary Secretary of the Tipperary Peace Convention
The 2022 winner will also visit a local school and the Circle of Friends Cancer support Centre during her visit to Tipperary town. Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya spent time in Tipperary as a child, alongside other children from radiation-hit areas in Belarus following the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in Ukraine in 1986 – and returned to work in Roscrea during her Summer school holidays.The Tipperary Peace Convention is also recognising the Irish Defence Forces for 65 years’ service on peacekeeping missions in different parts of the world since 1958. A special presentation to honour their service and contribution to peacekeeping will also be made on May 2nd.
