Peace Lab founder Dionysius Mintoff has been awarded the Lysistrata Prize for his peace-building initiatives.

The prize is part of the MED21 Network awards founded by French-Tunisian poet and novelist Mohamed Nadir Aziza.

It is part of “the diplomacy of civil societies” which develops alongside the more institutional, governmental and international diplomacy in its search for peace. 

The award was held in Malta for the first time.

92-year-old Mintoff, a Franciscan priest, founded the Peace Lab, a voluntary organisation that houses and feeds a number of adult asylum seekers and runs educational and employment programmes for the migrant community.

Mintoff joins Nobel Prize Laureate winner Ouided Bouchamaoui as a recipient of the Prize.

The ceremony was held at Villa Bighi in tandem with an event to mark the UN International Day for Conflict Resolution.

Addressing this event, President Emeritus Marie Louise Coleiro Preca warned that children are being robbed of their childhood, their human rights are being horrendously violated, and without diplomacy, they will continue to be killed in disturbing and distressing wars.

The former president heads the Malta Foundation for the Wellbeing of Society.

She said conflict resolution through diplomacy was not just a moral imperative but a legal obligation.

“No one wins with wars and conflict. Only the armaments industry does… We need world leadership, not war mongers,” she said, calling on leaders to inspire a future where children grew up in a Mediterranean and a world free from the horrors of conflicts and wars.

The event was also attended by Virginia Gamba, special representative of the UN Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict and Speaker Anġlu Farrugia.