Student Peace Prize for LGBT rights

The Turkish student organization METU LGBTI+ Solidarity is awarded the Student Peace Prize 2021. METU LGBTI + Solidarity (Solidarity) is a student group belonging to the Middle East Technical University (METU) in Ankara. Solidarity was established in 1996 and has since its inception worked for an important minority that has been met with significant repression in Turkey.

John Peder Egenæs, Secretary General of Amnesty International Norway and member of the Student Peace Prize committee, said students often play an imortant role in confronting suppressive and authoritarian regimes. “We often see protest movement starting among students. An acknowledgement like the Students Peace Prize can strengthen the message of the receiver, and also work as protection and motivation, he said.

Solidarity is the twelfth winner of the Student Peace Prize, and receives the prize for its work for gender equality, an open and colourful campus, and for its work for queer students. The group has acted against hate crime and been a clear voice in the LGBTI issue in Turkey.

The prize will be awarded in Trondheim in February.