On 17th November 2017 in Kerkrade, the Netherlands Irish Columban missionary, Fr. Shay Cullen recieved the 2017 Martin Buber Plaque Award in recognition of his internationally acclaimed work on human rights undertaken through the PREDA Foundation which he established in the Philippines in 1974. He was presented with the award during the annual International Festival of Dialogue – EURIADE.

Professor Martin Buber was a Jewish philosopher who advocated peaceful dialogue, mutual recognition of human rights and dignity, and a united Jewish and Arab Palestine. He became well known internationally for his ‘dialogical principle’.He died in 1965, and the prestigious award in his memory was initiated in 2002 with German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher as the inaugural recipient. Since then, recipients have included Queen Silvia of Sweden, President Klaus Johannis of Romania, Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev, Prince Irene of the Netherlands, and Karl-Heinz Böhm, founder of the Austrian Menschen für Menschen Foundation for Ethiopia.

Fr Shay has received numerous international awards that recognise his work in human rights. His recent proposal to restrict the passports of paedophiles to curtail their travel to the sex tourism trade in the Philippines and other Asian countries has received widespread attention internationally.

For more information on Father Shay’s work and the work of Preda, visit www.preda.org