The Appeal of Conscience Foundation, an interfaith organization, and its president and founder Rabbi Arthur Schneier, will present the 2021 World Statesman Award to His Excellency Shinzo Abe, former Prime Minister of Japan at the 56th Annual Appeal of Conscience Awards to be held virtually from New York, on Monday evening March 22, 2021.
“Prime Minister Abe will be recognized for his longtime leadership of his country and for his global outreach that has helped advance regional and international cooperation and has strengthened friendship and bonds between Japan and the United States,” said Rabbi Arthur Schneier, President of the Appeal of Conscience Foundation.
Dr. Henry A. Kissinger, 1999 Appeal of Conscience World Statesman honoree, will introduce His Excellency Shinzo Abe and join Rabbi Arthur Schneier in the presentation of the Award.
Mr. Abe served as Japan’s Prime Minister and President of the Liberal Democratic Party from 2006 to 2007 and again from 2012 to 2020. Not only recognized as the longest serving Prime Minister of Japan, Mr. Abe was also known internationally for his government’s economic policies, nicknamed Abenomics, which pursued aggressive monetary policy, flexible fiscal policy, and growth strategy including structural reform. His tenure was marked with a foreign policy which places high importance on global diplomacy based on the fundamentals values of freedom, democracy, basic human rights and the rule of law; seeking to increase Japan’s international profile by expanding ties with NATO, the EU, and other organizations beyond the Asia-Pacific region. In September 2020, Mr. Abe resigned from his position as Prime Minister due to his health issues.
Mr. Abe is a member of a prominent political family. His grandfather Nobusuke Kishi (1957- 1960) and great uncle Eisuke Sato (1964-1972) served as Prime Minister, and his father Shintaro Abe served as Foreign Minister (1982-1986).
The World Statesman Award honors leaders who support peace and freedom by championing peaceful co-existence, human dignity and human rights in their homeland and working with other world leaders to build a better future for all.
Past recipients of the World Statesman Award include: British Prime Minister David Cameron, Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto, Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, South Korean President Lee Myung-bak, Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde and United States Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. Other recipients included Singaporean Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi, Australian Prime Minister John Howard, King Juan Carlos I of Spain, USSR President Mikhail Gorbachev and Czechoslovakian President Václav Havel.
