On 9th June 2025, twelve brave humanitarians were kidnapped in international waters by the IDF and forcefully brought to Israeli jail. In solidarity with their humanitarian mission to open up a sea corridor from Europe to Gaza to bring food to the starving population in Gaza, the Peace 2000 Institute is awarding the activist crew of the Madleen sailboat the Leif Eiriksson Peace Award at the Mirpuri Foundation Sailing Trophy Gala event in Portugal on the 4th July. 

We demand the immediate release and well being of these hostages:
Greta Thunberg – Swedish climate activist
Rima Hassan – French-Palestinian Member of European Parliament
Yasemin Acar – Germany
Baptiste Andre – France
Thiago Avila – Brazil
Omar Faiad – France; Al Jazeera Mubasher correspondent
Pascal Maurieras – France
Yanis Mhamdi – France
Suayb Ordu – Türkiye
Sergio Toribio – Spain
Marco van Rennes – The Netherlands
Reva Viard – France

The 2025 international sailing event brings together 150 sailing boats and elite sailing teams from around the world. At a Gala dinner hosted in an historic Portuguese palace representatives of major businesses, organisations and government ambassadors from all corners of the world will be present as the Leif Eiriksson Peace Award will be given to the courageous and brave sailors of the Madleen sailboat that have risked their lives on a humanitarian mission to open up a sea corridor from Europe to Gaza to bring food and necessities to the hundreds of thousands of children, women and men suffering starvation and malnutrition in Gaza.