Rumiko Seya, president of certified nonprofit Reach Alternatives (REALs), has been selected for the 32nd Yomiuri International Cooperation Prize. Her peacebuilding and humanitarian work in conflict zones like Syria and South Sudan was recognized. She focuses on developing women and youth as bearers of peace.
Rumiko Seya, 48, has been selected to receive the 32nd Yomiuri International Cooperation Prize for her peacebuilding and humanitarian operations in overseas regions plagued by prolonged armed conflicts and post-conflict chaos. As president of certified nonprofit Reach Alternatives (REALs), she has worked to prevent inter-ethnic conflicts and foster women and young people as "bearers of peace" in nations like Syria and South Sudan.
Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's authoritarian regime was overthrown late last year after a nearly 14-year civil war. From late October to early November, Seya visited Aleppo and Idlib in northwestern Syria, once heavily airstriked for being opposition-held. There, she initiated efforts with a women's group she collaborated with during the war to develop "bearers of peace" promoting coexistence between factions, while providing mental health care to residents. One local colleague lost family in an airstrike. Seya noted high trauma levels among women, children, and other vulnerable people due to years of war. "We need to restore law and order for young people who have not experienced anything other than civil war and tend to turn to violence," Seya said. "Syria is now at a crossroads as to whether it will move toward peace or return to the state of war caused by division and chaos."
Seya became interested in conflicts at age 17 upon seeing a news photo of a Rwandan refugee mother and child, where up to 800,000 were massacred; she recalls thinking she was viewing dying people while snacking. This shocked her and shaped her worldview. She visited Rwanda during university but felt powerless, so she worked as a Japanese NGO representative there and studied conflict resolution at Britain's University of Bradford. Known for out-of-the-box thinking and quick action, she handled disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) for soldiers at the Japanese Embassy in Afghanistan and as a UN peacekeeping team member in Sierra Leone and Cote d’Ivoire. In Afghanistan, she helped recover weapons from about 60,000 in a Japan-led DDR program, persuading warlords and elders as soldiers feared losing livelihoods.
Around age 30, Seya chose NGOs for their flexibility in addressing challenges and joined what is now REALs, focusing on conflict zones where peace workers are scarce. She went to Somalia and South Sudan, aiding self-reliance for vulnerable female displaced people and child soldiers, who are both perpetrators and victims. Her international network with overseas institutions and experts helped her skills for safe work in dangers. Seya believes world change starts with personal change and strives to develop people for genuine reconciliation, despite difficulties. She emphasizes women's participation, as they often cannot speak in displaced camps and are excluded from peace processes, neglecting women-specific solutions. She nurtures local organizations for independent management without heavy aid reliance.
When new conflicts arise globally, places like Afghanistan, South Sudan, and Syria with long-suffering displaced people and refugees are forgotten. Using its network, REALs evacuated over 320 journalists and cultural figures at risk under the Taliban from Afghanistan and provided safe homes to about 1,600 people. U.S. aid reviews have affected humanitarian assistance; Seya sees Japan, recovered from World War II, playing a neutral role in Middle East and African nations, sustained by people. In peaceful Japan, foreign wars seem distant, but she aims to convey peace's fragility, especially near the 80th war-end anniversary, stressing ongoing efforts to maintain it.
The prize's history includes 1998 laureate Yutaka Akino, a University of Tsukuba assistant professor shot dead at 48 in Tajikistan by anti-government forces during a UN observer mission. His wife Yoko accepted the posthumous award after initial hesitation, using prize money with others, including former student Yoshikazu Hirose (National Defense Academy professor), to establish the Akino Yutaka Eurasia Foundation for nurturing professionals like Akino. In 2000, Seya received the foundation's Akino Yutaka Award, funding ethnic reconciliation research in former Yugoslavia. "For the first time, something I had devoted myself to out of my convictions was recognized in a meaningful way, which gave me the courage to move forward," Seya recalled. Hirose, foundation secretary general, said, "Seya, who works around the world, perfectly matches Akino’s spirit." The foundation traces to Yoko's decision, carrying on Akino's action-oriented beliefs via the prize. Seya learned from first laureate Sadako Ogata a "field-oriented approach of visiting a country’s rural areas before entering its capital." Selection Committee Chair Kenichiro Sasae stated Seya, a DDR expert, contributed to peacebuilding and aid in Middle East and Africa, especially protecting Afghan women under Taliban oppression, embodying Japan's human security focus as a woman's story of action.
