Brazilian President awarded UN cultural agency’s peace prize

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) today awarded its annual peace prize to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil.

The jury said it had decided to give the 2008 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize to the Brazilian leader for his actions in pursuit of peace, dialogue, democracy, social justice and equal rights, as well as for his valuable contribution to the eradication of poverty and the protection of minorities’ rights.

UNESCO will present the award, created in 1989 and named for the first president of Côte d’Ivoire, at a ceremony in July.

The Prize honours people, organizations and institutions that have contributed significantly to the promotion, research, preservation or maintenance of peace.

Among the previous winners are Nelson Mandela and Frederik W. De Klerk; Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Pérès and Yasser Arafat; King Juan Carlos of Spain and former United States President Jimmy Carter; Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari.