Prize

A Congolese doctor who treats female victims of sexual violence, a nun who advocated for indigenous rights before her murder in Brazil three years ago and the slain Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto are among seven recipients of a prestigious United Nations prize awarded for outstanding work in human rights.

The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) selected the Institute for Justice and Reconciliation of South Africa as this year’s recipient of its Prize for Peace Education.

The former Finnish president and current United Nations envoy Martti Ahtisaari was named today as the winner of the annual peace prize of the Organization’s cultural agency.

A Mexican reporter who has been a target of death threats, sabotage and police harassment because of her work uncovering prostitution and child pornography networks was today designated the laureate of a press freedom prize by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

The work of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate, the microfinance banker and economist Muhammad Yunus of Bangladesh, offers rich and poor people one of the most simple and yet powerful ideas for development, the United Nations Deputy Secretary-General Mark Malloch Brown said today.

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today hailed the award of this year’s Nobel Peace Prize to microfinance economist Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank of Bangladesh as a victory for efforts to help to “break the vicious circle of poverty” and set or low-income families on the path to prosperity.

United Nations International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) chief Mohamed ElBaradei today said receiving the Nobel Peace Prize along with his agency "strengthens our resolve at a time when we have a hard road ahead of us" in leading the global struggle against nuclear proliferation.

Seven tropical community groups won the 2004 United Nations Equator Prize today for extraordinary work conserving their biological wealth while reducing community poverty.

The United Nations General Assembly today cleared the way for the full $1 million amount of the world body’s 2001 Nobel Peace Prize award to benefit a memorial fund created to support education for children of UN staff members who lost their lives in the service of peace.

Secretary-General Kofi Annan has welcomed the designation of the head of the United Nations effort against global hunger as the winner of the 2002 World Food Prize, which honours contributions to improving human development by increasing the quality, quantity and availability of food in the world.