United Nations Prize in the Field of Human Rights
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The United Nations Prizes in the Field of Human Rights were instituted by a General Assembly resolution in 1966. They are intended to "honour and commend people and organisations which have made an outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of the human rights embodied in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and in other United Nations human rights instruments".
They were first awarded in 1968, and they have been given out at five-year intervals since then. The award ceremony traditionally takes place on 10 December, which the UN has designated Human Rights Day. The recipients are selected by a special committee comprising the presidents of the General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council and the chairs of the Commission on Human Rights, the Commission on the Status of Women, and the Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.
The physical token of the award is a metal plaque bearing the UN seal and an artistic design, and engraved with an appropriate citation. In contrast to the Nobel prizes – and the list of awardees shares much common ground with the Nobel Peace Prize in particular – the UN's awards are nonmonetary in nature.
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2003 Awardees
- Enriqueta Estela Barnes de Carlotto, president of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo (Argentina)
- Mano River Women's Peace Network (Sierra Leone, Liberia, and Guinea)
- Family Protection Project Management Team (Jordan)
- Deng Pufang (PRC)
- Shulamith Koenig, executive director of the People's Movement for Human Rights Education (USA)
- Sérgio Vieira de Mello, murdered UN Special Representative in Iraq (posthumous award) (Brazil)
1998 Awardees
- Sunila Abeyesekera, executive director of INFORM (Sri Lanka)
- Angelina Acheng Atyam, founder of Concerned Parents Association (Uganda)
- Jimmy Carter, statesman and former president (USA)
- José Gregori, secretary of state for human rights (Brazil)
- Anna Sabatova, founder of Charter 77 (Czech Republic)
- All human rights defenders, "thousands of courageous individuals worldwide"
1993 Awardees
- Hassib Ben Ammar, president of the Arab Institute for Human Rights (Tunisia)
- Erica-Irene Daes, chair of the Working Group on Indigenous Populations (Greece)
- James P. Grant, executive director of UNICEF (USA)
- International Commission of Jurists (based in Geneva)
- Medical personnel of the Central Hospital of Sarajevo
- Sonia Picado Sotela, vice-president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (Costa Rica)
- Ganesh Man Singh, supreme leader of the Nepali Congress (Nepal)
- Sudanese Women's Union (Sudan)
- Julio Tumiri Javier, founder of the Permanent Assembly of Human Rights in Bolivia (Bolivia)
1988 Awardees
- Baba Murlidhar Devidas Amte, human rights lawyer (India)
- John Peters Humphrey, director of the United Nations Division of Human Rights (Canada)
- Adam Lopatka, president of the Supreme Court (Poland)
- Leónidas Proaño, bishop (Ecuador)
- Nelson Mandela, lawyer and statesman (South Africa)
- Winnie Mandela, medical social worker (South Africa)
1978 Awardees
- Begum Ra'Ana Liaquat Ali Khan (Pakistan)
- Sadruddin Aga Khan (Iran)
- Martin Luther King (posthumous award) (USA)
- Helen Suzman (South Africa)
- International Committee of the Red Cross
- Amnesty International
- Vicaria de la Solidaridad (Chile)
- Union nationale des femmes de Tunisie (Tunisia)
1973 Awardees
- Taha Hussein, professor of literature (Egypt)
- C. Wilfred Jenks, director-general of the International Labour Office (posthumous award) (UK),
- María Lavalle Urbina, lawyer and lecturer (Mexico)
- Abel Muzorewa, president of the ANC (Namibia)
- Seewoosagur Ramgoolam, prime minister of Mauritius (Mauritius)
- U Thant, UN secretary-general (Myanmar)
1968 Awardees
- Manuel Bianchi, chairman of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Chile)
- René Cassin, member of the Commission on Human Rights (France)
- Albert Luthuli President of the ANC (posthumous award) (South Africa)
- Mehranguiz Manoutchehrian, attorney and senator (Iran)
- Petr Emelyanovich Nedbailo member of the Commission on Human Rights (Ukraine)
- Eleanor Roosevelt, president of the Commission on Human Rights (posthumous award) (USA)