President Lula da Silva will receive Felix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize on 7 July

Paris, 25 June

• © All rights reserved

The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, will receive the Felix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize on 7 July at UNESCO Headquarters (2.30 p.m., Room I). In addition to President Lula da Silva, several heads of state and government are invited to attend the ceremony*.

Announcing the jury’s decision last May, former President of Portugal Mario Soares said the jury has decided to give the 2008 prize to President Lula da Silva “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.”

The Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize - created in 1989 and awarded by UNESCO annually – honours people, institutions and organizations that have contributed significantly to the promotion, research, preservation or maintaining of peace, mindful of the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO.
Previous laureates of the Prize include Nelson Mandela and Frederik W. De Klerk; Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and Yasser Arafat; King Juan Carlos of Spain and former US President Jimmy Carter; Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade and former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari. Several of them were later awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
*****
* Expected are: President of Senegal Abdoulaye Wade; President of Cape Verde Pedro Pires; Portuguese Prime Minister Jose Socrates; General Secretary of the Organisation internationale de la Francophonie Abou Diouf; former Côte d’Ivoire President Henri Konan Bédié; president of the peace prize jury Henry Kissinger; and former Portuguese President Mario Soares.

• Author(s):UNESCOPRESS
• Source:Media advisory No. 2009 - 39
• 25-06-2009