Martti Ahtisaari will receive Felix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize on 2 October

• © UNOSEK
• Martti Ahtisaari

Martti Ahtisaari, President of Finland from 1994 to 2000 and founder of the non-governmental organization Crisis Management Initiative, will receive the Felix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize on 2 October at UNESCO Headquarters (2.30 p.m., Room I). Several heads of state are expected to attend the ceremony*.

Martti Ahtisaari carried out numerous peace missions for the United Nations, notably in Namibia and in the Balkans. As part of his work for Crisis Management Initiative, he organized negotiations in September 2007 in Helsinki between Iraqi Sunni and Shiite Muslim groups to help re-establish dialogue between the two communities. He also facilitated the process that resulted in a peace treaty on 15 August 2005 between the Indonesian government and the Gerakan Aceh Merdeka (GAM, Free Aceh Movement), ending conflict in the province. In 2000, Ahtisaari supervised the disarmament of the Irish Republican Army (IRA) in Northern Ireland at the request of the British government.

Announcing the selection of the laureate last May, president of the jury Henry Kissinger, former Secretary of State of the United States and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, declared Ahtisaari had been chosen “for his lifetime contribution to world peace.”

Created in 1989 by UNESCO’s General Conference, The Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize was established in 1989 by UNESCO’s General Conference “to honour living individuals, and active public or private bodies or institutions that have made a significant contribution to promoting, seeking, safeguarding or maintaining peace, in conformity with the Charter of the United Nations and the Constitution of UNESCO.” The international jury which awards the prize comprises distinguished personalities such as Mario Soares, former President of the Republic of Portugal and the Argentinean Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Adolfo Pérez Esquivel.

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; and Senegalese President Abdoulaye Wade.

*The list will be available shortly.

• Author(s):Media Advisory N°2008-59
• Source:UNESCOPRESS
• 19-09-2008