OSLO – Secretary-General Kofi Annan, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize along with the United Nations. The Nobel Committee, announcing its decision in Oslo, Norway, said the United Nations is at the forefront of efforts to protect human rights and to achieve peace throughout the world.
People connected to the United Nations and U.N. agencies have won the peace prize many times in the past. But this is the first time the prize has gone to the U.N. itself.
Mr. Annan has led the U.N. for the past five years, winning high praise for his efforts to focus world attention on poverty, human-rights abuses and the global AIDS epidemic, among other issues. He said the peace prize is a great honor that recognizes the United Nations’ achievements but also challenges the organization “to do more and to do better” in the future.
Annan urged United Nations staff to rise to the challenge presented by the Nobel Peace Prize, which was awarded jointly to the world body and its leader.
The Secretary-General said to the staff, “as we listen to the citation we also realize the challenges given to us by the Nobel Committee, and I’m sure we will all rise up to the challenge.”
“This is an indispensable Organization, but an Organization that can only work because of the staff and your dedication,” said the Secretary-General. “Our staff are often on the front lines – in the past week alone we lost about 10 colleagues in Georgia and Afghanistan – and yet our staff keep at it, they are prepared to go to any corner of the world in service of peace and the work of the United Nations.”
“Today that work has been recognized, we have won the Nobel Prize and I think it’s a shot in the arm that is really deserved and needed, and I hope it will urge us forward and encourage all of us to tackle our tasks with even greater determination,” he said. “If the UN has achieved anything it is because of the work that you do, and your dedication, and we look forward to many more years of that kind of service.”
Mr. Annan says the Nobel Peace Prize is a great responsibility at such a difficult time for the entire world – following last month’s devastating terror attacks in New York, just a few kilometers from U.N. headquarters, and in Washington.
U.S. presidential spokesman Ari Fleischer told reporters that President Bush had called Mr. Annan to offer congratulations. Mr. Bush also told Mr. Annan the U.N. will have an important role to play in the future of Afghanistan after the end of the U.S. led military campaign. Mr. Annan has condemned the September 11 attacks against the United States, saying those acts wounded the entire world.
A native of Ghana, Mr. Annan, who is 63, was recently elected to a second five-year term as secretary general. The Nobel Committee says he has brought new life to the United Nations since he assumed its leadership.
The Nobel Peace Prize carries an award of nearly $1 million this year. The prize will be awarded to the U.N. and Mr. Annan at a ceremony in Oslo on December 10 – the anniversary of the death in 1896 of Swedish industrialist and inventor of dynamite, Alfred Nobel.
The UN system has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on five previous occasions. The award was given to the UN Peacekeeping Operations in 1988, while the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) received the prize in both 1954 and 1981. The UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) was awarded the Prize in 1965 and the International Labour Organization (ILO) received it in 1969.
