The President of Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, was chosen today as the laureate of UNESCO’s 2008 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize. The award ce

Announcing the jury’s decision, former President of Portugal Mario Soares declared: “The jury has decided to give the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Prize to Mr. Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, President of the Federal Republic of Brazil, 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, organizations and institutions 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 Pérès 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 have later been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.