Mounira Lourhzal- The 2013 Right Livelihood Awards, also referred to as the "Alternative Nobel Prize, were announced today at a press conference in Stockholm.
Mounira Lourhzal- The 2013 Right Livelihood Awards, also referred to as the “Alternative Nobel Prize, were announced today at a press conference in Stockholm.
The “Alternative Nobel Prize” goes to four recipients: Paul Walker an American anti-chemical weapons advocate, Raji Sourani a Palestinian human rights campaigner, Denis Mukwege a Congolese surgeon who helps war victims and Hans Herren/Biovision Foundation, a Swiss pioneer of pest control in sustainable agriculture. The Laureates will equally share the cash award of SEK 2 million (ca. EUR 230,000).
It is the first time the prize committee honores a Palestinian or a Swiss.
“This award means that we must continue to struggle to defend the rights of the victims,” Sourani was quoted by AP as saying. “We must continue to reject all forms of human rights abuses, to struggle for the development of a democratic society and the strengthening of Palestinian civil societu,” he added.
The awards were founded in 1980 by Swedish-German philanthropist Jakob von Uexkull to recognize works or innovatives ideas ignored by the Nobel Foundation.
Ole von Uexkull, Executive Director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation said:
“This year’s group of Laureates secure the fundamentals of human life. They show that we have the knowledge and the tools to eliminate weapons of mass destruction, to secure respect for human rights, to end the war on women in Eastern Congo, and to feed the world with organic agriculture. The world should not have to live with problems that we know we can solve. These four men, whose vision, courage and commitment we honour today, show what the solutions look like.”
The Awards will be presented at a ceremony in the Swedish Parliament on December 2, 2013, at 4 pm. It will be hosted by the Society for the Right Livelihood Award in the Swedish Parliament.
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