WUNRN
Plaza de Mayo Grandmothers Receive Houphouët-Boigny
UNESCO Peace Prize
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo
(Argentina) received the 2010 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize at UNESCO
Headquarters on 14 September (3 p.m., Room I), in the presence of the President
of Argentina, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, President of Côte d’Ivoire
Alassane Dramane Ouattara and several other Heads of State or Government.*
Announcing the choice of the laureate last March, the President of the Jury, Mário Soares, declared the Prize was being awarded to the Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo in recognition of their tireless battle over more than 30 years in favour of human rights, justice and peace.”
The non-governmental organization of the Grandmothers of the Plaza de
Mayo was founded in 1977 to locate the biological families of children
kidnapped during the political repression of the military dictatorship in
The Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo was represented at the
ceremony by Estela de Carlotto, President of the Organization, on whose behalf
she received a cheque for US$ 150 000, a gold medal and a peace diploma.
A press conference took place at noon in Room IX with the
participation of Estela de Carlotto as well as other Grandmothers of the
Plaza de Mayo and some of the 105 grandchildren who have been able to
reclaim their identity thanks to the work of the NGO.
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; and the former President of
Brazil, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva.