SWEDISH RIGHT LIVELIHOOD
AWARD
US anti-chemical weapons campaigner Paul Walker, 67, was jointly awarded the Swedish Right Livelihood Award on Thursday
honouring those who work to improve the lives of others.
"Chemical weapons are easy to manufacture but
very difficult to get rid of. Walker has 20 years of experience in how to
eliminate them both politically and technically," Ole von Uexkull,
director of the Right Livelihood Award Foundation said.
"It is his knowledge that is needed right now
in Syria."
Walker, from the environmental group Green Cross, shares the prize with three
other activists who the prize jury said work to "secure the fundamentals
of human life".
They include Palestinian human rights activist Raji Sourani, Congolese surgeon Denis Mukwege and Swiss food security expert Hans Herren.
"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,"
wrote von Uexkull in a statement.
Swedish-German philatelist Jakob von Uexkull founded
the donor-funded prize in 1980 after the Nobel Foundation behind the Nobel
Prizes refused to create awards honouring efforts in the fields of the
environment and international development.
For this reason, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation oftens calls its distinction the "alternative Nobel prize."
For this reason, the Right Livelihood Award Foundation oftens calls its distinction the "alternative Nobel prize."
The four Right Livelihood winners share the 2 million kronor prize sum equally.
The awards were to be formally handed over at a ceremony in the Swedish parliament on December 2, 2013.
The awards were to be formally handed over at a ceremony in the Swedish parliament on December 2, 2013.
No comments:
Post a Comment