In a statement, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (Unesco) specified that the jury recognized the brave decision to welcome one million 200 thousand refugees from Afghanistan, Eritrea, Iraq and Syria.
These countries are hit by conflicts and humanitarian crises, in most cases as a result of wars imposed on them from abroad, the text highlights.
For the president of the jury, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner, Denis Mukwege, Merkel’s position will go down in history.
“Suffering is universal, solutions to suffering must also be universal. The construction of peace also consists of opening the doors to those who suffer”, said the director general of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, upon hearing the news.
In the 2022 edition of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny-Unesco Peace Prize, an honorable mention was awarded to Julienne Lusenge for her commitment to women victims of sexual violence in North Kivu, in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
In addition to Mukwege, the jury included Michel Camdessus (France), Santiago Gamboa Samper (Colombia), Thomas Pesquet (France), Hayat Sindi (Saudi Arabia) and American actor Forest Whittaker.
Created in 1989, the award honors each year individuals, private or public institutions with a significant contribution to the promotion, research, safeguarding or maintenance of peace, in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations and the UNESCO Constitution.
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