(Current Affairs) Awards and Prizes | January: 2014

Awards and Prizes

EU’s Sakharov Human Rights Prize 2013

Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani teenage activist on 20 November 2013 received the EU’s Sakharov human rights prize for her brave crusade for the right of the children to education.

The European Parliament President Martin Schulz presented the award to the 16-year-old Malala at a ceremony in Strasbourg, France. Malala Yousafzai dedicated the award to “the unsung heroes of Pakistan” and to human rights campaigners worldwide. Malala was shot in the head in October 2012 for campaigning for better rights for girls in Swat Valley of northwest Pakistan, an erstwhile Taliban stronghold.

About Sakharov Prize

The Sakharov Prize for free speech is awarded by the European Parliament annually in memory of Soviet physicist and dissident Andrei Sakharov. The prize was set up in 1988 to honour individuals or organisations for their efforts on behalf of human rights and fundamental freedoms. The 50000-Euro prize is considered Europe’s top human rights award. In 2012 the award went to detained Iranians, lawyer Nasrin Sotoudeh and film maker Jafar Panahi, to honour those standing up for a better Iran. with this award Malala joins a distinguished list of winners of the prize that includes South Africa’s Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar.

Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace 2013

Dr. Angela Merkel, German Chancellor on 19 November 2013 selected for Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for the year 2013. The International Jury for the Prize was chaired by the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh, which made this announcement on 19 November 2013 on the birth anniversary of Indira Gandhi. Dr. Angela Merkel is nominated for her exemplary leadership in Europe and the world
during the financial crises, her commitment to universal peace and  disarmament and her leadership role in strengthening productive and mutually beneficial relations with India and other developing countries.

About Angela Merkel

  • Angela Dorothea Kasner, better known as Angela Merkel, was born in Hamburg, West Germany, on 17 July 1954. Trained as a physicist, Merkel entered politics after the 1989 fall of the Berlin Wall.

  • Rising to the position of Chairwoman of the Christian Democratic Union party, Merkel became Germany’s first female chancellor, and one of the leading figures of the European Union, following the 2005 national elections.
    About Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development

  • The Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development was instituted ( in 1986) in the name of former Prime Minister of India, Indira Gandhi. It celebrates the values that she stood and fought for in the service of our nation and its people.

  • The award is conferred upon the person or an organisation irrespective of race, religion, nationality or other aspects. It consists of award worth 2.5 million Rupees as well as trophy along with citation.

  • The Indiara Gandhi Award is constituted by Indira Gandhi Memorial Trust.

  • Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the Liberian President was conferred with the Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development for the year 2012.

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