The U Thant Peace Award was created by Sri Chinmoy's peace meditations at the United Nations, after U Thant's death.[1] First offered in 1982, the award is given to individuals and organizations who have exemplified the lofty spiritual ideals of the late United Nations Secretary-General U Thant and implemented those ideals in the tireless pursuit of world peace.[2]

Sri Chinmoy and U Thant, 1972

Recipients

edit

It had been bestowed by The Peace Meditation at the United Nations upon Mahathir Mohamad, Nelson Mandela, Mikhail Gorbachev, Pope John Paul II, Mother Teresa, Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, Kurt Waldheim the Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Dada Vaswani, Swami Satchidananda and U Thant's daughter, Daw Aye Aye Thant.[3]

The U Thant Distinguished Lecture Series is a forum through which eminent thinkers and world leaders speak on the role of the United Nations in addressing the challenges facing the world's peoples and nations in the 21st century. The lecture series is co-organized by the United Nations University and the Science Council of Japan.

The UNU has a tradition of inviting world leaders and renowned individuals to Tokyo to explore the role of the United Nations in a rapidly changing world. The U Thant Distinguished Lecture Series builds upon this tradition by providing an opportunity for Nobel laureates and heads of state, current and former, to share their insights and experiences with scholars, policymakers, business leaders and the public.

On April 8, 2006, the Award was offered to Kofi Annan, who refused it. Similarly in 2007, Ban Ki-moon declined the Award.

Recipients of the U Thant Peace award

edit
Year Recipient Country
1982 Zenon Rossides   Cyprus
1983 Jorge Illueca   Panama
1986 Javier Pérez de Cuéllar   Peru
Russell Barber   United States
1991 Vilayat Khan   India
Guido de Marco   Malta
1993 Ganesh Man Singh   Nepal
Siddhartha Shankar Ray   India
Chidambaram Subramaniam   India
1994 James P. Grant   United States
Mother Teresa[1][2]   India
Mikhail Gorbachev[1][2]   Russia
1995 Laxmi Mall Singhvi   India
Rafael Hernández Colón   Puerto Rico
Desmond Tutu   South Africa
1996 Nelson Mandela[1][2]   South Africa
Robert Mugabe   Zimbabwe
Maurice Strong   Canada
Chakravarthi V. Narasimhan   India
1997 Ananda Guruge   Sri Lanka
Vladimir Petrovsky   Russia
Carl Lewis   United States
14th Dalai Lama   China
Inder Kumar Gujral   India
1998 Dada Vaswani   India
Pope John Paul II[1][2]   Poland
Claiborne Pell   United States
Ja'afar of Negeri Sembilan   Malaysia
1999 Mahathir Mohamad[4]   Malaysia
Girija Prasad Koirala   Nepal
Krishna Prasad Bhattarai   Nepal
Ted Turner   United States
Anwarul Karim Chowdhury   Bangladesh
2000 Svenn Kristiansen   Norway
Humayun Rashid Choudhury   Bangladesh
Gary Ackerman   United States
Sivaya Subramuniyaswami[5]   United States
2001 Atal Bihari Vajpayee[2]   India
James Parks Morton   United States
2002 Satchidananda Saraswati[6]   India
Daw Aye Aye Thant[7]   Myanmar
Ravi Shankar[8]   India
2004 Kurt Waldheim   Austria
2007 Ibrahim Gambari   Nigeria
Bill Pearl   United States
Pascal Alan Nazareth   India

References

edit
  1. ^ a b c d e New Straits Times "King presented with U Thant Peace award". 1998-12-31. Retrieved 2012-12-01.
  2. ^ a b c d e f Hinduism Today "Sri Chinmoy Presents U Thant Award". 2001-02-04. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  3. ^ srichinmoy.org "The U Thant Peace Award". 2010. Archived from the original on 2013-07-24. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  4. ^ "Dr M gets peace award". New Straits Times. 1999-01-05.
  5. ^ Hinduism Today "Our Publisher Honored". November 2000. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  6. ^ poetseers.org "Swami Satchidananda". Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  7. ^ srichinmoybio.co.uk "Daw Aye Aye Thant". Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  8. ^ srichinmoy-reflections.com "Ravi Shankar Gets U Thant Peace Award". December 2010. Retrieved 2013-03-26.
edit