This year's Hessian Peace Prize of the Albert Osswald Foundation will be awarded to Sadako Ogata. The prize is endowed with 25.000 Euro. The president of European University Viadrina Frankfurt (Oder) and former minister of state at the German Federal Foreign Office, Dr Gunter Pleuger, will give the laudatory speech.
Professor Michael Brzoska, director at the Institute for Peace Research and Security Policy at the University of Hamburg and member of the board of trustees, explains the jury's decision:
Sadako Ogata primarily made her mark as Uited Nations High Commissioner for refugees during 1991 and 2000 when she successfully drew the media's attention to the refugees' situation in war and conflict zones.
The concept of "human security" is one of the most important achievements in contemporary security politics. Today, this conceptual design is not only an important norm for interventions of the United Nations in local conflicts, but also a cornerstone of the UN's efforts to restore lasting peace at the end of a conflict. Sadako Ogata was most influential in improving this concept and is accordingly one of the great "peace architects" of our age.
The award ceremony is scheduled for 6th December at 11 a.m. at the Hessian State Parliament in Wiesbaden.