The Anna Lindh Memorial Fund has announced that the Anna Lindh Prize 2009 would go to President Mohamed Nasheed.
In a press release issued today, the Fund has said that “President Nasheed is awarded for the Maldives’ great efforts to put people and their human rights at the heart of the debate on climate change. He is also awarded for his role in the peaceful transition to democracy.”
“I and the Anna Lindh Memorial Fund with me is please that President Nasheed accepted this prize at a time when the world community must understand and draw conclusions from the effects of climate change. President Nasheed and the Maldivian people show us that climate change is an issue of existential dimension,” said Jan Eliasson, Chairman of the Anna Lindh Memorial Fund.
In his letter accepting the award, the President had said that “democracy and human rights in the Maldives were secured through a home-grown, grassroots movement”. He further said, “Similarly, it is through the participation of ordinary Maldivians that we have been highlighting and addressing the issues of climate change and its effects on human rights. This prize will stand as an apt testament to the brave and diligent efforts of all ordinary Maldivians.”
Anna Lindh Memorial Fund was inaugurated on September 16, 2003 in honour of the late Anna Lindh to ensure that violence does not defeat faith that one can create change through peaceful and democratic means. Anna Lindh served as Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1998 until her assassination in 2003. The Anna Lindh Memorial Fund presents an annual prize to an individual, organisation or project that acts in the spirit of Anna Lindh.
The Anna Lindh Prize Ceremony will be held on 16 June in Stockholm.
