Nominations open for 2020 UN Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize

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Mongezi Mtati

Established in June 2014 by the United Nations General Assembly, nominations are now open for the 2020 United Nations Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela Prize.

The prize recognises the achievements of those who dedicate their lives to the service of humanity by promoting the purposes and principles of the United Nations while honouring and paying homage to Nelson Mandela’s extraordinary life and legacy of reconciliation, political transition, and social transformation.

First awarded in 2015, the prize recognised two outstanding individuals: Dr. Helena Ndume of Namibia, an ophthalmologist whose life’s work has been the treatment of blindness and eye-related illnesses, both in Namibia and throughout the developing world; and former President of Portugal Jorge Fernando Branco Sampaio, a leader in the struggle for the restoration of democracy in his country.

Two awardees

Nominations for the 2020 prize will be accepted until 28 February 2020. The award is presented every five years to two individuals: one female and one male.

Laureates will be selected by a United Nations committee chaired by the president of the General Assembly and composed of representatives of six member states, including representatives from each of the five regional groups, a representative of the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations and five eminent individuals who will serve as ex officio members. The United Nations Department of Global Communications will serve as the committee’s secretariat.

It is expected that the laureates will be announced in May 2020, with the prizes awarded at the United Nations headquarters in New York during the commemoration of Nelson Mandela International Day, marked on 18 July.