Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights

Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights
Awarded forInternational personalities, bodies or organizations that have distinctively contributed to rendering an outstanding human service and has achieved great actions in defending Human rights, protecting the causes of freedom and supporting peace everywhere in the world.
CountryLibya
Presented byInternational People's Committee for Gaddafi's International Prize for Human Rights
First awarded1989
Last awarded2010

The Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights was an annual human rights prize founded by the Libyan People's Congress in late 1988, in "indebtedness and gratitude for Muammar Gaddafi and in appreciation for his role in firmly establishing the principle of direct democracy, his persistent struggle, his distinctive inspiration and continuous instigation for the consolidation of human liberty and for issuing the Great Green Document in the era of the masses, for the purpose of bestowing tribute upon symbolic figures of struggle and faith in the values of freedom to all humans, nations, groups and individuals".[1]

Gaddafi made an initial grant of ten million US$[2] to the Swiss-based foundation North-South XXI which later administered the prize donation. The sum of the prize money was US $250,000 (in case of several recipients the prize money was shared). The prize was given by an international committee, chaired by former President of Algeria Ahmed Ben Bella.[3][4] Gaddafi himself had no say in choosing the recipient.[2]

The prize was discontinued in 2011, after Gaddafi's overthrow and death during the Libyan Civil War.

Criticism of the organization includes Swiss TV's report claiming that "the Gaddafi prize for Human Rights is an instrument for propaganda for the dictator...Numerous Holocaust deniers and despots are among the prize winners",[5] while other groups have said that it promoted "anti-American and anti-Western hatred".[6]

  1. ^ About us Web.archive.org. Archived from the original on 20 February 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Prizes: And the Winner Is..." Time. 1989-05-08. Archived from the original on October 22, 2010. Retrieved 2012-10-24.
  3. ^ Chairman of the International Committee for the Gadhafi International Human Rights Prize 2004, former Algerian President Ahmed Ben Bella, left, shakes hands with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez during his awarding ceremony of the 'Gadhafi International Human Rights Prize 2004' in Tripoli, Libya. Tributes.com
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference KMBGaddafiMintoff was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "UN rights official Jean Ziegler created "Qaddafi Prize", reports Swiss TV". YouTube. Archived from the original on 2021-12-13. Retrieved 19 October 2013.
  6. ^ "Rights Agency Gives Podium to "Gaddafi Prize" Front Group". Scoop. 6 December 2011. Retrieved 19 October 2013.