Part 3-06U U Thant Peace Award – an overview - Historical Repository for Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations

Part 3-06U U Thant Peace Award – an overview

under construction:

The U Thant Peace Award is a symbolic presentation by Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations to acknowledge, appreciate and admire distinguished accomplishments toward the attainment of world peace.

The award was named for the late Secretary-General of the United Nations in honour of this contemplative world leader’s exemplary devotion to peace in both his personal and his political life.

The recipients are individuals or organizations reflecting U Thant’s lofty spiritual ideals.

The U Thant Peace Award is offered periodically by the members of Sri Chinmoy: The Peace Meditation at the United Nations, who work for the international community in various capacities and have made an additional personal, commitment to the highest goals of the United Nations.

Previous recipients

Previous recipients of the U Thant Peace Award include:

UN Ambassador Zenon Rossides of Cyprus, for his life-long emphasis on spiritual values as a basis for world peace and his efforts for national security and disarmament;
Dr. Jorge Illueca, President of the 38th Session of the UN General Assembly and President of Panama, for his personal example in supporting the ideals of the UN Charter and his longterm service in international relations and international law;
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), for its sustained practical commitment to world progress through integral development and its dedication to the fulfilment of each nation’s unique potentialities;
Pir Vilayat Khan, Head of the Sufi Order in the West, for his devotion to the cause of world peace and unity and the manifestation of the message of oneness among the great world religions;
Ganesh Man Singh, Supreme Leader of Nepal, for his lifetime commitment to democratic government in his country and the inspiration of his countrymen and women to powerful yet peaceful action;
Ambassador Lakhan Mehrotra, Secretary of the Ministry of External Affairs of India, for his life-long consecration to the noblest spiritual values to lead to a genuine peace among the peoples of the world;
Professor Guido de Marco, President of the 45th Session of the UN General Assembly as well as Deputy Prime Minister and ‘ Minister for Foreign Affairs and Justice of Malta, for his exemplary dedication to the complementary goals of peace and human rights and his determined effort to revitalise the United Nations General Assembly. Sept 28, 1991
James Grant, Executive Director of United nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) 1994, Sept 20…
Mother Teresa…… 1994 Oct 01
Mr. C.V. Narasimhan, U.N. – 10 Sep 1996….

Fuller description and more recipients t0 be added:

2006 booklet:

Selection Process: Nominations for the U Thant Peace Award are offered by members of the Peace Meditation Group programme coordinators. The decision is reached by consensus.

Presentation: The Award is often presented in New York at United Nations Headquarters and a few times on nearby U Thant Island. An appropriate alternative site may be considered.

From 2006 boooklet

Highlight first recipients of U Thant peace Award ,

Zenon Rossides Cyprus,

Dr. Illueca from Panama,

Dr Barber,

: U-Thant-Award-booklet-color-4-page-2006_

: U-Thant-Award-booklet-color-4-page-2006

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: img142-james-grant-unicef-uthant-award-1368.

The award was named for the late Secretary-General of the United Nations in honour of this contemplative world leader’s exemplary devotion to peace in both his personal and his political life.

U Thant Award booklet

The recipients are individuals or organizations reflecting U Thant’s lofty spiritual ideals.

Below are excerpts from statements and brief quotes by Previous recipients

H.E. Mr. Zenon Rossides, Ambassador of Cyprus to the United Nations:

“Sri Chinmoy, dear friends, I wish to thank you with all my heart for your kind spirit in giving me this award. “U Thant was a luminous ideal that walked among us as a human figure. His actions and his thoughts had a transcendental quality and a prophetic content that was due to a spiritual approach to life.

U Thant was a man entirely dedicated to the spirit, belonging to a region which was the birthplace of all the religions in this world. We must realise that the spirit is predominant in guiding man in the right direction, and that the United Nations must be guided in that way.

“We cannot invoke the spirit without meditating. Therefore the meditation group led by Sri Chinmoy at the United Nations is of great significance because it helps to evoke among the members of the United Nations the spiritual approach. We must honour Sri Chinmoy by following his example, by meditating, so that we can have a United Nations which is effective in the spiritual approach to life, with actions in accordance with justice, freedom and security in the world.“

Mr. Bradford Morse: Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) :

“My colleagues in UNDP and I are proud and gratified for the great honour which “Sri Chinmoy” and “the Peace Meditation at the United Nations” granted us by offering the U Thant Peace Award to UNDP. UNDP is most appreciative of this honour. “This award not only gives us new inspiration, dedication and energy to serve in the best manner millions of human beings in poor countries, but also constitutes a high commemoration of the spirit of the late secretary-General U Thant, a world leader who was a champion of peace and development. I thank you from my heart.”

Dr. Jorge Illueca, President of the 38th Session of the General Assembly:

“I humbly accept this honour as a meaningful inspiration to accomplish all that I can for the benefit of humanity in my capacity as President of the General Assembly. I have been blessed with a unique opportunity to serve mankind. I hope I shall be able to offer something significant as an instrument of the highest principles of peace, progress and understanding.

“Perhaps no one has brought a higher spiritual vision to the United Nations than U Thant, for whom you have named the award which you have so graciously bestowed on me. I would like to recall a few deeply meaningful thoughts which the late Secretary-General offered in his farewell address:

“Above all, I would attach the greatest importance to spiritual qualities, like faith in oneself and the purity of one’s inner self, which to me is the greatest virtue of all. With this approach, with this philosophy, with this concept alone we will be able to fashion the kind of society we want, the kind of society which was envisaged by the founders of the United Nations.”

Message of secretary-General Javier Perez de Cuellar for the U Thant Peace Award Ceremony in 1986:

“The promotion of mutual human respect across religious, ideological, political and economic boundaries is at the very root of the United Nations and imbued the life’s work of my distinguished predecessor, U Thant. As we remember this therefore, we should also bear in mind that the ideals of tolerance and mutual accommodation, which he espoused so dearly, retain today all their power and relevance. They should inspire all our endeavours.”

(others to be added.)

some other links to consider”

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U Thant Peace Award – quotes from recipients

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U Thant Peace Award – an overview

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