The sixth Anna Lindh Prize goes to Mohamed Nasheed, President of the Maldives. 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 Maldives’ peaceful transition to democracy.
“Democracy and human rights in the Maldives were secured through a home-grown, grassroots movement,” says President Nasheed.
“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 therefore will stand as an apt testament to the brave and diligent efforts of all ordinary Maldivians.”
With an average height of just 1.5 meters above sea level the Maldives will be submerged in water within 100 years if climate change continues at its current rate. President Mohamed Nasheed, who was voted into power in 2008 in the island nation’s first ever multi-party election, works with determination toward the goal of minimizing the country’s carbon emissions. For the Maldives, efforts at stopping climate change are about making possible the country’s very existence.
“I and the Anna Lindh Memorial Fund with me is pleased that President Nasheed has 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,” says Jan Eliasson, Chairman of the Anna Lindh Memorial Fund.
The Maldives’ situation has changed the character of the climate change debate, which is increasingly about how climate change impacts peoples’ existence. In March 2008, the Maldives spearheaded the work towards passing a resolution on climate change and human rights in the United Nations Human Rights Council. The resolution, passed by consensus, has given the United Nations entirely new tools to work with climate change. In addition, Mohamed Nasheed and the Maldives have helped to bring the human dimension into climate change negotiations, which will resume in Copenhagen at the end of 2009.
The awarding of the Anna Lindh Prize to Mohamed Nasheed also reflects his role in the peaceful transition to democracy. A former Amnesty Prisoner of Conscience, 41-year-old Mohamed Nasheed handled graciously the transition of power from the incumbent of 30 years in 2008. In addition, the Maldives has approved by popular referendum a new democratic constitution and has ratified the core of international human rights treaties.
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