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UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan and UN President Mr Han Seung-Soo;
Photo:Reuters
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UN Secretary-General Mr Kofi Annan has received the Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Olso.
In his acceptance speech, he said: "We have entered the third millennium through a gate of fire. If today, after the horror of 11 September, we see better, and we see further - we will realise that humanity is indivisible".
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"In the early beginnings of the 21st century - a century already violently disabused of any hopes that progress towards global peace and prosperity is inevitable - this new reality can no longer be ignored," he said, noting that "new threats make no distinction between races, nations or regions".
Mr Annan, who shares this year's Nobel Peace Prize with the United Nations organisation, outlined the UN's priorities.
"In the 21st century I believe the mission of the United Nations will be defined by a new, more profound, awareness of the sanctity and dignity of every human life, regardless of race or religion," he said.
"From this vision of the role of the United Nations in the next century flow three key priorities for the future: eradicating poverty, preventing conflict, and promoting democracy.
"In a world filled with weapons of war and all too often words of war, the Nobel Committee has become a vital agent for peace. Sadly, a prize for peace is a rarity in this world," Mr Annan said.
"Most nations have monuments or memorials to war, bronze salutations to heroic battles, archways of triumph. But peace has no parade, no pantheon of victory," he said.
Mr Annan and Han Seung-Soo, the South Korean president of the United Nations General Assembly, received the Nobel Peace Prize at a formal ceremony at Oslo's City Hall.
The prize consists of a gold medal, a diploma, and a cheque worth 10 million Swedish kronor (€1.06 million).
AFP