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On 12 October, the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the United Nations and to its Secretary-General Kofi Annan. The Secretary-General spoke to the UN staff on that same day. The text of the citation for the 2001 Nobel Peace prize and the text of the Secretary-General's remarks to UN staff, are listed below. The webcast of these events can be found at the following website: http://www.un.org/webcast/sg/peacenobel/
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2001, in two equal portions, to the United Nations (U.N.) and to its Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, for their work for a better organised and more peaceful world.
For one hundred years, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has sought to strengthen organised cooperation between states. The end of the Cold War has at last made it possible for the U.N. to perform more fully the part it was originally intended to play.
Today the organisation is at the forefront of efforts to achieve peace and security in the world, and of the international mobilisation aimed at meeting the world's economic, social and environmental challenges.
Kofi Annan has devoted almost his entire working life to the U.N. As Secretary-General, he has been preeminent in bringing new life to the organisation.
While clearly underlining the U.N.'s traditional responsibility for peace and security, he has also emphasized its obligations with regard to human rights. He has risen to such new challenges as HIV/AIDS and international terrorism, and brought about more efficient utilisation of the U.N.'s modest resources.
In an organisation that can hardly become more than its members permit, he has made clear that sovereignty cannot be a shield behind which member states conceal their violations.
The U.N. has in its history achieved many successes, and suffered many setbacks. Through this first Peace Prize to the U.N. as such the Norwegian Nobel Committee wishes in its centenary year to proclaim that the only negotiable route to global peace and cooperation goes by way of the United Nations.
I believe as we listened to the [Nobel] Citation we also realized the challenge, the challenge thrown to us by the Nobel Committee. I am sure we will rise up to the challenge.
When I was reappointed Secretary-General, one of our colleagues, Ibrahima Fall, was travelling through Africa, and he met an old man, an old man he didn't know. The old man said to him, I have a message for the Secretary-General - tell him we are happy that he is reappointed but he must take time to celebrate his achievements and successes to be able to focus on challenges ahead. In effect, it is the same message we are getting from the Nobel Committee, that there are challenges ahead. We have had some successes and failures, and they expect us to work hard and meet those challenges. This is an indispensable organization, but an organization that can only work because of the staff and their contribution and your dedication.
Our staff are often on the frontlines. In the past week alone we have lost about ten colleagues, in Georgia and in Afghanistan. And yet our staff keep at it. You are prepared to go to any corner of the world in the service of peace and the work of the United Nations.
Today that work has been recognized. We have won the Nobel Prize, and I think it is a shot in the arm that is really deserved and needed. I hope it will urge us forward and encourage all of us to tackle our tasks with even greater determination. I know as we press forward, we can count on the cooperation, the support and encouragement of our Member States, because the UN is them, and the UN is us. I am sure that together, we will meet the challenges ahead.
I said this morning to the press that the world is a messy place, and unfortunately the messier it gets, the more work we have to do. And so to wake up to a morning like this, a morning of recognition, a morning of encouragement for all of us, is something that we should cherish. But we should cherish this in a sense of deciding to even try harder.
So, my good friends, let me say congratulations to all of you. Let me say that if the UN has achieved anything it is because of the work that you do, and your dedication, and we look forward to many more years of that kind of service. And who knows, if you keep at it, maybe some of you will see another Nobel Peace Prize.
If you are going to get that next Nobel Peace Prize, I think we had better go back to work.