GENEVA (ILO News) – The International Labour Organization today awarded its first annual Decent Work Research Prize to Nobel peace laureate and former South African President Nelson Mandela and to the eminent academic and specialist in social security, Professor Carmelo Mesa-Lago, citing their contributions to improving the lives of people around the world.

In a ceremony at the ILO’s annual International Labour Conference, Mr. Mandela received an exceptional prize for his extraordinary lifetime contribution to knowledge, understanding and advocacy on the central concerns of the ILO. Mr. Mesa-Lago received his award for major scholarly contributions to the analysis of socio-economic relationships and policy instruments for the advancement of decent work, in particular on social security and pension reform.

ILO Director-General Juan Somavia said “if any one person embodies the values of decent work, it is President Mandela. As a lawyer, an activist, a prisoner, a politician and a statesman, Nelson Mandela has lived the ideals of the ILO – through his lifelong pursuit of dialogue, understanding, fairness, social justice and, above all, dignity”.

In his reply, the former President, speaking via a pre-recorded video presentation, thanked the ILO for its support when he was a prisoner of the apartheid regime in South Africa and afterwards, saying “we thank you in the ILO for your support and for refusing to forget us. Today the ILO continues to promote the values we share, the rights we all must respect and the ideal that progress is only possible through genuine dialogue”. Mr. Mandela highlighted that decent work was about “the right not only to survive but to prosper and to have a dignified and fulfilling quality of life” and added “We rely on the ILO to continue its struggle to make decent work a global reality”.

Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Professor Emeritus on Economics and Latin American Studies of the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, was cited for having had, with his research, a notable impact on social security and pension reform processes in Latin America for many years.

In a social policy lecture to the Conference, Professor Mesa-Lago referred to “millions of workers and peasants in Latin America who suffer from lack of coverage or poor protection against social risks” and expressed the hope that social security “coverage is substantially expanded in the next decade through a combined effort from the ILO, the International Social Security Association (ISSA) and other international organizations, as well as all countries represented in this Conference”.

Created by the ILO’s International Institute for Labour Studies (IILS), the Decent Work Research Prize which draws on the endowment from the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to the ILO in 1969, rewards outstanding contributions to the advancement of policy relevant knowledge on the ILO’s central goal of decent work for all.

The awards were decided by a jury of eminent international experts in labour and social policy issues, including Ms. Gemma Adaba, Representative to the United Nations of the International Trade Union Confederation (ITUC); Professor Bina Agarwal, Professor of Economics, University of Delhi, India; Professor Emeritus Eduard Gaugler, University of Mannheim, Germany; Dr. Anna Tibaijuka, Under-Secretary General and Executive Director, UN HABITAT; and Dr. Carlos Tomada, Minister of Work, Employment and Social Security, Republic of Argentina, and Chairman of the ILO Governing Body, 2005-2006.

The IILS was established by the ILO in 1960 as a centre for advanced studies in the social and labour field to further a better understanding of labour issues through education and research.

For more information on the ILO Decent Work Research Prize, please see www.ilo.org/inst or contact ILO Media at communication@ilo.org, tel.: +4122/799-7912.