GENEVA (ILO News) — The Director-General of the International Labour Office (ILO), Juan Somavia, today issued the following statement on the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 to Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank:
"Professor Muhammad Yunus has spent a lifetime giving credit where it is due — to millions of women and men striving for opportunity and decent work.
"He and the Grameen Bank have long recognized the entrepreneurship of the working poor, and that access to credit is a basic right. They have shown that with a small amount of capital, the poor can truly work their way out of poverty.
"The millions of people, who, as shareholders in the Grameen Bank, have become economic citizens, show the power of people to better their lives through organization.
"The recognition of the pioneering work of Professor Yunus is also a call to scale up the microfinance movement globally so that women and men everywhere have the chance to use their talents and overcome poverty through work, dignity, organization, and voice."
Print
Email
