On 15 June the ILO 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.”
Carmelo Mesa-Lago, Professor Emeritus on Economics and Latin American Studies of the University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA, was cited for having had through his research a notable impact on social security and pension reform processes in Latin America for many years.
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. 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.
Call for nominations: The ILO Decent Work Research Prize 2008
Under the rules of the ILO Decent Work Research Prize, individuals and institutions can nominate candidates, but only individuals qualify as candidates. Each nominee must have the support of at least one member of the ILO’s tripartite constituency (i.e. a government or a workers’ or employers’ organization) and one leading academic in the area of labour and social policy. The letters of support should come from different regions of the world.
The jury will examine candidates’ scholarly publications, taking account both of the excellence of the work and its practical relevance for policy purposes.
An official Call for Nominations with detailed information on the dossiers to be submitted for participation in the ILO Decent Work Research Prize 2008 will be launched shortly and appear on the websites of the ILO (www.ilo.org) and of the IILS (/inst).