Paris: Aung San Suu Kyi, the pro-Democracy leader of Myanmar, has been selected for UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for promotion of tolerance and non-violence while India's Ramakrishna Mission receives Honourable Mention.

"Aung San Suu Kyi was the laureate of the 1991 Nobel [Peace] Prize for having attempted to establish Democracy in Burma. An international symbol of peaceful resistance to oppression, she is still pursuing her non-violent struggle for Democracy and tolerance in Myanmar," a UNESCO press release quoted the jury as saying.

The Ramakrishna Mission has been selected for the Honourable Mention "for its unrelenting efforts to promote the principles of tolerance and non-violence in assisting disadvantaged groups", it said.

The international jury for the coveted prize, including former Prime Minister I K Gujaral, unanimously selected Suu Kyi, UNESCO Director-General Konchiro Matsuura said.

The UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize for the promotion of tolerance and non-violence will be presented in a ceremony at Organisation Headquarters on November 16, International Day for Tolerance which is also the anniversary of UNESCO's foundation.

The $ 100,000 prize is dedicated to advancing the spirit of tolerance in arts, education, culture, science and communication. It is awarded every two years to an individual or an institution for exceptional contributions in the field of tolerance promotion.

The prize was created in 1995 noted Indian philathrop, writer and diplomat Madanjeet Singh. He is also a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador.

Late American journalist Daniel Pearl "who lost his life for seeking to denounce all forms of injustice" is among those given the Honourable Mention posthumously.

The Wall Street Journal reporter was murdered after he was abducted on January 23 this year in Karachi.

A second posthumous Honourable Mention was attributed to nine journalists killed in Afghanistan in the exercise of their profession in November 2001: Johanne Sutton (France, Radio France Internationale), Pierre B illaud (France, RTL), Volker Handloik (Germany, Stern), Ken Hechtman (Canada, Montreal Mirror), Ulf Stromberg (Sweden, TV4), Maria Grazia Cutuli (Italy, Corriere della Sera), Harry Burton (Australia, Reuters), Azizullah Haidar (Afghanistan, Reuters) et Julio Fuentes (Spain, El Mundo).

Simon Wiesenthal and the Simon Wiesenthal Centre, in Austria, received third Honourable Mention "for denunciation of the crimes committed by the Nazis during World War II and their work in education for tolerance and non-violence". Ramakrishna Mission received fourth Honourable Mention.

The fifth has been given to Kids Can Free the Children (Canada), "a youth network which transforms children into local and international peace activists".

The UNESCO-Madanjeet Singh Prize was awarded in 2000 to Egyptian Pope Chenouda III, who works in favour of interfaith dialogue in Egypt and around the world. In 1998, it was shared between the Joint Action Committee for Peoples' Rights of Pakistan and Indian anti-nuclear activist and promoter of religious and ethnic understanding and tolerance, Narayan Dasai.

PTI