President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has been chosen to receive the 2008 Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize. Many of the winners in previous years also went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. The award ceremony will take place in July.

The UNESCO award was created in 1989 and is given to people, organizations or institutions that contribute to the maintenance of peace in accordance with the UN Charter and UNESCO Constitution.

In announcing the jury's decision, the former President of Portugal, Mario Soares highlighted the work of President Lula for peace and social justice.

"The jury decided to award the Félix Houphouët-Boigny to Mr Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, President of Brazil, for his active pursuit of peace, dialogue, democracy, social justice and equal rights, as well as his valuable contribution to the eradication of poverty and the protection of the rights of minorities," he explained.

The list of previous winners includes famous names such as former South African President, Nelson Mandela, former Israeli Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, the current President of Israel, Shimon Peres, and former leader of the Palestinian Authority, Yasser Arafat.