In 2001, the United Nations, as an organization, and Kofi Annan, as Secretary-General, won the Nobel Peace Prize.
The following list of Nobel laureates includes UN organizations, people who were UN officials at the time of the awarding of the prize, and people who worked at the UN as diplomats or international civil servants.
1950: Ralph Bunche, Acting UN Mediator in Palestine and Director of Trusteeship Division
1954: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
1957: Lester Pearson, President of the 7th session of the UN General Assembly
1961: Dag Hammarskjöld, UN Secretary-General
1965: UNICEF (UN Children's Fund)
1969: International Labour Organization (ILO)
1974: Seán MacBride, UN Assistant Secretary-General and UN Commissioner for Namibia; jointly awarded with Eisaku Sato, Prime Minister of Japan
1981: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
1982: Alva Myrdal and Alfonso García Robles, diplomats involved at various times with the UN
1988: UN Peacekeeping Forces
2001: United Nations and Kofi Annan, UN Secretary-General
2005: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and Mohamed ElBaradei, IAEA Director General
2007: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and Al Gore, former US Vice-President
2008: Martti Ahtisaari, former President of Finland, has held several UN appointments, including UN Commissioner for Namibia and UN Special Envoy for the Future Status Process for Kosovo
2013: Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW)
2020: World Food Programme (WFP)
2026: Navanethem "Navi" Pillay has held several UN related appointments, including on the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Court (ICC), the UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry on the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)
In addition, several Nobel laureates have been appointed UN Messengers of Peace, including:
- Elie Wiesel
- Wangari Maathai
- Malala Yousafzai
Links & Files
- Nobel Prize website: list of all Nobel Peace Prizes Opens in new window
- UN Messengers of Peace Opens in new window
- UN Security Council Repertoire, 2000-2003, section on Nobel Peace Prize (pdf) Opens in new window
- Ask DAG: Who was Ralph Bunche? Opens in new window
- Ask DAG (French): L’ONU a-t-elle reçu le prix Nobel de la paix ? Opens in new window
