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2025 Edition of the UNESCO/José Martí International Prize

The Asociación de Parteras Unidas del Pacifico (Association of United Midwives of the Pacific) in Colombia will receive the 2025 edition of the UNESCO/José Martí International Prize for its work in favour of community integration, solidarity and unity, with a focus on indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants in Latin America and the Caribbean.
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The Prize will be awarded by Anne Lemaistre, Director, UNESCO Office in Havana and Regional Bureau for Culture, who will participate in the award ceremony on 28 January in Havana (Cuba), within the context of the Sixth International Conference for World Balance. 

The Director-General of UNESCO, Audrey Azoulay, appointed the Association on the recommendation of an international jury of experts. 

Since 1996, the Asociación de Parteras Unidas del Pacifico works in favor of community integration, solidarity and unity among the nations and peoples of Latin America and the Caribbean. Through its work, it safeguards indigenous and Afro-descendant traditions, history and identities, and encourages collaboration between different groups of people. Every year, the Association organizes the Festival of Ancestral Memory and Gathering which enhances the importance of social and cultural unity in the region, and brings together communities for knowledge exchange. The Association also promotes biocultural conservation and sustainable use of natural resources for community resilience, collaboration, eco-friendly tourism and local job creation. 

The UNESCO/José Martí International Prize, run but the Social and Human Sciences Sector of UNESCO, was proposed in 1994 at the initiative of the Cuban government. The Prize was created to promote equality, solidarity and human rights. It rewards outstanding contributions by organizations and individuals to the unity and integration of Latin America and the Caribbean, based on respect for their cultural traditions and humanist values.  The winners receive a certificate and the sum of US$ 5,000. 

Previous winners include French historian and writer Paul Estrade (2023), Cuban poet and literary critic Roberto Fernández Retamar (2019), Mexican surgeon Alfonso Herrera Franyutti (2016), among others. 

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