Retired international soccer player Roberto Baggio wins World Peace Award

Retired international soccer player Roberto Baggio wins World Peace Award

2010-11-10 04:12:49 GMT+7 (ICT)

ROME, ITALY (BNO NEWS) -- Retired international soccer player Roberto Baggio on Tuesday was chosen to receive the 2010 World Peace Award, a special award bestowed each year by Nobel Peace prize winners.

The award is given to an individual in the entertainment and arts community that out stands due to his efforts in promoting human rights and peace. The award will be presented to the former striker on November 14 in Hiroshima, Japan, during the last day fo the 11th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates.

Italian football player Baggio will receive the World Peace Award 2010 for his strong and continuous commitment to world peace and related international activities. The World Peace Award was previously awarded to Annie Lennox, Bono, George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Bob Geldolf and Peter Gabriel.

He is recognized for his contributions to charitable organizations worldwide, contributing funds for hospitals and efforts after the earthquake in Haiti and for supporting the freedom of Aung San Suu Kyi, Myanmar's detained pro-democracy leader and peace laureate.

The 1993 FIFA World Player of the Year said he will split the prize money with the flood victims of the Veneto region in Italy where he was born and which was severely hit by rains that triggered floods and severe damages in the area.

The Hiroshima summit will be dedicated to the non proliferation and nuclear disarmament as well as honoring the victims of the nuclear bomb that hit the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

Among the attendants to the summit are Mikhail Gorbachev, the Dalai Lama, heads and officials from the United Nations and its agencies, as well as 18 Nobel Peace Laureates .

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