United Nations, Dec. 11: Pakistan People's Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto has accepted an honorary United Nations prize conferred on his slain mother and former Pakistan Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

The 2008 United Nations Human Rights award was given to Bhutto for her services to poor human beings and in recognition of her courageous struggle for restoring democracy in Pakistan, The News reports.

Benazir Bhutto was among seven international personalities who were conferred with the honour this year.

The UN Prize in the Field of Human Rights, awarded by the General Assembly every five years, was presented this year at a ceremony in 192-member assembly hall, marking the 60th anniversary of the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR).

Other winners of the prize are: Louise Arbour, a Canadian who was until recently U. N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Ramsey Clark, veteran American human rights defender and rule of law advocate, Dr. Carolyn Gomes, co-founder of Jamaicans for Justice, Dr. Denis Mukwege, a Congolese who has been helping women and girl victims of sexual violence, and Human Rights Watch, an international watchdog.

Bhutto and Sr. Dorothy Stang-a Brazilian who defended the human rights of the poor, landless and indigenous populations-were awarded the prize posthumously.

The award is given to individuals and organizations in recognition of their outstanding contribution to the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Previous recipients have included Nelson Mandela, Amnesty International, Jimmy Carter, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Reverend Dr. Martin Luther King as well as Ra'ana Liaquat Ali Khan, wife of Pakistan's first Pakistani Prime Minister, who was also assassinated in Rawalpindi in the 1950s. (ANI)