Diwali-Power of One Awards

Four eminent diplomats have been honoured with the ‘Diwali – Power of One’ award in recognition and of their work, especially at United Nations (UN), for a secure and peaceful world. The Winner were honoured with the ‘Power of One’ awards during a ceremony at UN Headquarters in New York, United States. The award annually honours those who have made exemplary contributions in upholding the values that the United Nations stands for.

Winners 2019

Awardees: The award is conferred to former High-Level UN diplomats or Permanent Representatives or those diplomats who will soon finish their tenure at world organisation for working selflessly towards helping form a more secure, peaceful and perfect world for all.

The diplomats who were honoured are:

• Kairat Abdrakhmanov (Kazakhstan)- Former foreign minister and Permanent Representative of Kazakhstan to UN
• Nicholas Emiliou (Cyprus)– former Permanent Representative of Cyprus to UN
• Frantisek Ruzicka (Slovakia)- Former Chef de Cabinet to President of 72nd Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and Permanent Representative of Slovakia to UN
• Volodymyr Yelchenko (Ukraine)– Permanent Representative of Ukraine to the UN

About Diwali-Power of One Awards

The awards which have now come to be known as ‘Oscars of Diplomacy’ were established by Diwali Foundation USA, Inc in 2017. The awards seeks to promote a peaceful and consensus-based process to achieve societal good, as befitting high hopes and ideals of humanity enshrined in UN Charter. The co-organisers of this year Diwali Foundation USA’s Power of One awardees were- Permanent Missions of Belarus, Georgia and India to UN, along with 32 co-sponsors.

Currently, Ranju Batra chairs, the Diwali Foundation USA. Ranju Batra had spearheaded efforts for nearly 7 years to get a commemorative ‘Forever Diwali’ stamp issued by US Postal Service in 2016. The ‘Power of One’ award institutionalises Diwali Stamp effort of Ranju Batra and her partners who worked tirelessly and made it the most popular stamp issued by US Postal Services.