Germany's Merkel donates prize to Nigerian organization promoting female rights

HELSINKI, March 6 (Xinhua) -- German Chancellor Angela Merkel, the first recipient of the International Gender Equality Prize awarded by the Finnish Government, will grant the prize-money to a Nigerian organization advocating the rights of women and girls, announced the Finnish government on Tuesday.

At the award ceremony held on Tuesday in Tampere, western Finland, Finnish Prime Minister Juha Sipila handed over the prize to the Nigerian organization named SOS Femmes et Enfants Victimes de Violence Familiale.

"We must not tolerate the fact that women are made targets of aggression simply because they are women," Merkel said in her video greeting presented at the ceremony.

"The aim of the prize is to promote equality between men and women around the world," Sipila said in his speech, adding that gender equality is one of the core values of the Finnish society.

The Nigerian organization is planning to use the money to establish a residential shelter, said the Finnish government.

To promote equality and to celebrate Finland's 100 years of independence, the Finnish government set up the International Gender Equality Prize in 2017. Merkel was chosen as the recipient of the award in December last year.

The prize is worth 150,000 euros (186,100 U.S. dollars). The recipient has right to decide the cause it would be spent on. Enditem