United Nations Blue Berets Stationed in Ex-Yugoslavia Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 1993

The Jury for the 1993 Prince of Asturias Award for International Co-operation, comprising Emilio Cassinello, Juan Antonio García Díez, Antonio Garrigues Walker, Fernando Morán, Joaquín Moya-Angeler, Luis Guillermo Perinat, Nicolás Sartorius, Jorge Semprún, Alfonso de la Serna, and Jesús Silva-Herzog Flores, gathered in Oviedo under the presidency of Leopoldo Calvo Sotelo, and with Teodoro López-Cuesta Egocheaga acting as secretary, have agreed to grant the 1993 Prince of Asturias Award for International Co-operation to the Military Detachments of the United Nations Blue Berets deployed on humanitarian missions in ex-Yugoslavia.

Within the extreme complexity presented by the dramatic problem of ex-Yugoslavia, the outcome of which is unpredictable, the Jury considers it necessary, in the current circumstances, to highlight and encourage the humanitarian work which the aforementioned military detachments are performing there and their outstanding contribution to achieving a peaceful solution to the military conflict.

The Jury furthermore wishes to highlight especially the work of the Spanish Armed Forces in Bosnia under the mandate of the United Nations. Their humanitarian and peacekeeping work among the sides involved in the conflict has been exemplary, even to the point of sacrificing their own lives, and reinforces the harmony between the Army and the Spanish people.

Oviedo, 21st May 1993