{"id":273,"date":"2026-07-20T14:04:04","date_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:04:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lemandat.org\/en\/?p=273"},"modified":"2026-07-20T14:04:04","modified_gmt":"2026-07-20T13:04:04","slug":"un-population-award-no-angeline-ndayishimiye-is-not-the-first-first-lady-to-receive-the-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lemandat.org\/en\/2026\/07\/un-population-award-no-angeline-ndayishimiye-is-not-the-first-first-lady-to-receive-the-award\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Population Award: No, Angeline Ndayishimiye is not the first First Lady to receive the award."},"content":{"rendered":"

A few days before the United Nations Population Award was presented to the Bonne Action Umugiraneza Foundation, Angeline Ndayishimiye claimed that no First Lady in the world had received the distinction before her. To support her claim, the First Lady of Burundi notably cited Indira Gandhi, the former Prime Minister of India and a 1983 laureate of the Award. However, United Nations archives contradict this claim. In 1997, Elizabeth Aguirre de Calder\u00f3n Sol received the same Award while serving as First Lady of El Salvador. (Le Mandat)<\/strong><\/p>\n

A few days before the July 8, 2026 ceremony in New York<\/a>, during which the Bonne Action Umugiraneza Foundation was to receive the United Nations Population Award, Burundi’s First Lady spoke about the distinctions associated with her. Asked by a journalist how she felt ahead of receiving two awards\u2014the United Nations Population Award in New York and the Global Health Award in London\u2014she claimed that no First Lady in the world had received this award before her.<\/p>\n

“The awards I am going to receive, as a human being, are overwhelming. I don’t know what to say. These are awards, I would say, that no First Lady has ever received anywhere in the world. Even those who received this award were Prime Ministers. Indira Gandhi, in India, received this award. She was among the first people to receive it. Other colleagues also receive awards, but not United Nations awards.” she said.<\/p>\n

Read also<\/strong><\/em>\u00a0United Nations Population Award: What the recognition of the Bonne Action Umugiraneza Foundation means<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

In the interview, published on July 4, 2026, on the YouTube channel of Radio-T\u00e9l\u00e9vision Nationale du Burundi (RTNB)<\/a>, the 2023 United Nations Population Award laureate reiterated her claim:<\/p>\n

“Yes, I think that this award\u2026 ask my predecessors here in Burundi if you want. I think that… As I said, I am the first to receive it in the whole world among First Ladies. Because when you check online, it’s easy: they show you who has received this award.”<\/p>\n

The reference to Indira Gandhi clarifies the scope of the claim<\/strong><\/p>\n

In her remarks, Angeline Ndayishimiye herself cites Indira Gandhi among the personalities who received the United Nations Population Award.<\/p>\n

The former Prime Minister of India was indeed among the first laureates of the Award, which was presented for the first time in 1983.<\/p>\n

This reference helps clarify the scope of the Burundian First Lady’s remarks. Angeline Ndayishimiye is referring to the history of individuals who have received the Award and argues that some women previously honoured held positions such as Prime Minister, but that no First Lady had received the distinction before her.<\/p>\n

It is precisely on this point that the United Nations archives contradict her claim.<\/p>\n

A First Lady had already received the Award in 1997<\/strong><\/p>\n

Twenty-six years before Angeline Ndayishimiye personally received the Award in 2023, Elizabeth Aguirre de Calder\u00f3n Sol was among the laureates of the 1997 United Nations Population Award.<\/p>\n

Official United Nations documents explicitly identified her, at the time the Award was presented, as the First Lady of El Salvador and Director of the country’s National Family Secretariat.<\/p>\n

She shared the distinction with two other laureates: Professor Toshio Kuroda, Honorary Director of the Population Research Institute at Nihon University in Tokyo, and Thai Senator Mechai Viravaidya, Director of the Population and Community Development Association.<\/p>\n

The three laureates had been announced by the Award Committee in February 1997. The award ceremony was held on June 10 of that year at United Nations Headquarters in New York.<\/p>\n

Then United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan delivered remarks on the occasion of the ceremony.<\/p>\n

UN documents also indicate that each of the three laureates was to receive a diploma and a gold medal, while equally sharing a total monetary award of US$25,000.<\/p>\n