The center, a nonprofit organization in the Kingdom, conducts and funds laboratory and field research on disability.
Luigi Narbone, head of the EU delegation in Saudi Arabia, announced the winners’ names at a special ceremony in the EU headquarters in Riyadh.
“The Qatar-based Shafallah Center for Children with Special Needs and the Riyadh-based Saudi Alzheimer's Disease Association won the first and the third place respectively among winners,” said Narbone.
The Chaillot prize acknowledges actions, campaigns and projects that favor progress in the field of human rights in the Gulf Cooperation Council countries.
Narbone said the Shafallah Center had been honored for its autism awareness campaign.
“This organization also maintains a special education unit for autism within its premises,” he said, adding that the award will consist of a monetary grant of 4,000 euros and a certificate.
He said the Riyadh-based PSCDR had been chosen for the award because of “its tremendous contributions to make the rights of the disabled recognized without discrimination.”
PSCDR’s aim is to improve the quality of life for all people living with disabilities by promoting research that results in real life changes and activities that help reduce the impact of disability. The PSCDR was founded in 1990 by Prince Sultan bin Salman to complement the Disabled Children Association, a service-oriented organization for children living with disabilities in Saudi Arabia. It was named in honor of his father Prince Salman, the current defense minister and former governor of Riyadh, who is also a noted philanthropist.
Narbone said the Saudi Alzheimer's Association was honored for “its continued efforts to spread awareness about this disease.” This has helped enhance the quality of life for all people affected by Alzheimer’s by providing leadership, programs and services, advocacy, awareness and research support, he added. In Saudi Arabia, there is a complete lack of information regarding estimates of current prevalence and cost of care as well as other aspects of the disease.
“It has been particularly difficult for the jury to select the winners from a large number of impressive projects that were submitted this year,” he said.
“This prize is just another example of one of the many areas of fruitful cooperation between GCC countries and Europe.”
