Mandela received over 250 awards, accolades, prizes, honorary degrees, and citizenship

Mandela received over 250 awards, accolades, prizes, honorary degrees, and citizenship during his lifetime in recognition of his political achievements. Among his honors were the Nobel Peace Prize, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Lenin Peace Prize of the Soviet Union, and the Libyan Al-Gaddafi International Prize for Human Rights. In 1990, India bestowed upon him the Bharat Ratna, and in 1992, Pakistan bestowed upon him the Nishan-e-Pakistan. The same year, Turkey presented him with the Atatürk Peace Award; he initially refused the award, citing human rights violations committed by Turkey at the time, but later accepted it in 1999. He was made an honorary Canadian citizen and was appointed to the Order of Isabella the Catholic and the Order of Canada. Queen Elizabeth II made him a Bailiff Grand Cross of the Order of St. John and inducted him into the Order of Merit.

Johannesburg granted Mandela the Freedom of the City in 2004, and a Mandela statue was unveiled in 2008 near where he was released from prison. On Mandela's birthday in 2013, a bronze statue of him was unveiled at Pretoria's Union Buildings. The United Nations General Assembly declared Mandela's birthday, 18 July, as "Mandela Day" in November 2009, in recognition of his contributions to the anti-apartheid struggle. It encouraged people to devote 67 minutes to doing something good for others in honor of Mandela's 67-year involvement with the movement. To honor Mandela's legacy, the UN General Assembly renamed the revised Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners "the Mandela Rules" in 2015.