Organisers of the Dresden Prize say the 55-year-old, who now lives in Canada, is being honoured for her support of Unesco and children wounded in war, and for speaking out publicly against violence and hatred.

Past recipients of the prize include former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and American civil rights activist Tommie Smith.

Phuc was nine when a South Vietnamese plane dropped napalm bombs on her village, believing it harboured enemy North Vietnamese troops.

The scene of Phuc running down a road crying, naked and with burns across her body was captured by photographer Nick Ut, winning a Pulitzer Prize in 1973.

Australian Associated Press