British pop icon Sting is set to perform as the guest of honour at the annual Auschwitz peace festival this month.

The Life Festival, which is supported by human rights organisation Amnesty International, will also showcase educational exhibitions on human rights issues.

Sting, real name Gordon Sumner, has previously performed in Tel Aviv and also collaborated on songs for Palestine.

Darek Maciborek, who initiated the festival that is now in its third year, said: "The main concept of the festival is to build peaceful relations beyond cultural and state borders where there is no place for antisemitism, racism, and other forms of xenophobia.

"The message of a peace and tolerance comes from the town where, during the Second World War, there was the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp – Auschwitz-Birkenau."