EVENT: Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jody Williams
DATE: Oct. 30
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Humanitarian and Nobel Peace Prize Winner Jody Williams’ audiences include the United Nations, the European Parliament and the Organization of African Unity. On Oct. 30, she will add Chickasha.
Williams will address the public as part of the first annual Ray and Mary Giles Symposium on Citizenship and Public Service at the University of Science and Arts of Oklahoma. The free presentation is scheduled to begin at 8 p.m. Williams also will be a part of a panel discussion from 4-5:30 p.m. in the Davis Hall Amphitheater at USAO.
Williams is the founding coordinator and campaign ambassador of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). The ICBL was formally launched by six nongovernmental organizations in 1992. Williams has overseen the growth of ICBL to more than 1,300 nongovernmental organizations in more than 85 countries.
Working in an unprecedented cooperative effort with governments, UN bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the ICBL achieved its goal of an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines in 1997 when 122 nations signed the treaty. One week after that historic event, Williams became the tenth woman in history to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. She was the third American woman to receive the prize.
She continues to promote human rights. Williams is a tireless crusader against war and the lingering effects that armed conflicts have wrought around the world. She discusses the importance of both human and national security in the world today.
Williams has written extensively on the problem of landmines and the movement to ban them. Williams is the co-author of a study – based on two years of field research in four mine-affected countries – detailing the social-economic consequences of landmine contaminations.
Before working with ICBL, Williams worked for 11 years to build public awareness about U.S. policy toward Central America. From 1986-92, she developed and directed humanitarian relief projects as deputy director of the Los Angeles-based Medical Aid for El Salvador. She has served as co-coordinator of the Nicaragua-Honduras Education Project and taught English as a second language in Mexico, the United Kingdom and Washington, D.C.
USAO’s 2008 Ray and Mary Giles Liberal Arts Symposium is made possible through a generous gift from the Ray and Mary Giles Fund in the USAO Foundation.