Nobel Women's Initiative

Read the full text of the press release with findings and recommendations here.

-- For immediate release to media --

March 3, 2010, 10 am EST

International Tribunal on Burma Calls for End to Impunity of Military Regime

(New York)  Nobel Peace Laureates Shirin Ebadi and Jody Williams - along with human rights experts Dr. Heisoo Shin (Korea) and Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn (Thailand) - today released the findings and recommendations developed during the International Tribunal on Crimes Against Women of Burma held this week in New York City.  The quasi-legal event featured compelling testimony - the first ever - of 12 women from Burma who have suffered rape, torture, and other crimes at the hands of the military junta.  The event highlighted the egregious human rights crimes, including rape as a weapon of war, and called for policymakers to demand a last resort: the International Criminal Court.

On Thursday December 31st 2009 the people of Gaza remembered the beginning of Operation Cast Lead - the 22 day assault during which 1400 people were killed and some 5000 injured by the Israeli military. The crimes against humanity and war crimes perpetrated by the Israeli government are remembered not only by the people of Gaza and by Palestine, but by millions around the world who were shocked and disgusted by this act of barbarity.

December 3, 2009

-- For Immediate Release --

Nobel Laureates Wangari Maathai, Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire, Rigoberta Menchu Tum and Betty Williams

World leaders will shortly gather in Copenhagen to negotiate a post-Kyoto 'climate deal'. Except for cynics who say otherwise, a binding agreement is possible. It's essential for the small-scale woman farmer in Africa, whose children are hungry and whose family has lived through yet another severe drought; the Inuit communities in Canada, who are watching the Arctic ice cap melt and their livelihoods disappear; the people of the Maldives, who are facing rising seas that could engulf much of their country by 2050; and families in California, Spain or Portugal, who are challenged by erratic and destructive wildfires.

In Copenhagen, negotiators have the opportunity to craft a fair, ambitious and legally binding deal.

Read the full text of the statement.      Watch the video.

November 24, 2009

--For Immediate Release--

More than 175 human rights and feminist leaders--including three Nobel Peace Prize winners and leaders of national and international women's organizations-- sent an Open Letter to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton today, urging her to condemn widespread violations of women's human rights in Honduras.  Read the full text of the letter.

Release political prisoners in Burma: Nobel Peace Laureates call for ‘real change’ in lead up to elections

--New Delhi, India, October 29, 2009.

Nobel Peace Laureates—Jody Williams (USA) and Mairead Maguire (Northern Ireland)—today called for governments in the region to use the upcoming elections in Burma to push the military junta of Burma harder on democratic rights.

"The Burmese in exile—like the Tibetans in exile—are building real democracy," said Jody Williams, who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her efforts to ban landmines. "The people of Burma, who have suffered for so long, deserve nothing less."

"A world in which nuclear weapons are eliminated... is possible."

--Ottawa, September 24, 2009

In the wake of US President Obama's call at the UN Security Council for great commitment by nations towards disarmament and non-proliferation of nuclear weapons a group of 17 Nobel Laureates today issued a call for the abolition of nuclear weapons.

The group—which includes Archbishop Desmond Tutu, His Holiness The Dalai Lama, F.W. de Klerk, Shirin Ebadi, Jody Williams, Mairead Maguire and John Hume—is calling for a comprehensive international ban on nuclear weapons.