The Norwegian Nobel Committee’s announcement emphasized “In the poor countries of the world, 60% of the present population is under 25 years of age. It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected. In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation.”

The Norwegian Nobel Committee commended the great personal courage of both laureates and “regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism.”

In the spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize and its laureates, the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum will bring together Nobel Laureates and leaders of courage and peace, and provide a space for transformative dialogue. Delegates and participants wishing to attend the event will be able to reserve tickets on the Nobel Peace Prize Forum website on January 5, 2015.

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Serendipitously, this photo captures another Nobel Laureate as well. The round brick building in the background is home to the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Unlike Mandela who now rests from his labors, the OPCW does not. Today’s queue of dignitaries and office workers moving through OPCW security is testimony to the activity within its walls.

As those of us participating in the OPCW conference wait our turn, there is time for reflection. Since the OPCW won the Peace Prize a year ago, its mission to eradicate chemical weapons has made great strides. Only six countries (Egypt, Israel, South Sudan, Angola, Myanmar, and North Korea) still stand outside the boundaries of the international chemical weapons convention. On a drearier note, the challenge to prevent the use of these weapons by rogue elements looms larger, especially with the rise of ISIL in the very region where chemical weapons were unleashed as recently as last year.

With these goals of eradication and prevention in mind, OPCW’s original mandate was more recently expanded to include public outreach and education about chemical weapons. It’s not far-fetched to imagine that an energized global populace might be a powerful means of pressuring remaining states to sign the convention. It might also be a means of making the use of chemical weapons unacceptable in the eyes of non-state actors who care not at all for formal international treaties or entreaties.

That, of course, is the purpose of this OPCW conference called “Education and Peace.” Officials from the nearby city of Ieper/Ypres, Belgium (which suffered the first use of chemical weapons a century ago), give powerful voice to the promise and the possibilities. Educators from Algeria, museum staff from Iran, chemical engineers from Costa Rica, government officials from Argentina, and Nobel Peace Center staff from Norway all convene to explore a new and vigorous approach to education. Who is the audience? What are the messages and the media to be employed? Which human faces today will galvanize popular sentiment and make the inhumanity of chemical weapons emotionally tangible, even as Mandela became the human face renouncing apartheid’s inhumanity?

The OPCW’s specific intent is to use the visibility of its Nobel Peace Prize and the 100th anniversary of the first use of chemical weapons as opportunities to permanently free the globe from chemical weapons. With the OPCW Director General giving a Laureate address at the March 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Forum, the Forum’s attendees will be participants in the ongoing discussion of these questions. Nelson Mandela, walking just down the street with his eyes fixed on the future, would approve.

Former Executive Director Maureen Reed writes from The Hague, where she was participating this week in the OPCW’s conference on Education and Peace.

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It ranks as an impressive testimony to international cooperation, scientific know-how, logistical expertise, and “ordinary heroism.” As one of the few “good news” stories of the day, it was barely a footnote to yesterday’s “bad and getting badder” headlines. When Syrian chemicals killed and sickened hundreds just a year ago, it would have been considered laughably unlikely. And any talk of it being completed ahead of schedule would have been rightfully ridiculed. What is it? 

Of course, the notable event is the destruction at sea of all existing Syrian chemical weapons. 

A lot has happened for the better in the past year. After unleashing the toxins on civilians last July, Syria admitted that chemical weapons existed and had been used. In subsequently signing and ratifying the Chemical Weapons Convention under intense international pressure last fall, Syria allowed the Organisation for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons to oversee events that culminated in yesterday’s good news. Despite the harrowing challenges of transporting Category 1 chemicals across bloody, conflict-ridden territory, the OPCW loaded them without incident onboard a Danish ship, which then sailed half way across the Mediterranean to an Italian port.

In Italy the cargo was transferred to the U.S.-owned container ship Cape Ray. Outfitted with technology which could safely destroy its hazardous cargo of sarin precursors and mustard gas, the Cape Ray retired to international waters to carry out its duties. Now neutralized but still considered hazardous, the residual chemicals will be sent for disposal in Finland and Germany.

Although it is rather easy to name the countries and agencies involved in this complex feat, it is not easy to estimate the number of human hands which have contributed to the successful outcome. Many of those hands belong to ordinary dock workers, data analysts, sailors, technicians, and inspectors who likely do not consider themselves heroes. If asked about their work, like heroes everywhere they probably would shrug their shoulders and say they were simply doing their job.

There remains another riddle. Of the six countries (Angola, Egypt, Israel, Myanmar, North Korea, and South Sudan) who remain outsiders to the world’s commitment to eliminate these indiscriminate weapons, which will be the next country to step forward? The OPCW is not alone in recognizing that bringing pressure to bear on these six will require ordinary citizens to vigorously voice their abhorrence regarding the production, storage and use of chemical weapons. That act doesn’t sound like heroism either, but it is.

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Smooth transitions are important in the life of every organization, and the recent announcement by the Norwegian Nobel Institute regarding its new Director Olav Njølstad is a case in point.  In the same vein, we at the Nobel Peace Prize Forum have an announcement of our own.  After thoughtful consideration, I have concluded that it is time for me to hand the reins of the Forum over to its next leader. 

In early 2011, I was deeply honored to become the Executive Director of the Forum as it was entering a new phase of its life.  At that time I knew that the Forum’s mission – to inspire peacemaking by celebrating the work of Nobel Peace Prize winners – was both worthy and necessary.  The world feels woefully short of inspiration.  People of all ages yearn for the opportunity to reflect on these luminaries called Nobel Laureates, to see their own lives in a new light, and to pursue new paths.

As my initial two year commitment to the Forum stretched into a fourth year, it became time to take a deep breath.  I find it deeply satisfying that the Forum’s growth and impact have been so substantial.  Yet — and this is the beauty of a robust vision in the service of a great mission — the Forum has in no way reached its full potential.  There are programmatic enhancements, academic partnerships, community relationships, and virtual expansions that promise even greater mission success in the future. 

The search for a talented, visionary, passionate new leader who will capitalize on those possibilities and build on the Forum’s success is now underway.  Should you know of someone who would be a great fit for this position, please do let us know. 

In September I will wrap up my work at the Forum, warmly welcome the new Executive Director, and then act upon a deferred dream of conducting historical research in Northern Ireland.  The future will unfold in unpredictable ways thereafter, and I am eager to see what professional challenges it holds.  It will be a pleasure to sit in the audience at the 2015 Forum and become a recipient of the life-changing inspiration that Nobel Laureates bring to us all. 

Warmly,

Maureen

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The Norwegian Nobel Institute has just announced that Olav Njølstad will be taking over as Director of the Institute when Dr. Geir Lundestad retires at the end of 2014. 

Njølstad is coming from a professor position at the University of Oslo and has previously worked as the Director of Research at the Norwegian Nobel Institute.

He will be taking over the reins on January 1st and will also serve as Secretary for the Norwegian Nobel Committee – the group that selects the Peace Prize winners. 

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The OPCW has created a documentary film series called Fires that focuses on war and peacemaking, showing stories of humans connected with the first type of weapons of mass destruction: chemical weapons.

Learn more about the OPCW and Fires, and watch the films here: http://www.thefiresproject.com/

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“BEIRUT — With its latest deadline days away, Syria is close to eliminating its stockpile of chemical weapons, monitors said Tuesday, an improbable accomplishment in the midst of civil war that is likely to diminish further the possibility of international intervention.

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We will be live streaming His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama’s speech at 9:40 am (cst) on the Nobel Peace Prize Forum’s Google Plus page: http://bit.ly/1fybyP7 

Additionally, we will be streaming the following breakout sessions today:

“The World’s Flashpoints: Crossing Religious and Ethnic Divides” with Steinar Bryn at 12:00 pm (cst) and “Forgiveness 360: A Multi-Faith Strategy for Peace” with Rev. Dean Seal at 12:00 pm (cst)

Be sure to follow us on Twitter @nppf and like our Facebook page for all updates on the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Forum. Click here for the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Forum program: http://bit.ly/1dAe7jR

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“This morning, along with 15 others from the long-standing group, People of Faith Peacemakers (POFP), I was privileged to hear Forum Director Maureen Reed take us through this years Forum agenda, which includes four Nobel Peace Prize Laureates who will be in attendance. Together we spent a rich hour of discussion about the Peace Prize.”

Read the entire post on Mr. Bernard’s personal blog: http://www.outsidethewalls.org/blog/2014/01/22/

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We learned recently of the sad passing of Michael M. Roan on January 8 of natural causes.  Michael was one of the people responsible for the Forum coming into existence.  It was 26 years ago that on a trip to Norway, he visited  his cousin Jakob Sverdrup, who was then Executive Secretary for the Norwegian Nobel Institute.  Among other things, they discussed the possibility of a collaboration between the Institute and a peacemaking event in the U.S.

On his return, Michael explored various possibilities for such an event with Bishop David W. Preus of the American Lutheran Church.  As a result, the Presidents of U.S. colleges founded by Norwegian immigrants (Augsburg, Augustana-Sioux Falls, Concordia-Moorhead, Luther, St. Olaf and Pacific Lutheran University) were asked if they would sponsor a Nobel Peace Prize Forum.  Their positive response, together with the very important founding leadership of former U.S. Vice President Walter Mondale and former Minnesota Governor Al Quie, resulted  in the inaugural Nobel Peace Prize Forum in 1989.  Just six years later, along with Lynn Elling and World Citizen Inc., Michael was a driving force in the creation of a related Festival for youth.

This was not all.  In 1986 Michael had been instrumental in founding  and providing executive leadership for the Tandem Project, whose goal was to eliminate all forms of intolerance and discrimination based on religion or belief.  As Director of the Tandem Project, Michael spent much of his time in New York working tirelessly for implementation of U.N. Declarations aimed at ending intolerance and supporting peace among nations and peoples.

Michael was a creative and persistent individual.  He wore his convictions on his sleeve and poured his seemingly endless energy into them.  His passion for peace, his passion for religious freedom, and his passion for Norway were some of the causes that fueled his inner fire. 

Michael provided invaluable service as an adviser to the Festival and as an untitled executive secretary during the early years of the Nobel Peace Prize Forum.  Subsequently he kept in close touch with us, always willing to lend advice, support and ideas.  If a measure of one’s life is the contribution to the common good, Mike set an example for all of us.  He will be missed.

Messages of condolence may be placed on this website as a reply to this blog or at http://www.legacy.com/guestbooks/startribune/guestbook.aspx?n=michael-roan&pid=169041071&cid=full#sthash.2lZDghMy.dpbs

(Posted by David Preus & Maureen Reed)         

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