We, the undersigned Nobel Peace Laureates gathered for the centennial of the Nobel Prizes, express our joy at this year’s award to the United Nations and its Secretary General, Kofi Annan.

We hope that our message of peace and justice will reach the hearts and minds of those in and out of government who have the power to make a better world.

We look forward to a world in which we the peoples, working in cooperation with governments, with full respect for international law, will enable the UN to fulfil its mission to save this and succeeding generations from the scourge of war.

We call for the prompt establishment of the International Criminal Court and full implementation of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, including economic, social, and cultural as well as civil and political rights.

We offer our support for the unrelenting, patient, and non-violent pursuit of peace wherever conflicts may rage today or tomorrow, such as the Middle East, Colombia, or the Great Lakes of Africa.

We commit ourselves to work for the elimination of all weapons of mass destruction and the reduction and control of small arms and other conventional weapons.

We call on the human family to address the root causes of violence and build a culture of peace and hope. We know that another world is possible, a world of justice and peace. Together we can make it a reality.

Oslo, December 10, 2001

Signed by:

Institute of International Law
1904

International Peace Bureau
Cora Weiss
1910

American Friends Service Committee
Mary Ellen McNish
1947

Norman E. Borlaug
1970

Máiread Corrigan Maguire
1976

Amnesty International
Colm Ó Cuanacháin
1977

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel
1980

Lech Walesa
1983

Desmond Tutu
1984

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
Bernard Lown
1985

Elie Wiesel
1986

Oscar Arias
1987

Rigoberta Menchu Tum
1992

Joseph Rotblat
1995

José Ramos-Horta
1996

Jody Williams
1997

International Campaign to Ban Landmines
Jerry White 1997

John Hume
1998