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