wfn.org | Peace Prize Forum on March 9-10 Focuses on Humanitarian Aid

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ELCA NEWS SERVICE

January 12, 2001

PEACE PRIZE FORUM ON MARCH 9-10 FOCUSES ON HUMANITARIAN AID
01-009-MR

     CHICAGO (ELCA) -- Kerry Kennedy Cuomo and Dr. Morten Rostrup
will address the 13th annual Peace Prize Forum, "Striving for Peace:
Crossing Borders, Challenging Boundaries," March 9-10 at Luther
College, Decorah, Iowa.  Luther is one of 28 colleges and
universities of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
     Students attending the Peace Prize Forum will examine issues
related to providing humanitarian aid in nation-states where
governments may not honor international humanitarian law and respect
the rights of people in need.  They will also consider topics on
religion and peace.
     Cuomo, founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights
in 1988, will address the forum on March 9.  The center provides a
base for supporting human rights defenders; uncovers and publicizes
abuses such as torture, disappearances and repression of free speech;
and works to encourage Congress to highlight human rights in foreign
policy.  Cuomo also serves as a board member for the Robert F.
Kennedy Memorial, a non-profit organization designed to address
social justice problems in the spirit of her late father.
      Rostrup is international president for Medecins Sans
Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an organization that works
to provide support and emergency medical aid to victims of armed
conflict, epidemics and survivors of natural disasters.  The
organization, founded in 1971, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in
1999 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Oslo, Norway.  The committee
honored MSF for its "effective and timely humanitarian aid delivery"
and "because of its clear and unwavering human rights advocacy."
     MSF also provides resources and support to people without
health care due to social and/or geographic marginalization.
     Rostrup is a medical doctor at Ulleval University Hospital,
Oslo.  In 1996, he was the founding president of MSF, and in 1998 he
assumed the vice presidency of the International Council of MSF.  He
became president of MSF in December 2000.
     Rostrup has assisted victims of famine in south Sudan, victims
of a cholera epidemic in Tanzania, and refugees in Rwanda and Zaire.
He also served in Angola, Kosovo, Liberia and Peru.
     Other forum speakers include Musimbi Kanyoro, general
secretary, World YWCA, Geneva, Switzerland; J. Brian Atwood,
president, Citizens International, and executive vice president of
Citizens Energy Cooperation, Boston; Dr. Geir Lundestad, director of
the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, and secretary, Norwegian Nobel
Committee; and the Honorable Tom Vraalsen, ambassador of Norway to
the United States.
     In addition to plenary sessions, the Peace Prize Forum will
feature 30 one-hour workshops on a variety of topics designed to
address the conference theme and Lutheran responses to a "suffering
world."
     Other highlights of the forum include an ethnic arts festival,
a peace fair exhibiting peacemaking organizations from around the
world, and conversation sessions with the forum's keynote speakers.
     The site of the forum rotates annually among five Midwestern
colleges of the ELCA with Norwegian heritage: Augsburg College,
Minneapolis; Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.; Concordia College,
Moorhead, Minn.; Luther; and St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
     Held in cooperation with the Norwegian Nobel Institute, this
series of forums was created to offer an opportunity for Nobel Peace
Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars, young people and the general
public to come together in expression of their personal commitment to
peace.
¯--
     Editors: Current information on the Peace Prize Forum is
available at http://www.peaceprizeforum.org/ on the Web.

For information contact:
John Brooks, Director (773) 380-2958 or NEWS@ELCA.ORG
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