If you’re interested in learning more about Jody Williams, here’s some biography info from PeaceJam’s website.
Jody Williams, the 1997 co-recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, was born in Vermont in 1950. She learned to abhor injustice at an early age from fellow school children, who ruthlessly picked on her brother who was deaf and suffered from schizophrenia. Like many teenagers of her generation, she also developed an aversion to the war being waged in Vietnam. After attending the University of Vermont, she earned a master’s degree in teaching Spanish and English as a Second Language 1976. She then taught ESL in Mexico for two years. In 1984 she earned a master’s degree in international relations from Johns Hopkins University.
Concerned by a leaflet she received on the street one day, Williams attended a meeting to learn more about US involvement in a civil war in El Salvador. Because it seemed to her another misguided US intervention, like in Vietnam, she became passionately involved in work to stop this intervention. Transforming that passion into a career, she worked for two years leading delegations to Central America as coordinator of the Nicaragua-Honduras Education Project. She also served as the deputy director of Medical Aid for El Salvador, developing humanitarian relief projects. With the end of the Cold War, Williams began to consider another advocacy role. In a happy coincidence the president of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation called Williams to see if she was interested in coordinating a new initiative to ban landmines worldwide.
In October 1992, the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) was formally launched. It issued a “Joint Call to Ban Anti- Personnel Landmines” that included putting an end to their use, production, trade, and stockpiling. They also urged governments to increase their financial resources for humanitarian mine clearance and for victim assistance. In little more than five years, Jody Williams and the ICBL achieved their goal of raising public awareness about landmines and effecting a landmine ban. In recognition for their efforts, the Norwegian Nobel Committee named Williams and the ICBL as co-recipients of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. To date, more than 156 countries have signed the landmine ban treaty. While she no longer serves as the coordinator of the ICBL, Williams serves as its international ambassador. Recently, Williams was the head of the United Nations High-Level Mission of the Human Rights Council to report on the situation of human rights in Darfur.
Currently, Jody Williams is also spearheading the Nobel Women’s Initiative. The Nobel Women’s Initiative was established by the six living women Nobel Peace Laureates in 2006. They have decided to bring together their extraordinary experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality.
