Accra, June 20, GNA - Ms Betty Williams is expected in Ghana on Tuesday night ahead of this year’s PeaceJam Ghana youth leadership conference scheduled to take place at the University of Ghana, Legon Campus on June 24 and 25.
A statement signed by Wisdom Addo, the Executive Director the of the West Africa Centre for Peace Foundation(WACPF), the official chapter of PeaceJam in Ghana, and copied to the Ghana News Agency said it will host Nobel Peace laureate Betty Williams during her stay in the country.
During the conference, the youth (Peace Jammers) drawn from some Junior and Senior High schools in Greater Accra, Eastern and Western Regions with the help of some adult mentors would study the life and work of the Nobel Peace Laureate,
They would also learn about issues such as violence and intolerance facing young people today, and develop and implement service projects designed to address problems in their communities.
The statement said, “Aside the Noble Peace Laureate speaking at the event, participants (Peace Jammers) of the conference together with their adult mentors and teachers would join the campaign against illegal mining and mob violence by way of a float in some parts of Accra.
According to the statement, Mr Addo said PeaceJam – a float was about peace and development hence, it would be a neglect of responsibility by the foundation if it did not support the call against illegal mining and mob violence, which he described as a bane to human and national development.
“The WACPF and the PeaceJam Foundation has its core mandate of getting young people to learn about peace building, community service and human development and if this canker exists with us and we do not do anything about it, then indeed we are being irresponsible,” he said.
The statement noted: “PeaceJam is an international education programme built around peace prize laureates who work with the youth to help pass on the spirit, skills and wisdom they embody.
The programme sparks commitment to justice and peace, social responsibility, academic excellence and other values that seeks to inspire young people and make them transformational leaders who will cherish changing themselves and society for the better
Ms Williams, born on May 22, 1943 at Belfast, Northern Ireland is a co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work as a co-founder of Community of Peace People,
She heads the Global Children's Foundation and is the President of the World Centre of Compassion for Children International. The WCCC is building their first ‘City of Compassion’ in southern Italy.
This city will be a safe haven for children who are mostly at risk to the horrors of war, hunger, disease and abuse.
Ms Williams has been a member of PeaceJam since 1996 and is also the Chair of Institute for Asian Democracy in Washington D.C. and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Nova Southeastern University. Ms lectures widely on topics of peace, education, inter-cultural and inter-faith understanding, anti-extremism, and children's rights.
Aside the Nobel Peace Prize, Betty Williams has won awards such as the People's Peace Prize of Norway in 1976, the Schweitzer Medallion for Courage, the Martin Luther King, Jr. Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award in 1984, and the Frank Foundation Child Care International Oliver Award.
In 1995, she was awarded the Rotary Club International "Paul Harris Fellowship: and the Together for Peace Building Award,” the statement added.
GNA
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