Jody Williams

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Jody Williams (2010)

Jody Williams (born October 9, 1950 in Brattleboro , Vermont ) is an American teacher and human rights activist. In 1997 she received the Nobel Peace Prize for her work together with the International Campaign for the Ban on Landmines , of which she is the spokesperson .

life and work

Williams studied English and Spanish. She then graduated from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington with a Masters Degree in International Relations in 1984 and subsequently taught English in Mexico , London and Washington.

She began her humanitarian work from 1984 to 1986 as the coordinator of the “Nicaragua-Honduras teaching program”, in which American decision-makers in politics and business were informed about the consequences of the civil war in Central America. Then she became Vice Director of "Medical Aid for El Salvador". This post she held until 1992 when she, the coordinator of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines ( International Campaign to Ban Landmines was ICBL). In 1991 she developed a concept for this organization as part of the Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation , which she joined in 1991.

Jody Williams' greatest success came when she was able to achieve in the Ottawa Treaty in September 1997 that landmines should be banned (some countries, including the USA, have not signed the treaty). She convinced the politicians and various organizations that it is also economically necessary to ban landmines in order to no longer have to bear the costs of medical care for victims in the long term and thus to save millions of US dollars. Canadian Foreign Minister Lloyd Axworthy suggested drawing up this treaty, which all nations should sign. On December 3, 1997, the landmine ban was confirmed by a treaty in Ottawa by 122 nations.

The organization and its spokeswoman were awarded the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for the Treaty of Ottawa. As an umbrella organization, the international campaign for the ban on landmines already comprised 1,000 organizations and action groups from over 60 nations this year. Jody Williams continues her work and is currently working, for example, as a helper on the organization's landmine map.

literature

  • Bernhard Kupfer: Lexicon of Nobel Prize Winners , Patmos Verlag, Düsseldorf 2001

Web links

Commons : Jody Williams  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Williams, Jody
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American teacher and human rights activist, Nobel Prize winner
DATE OF BIRTH October 9, 1950
PLACE OF BIRTH Brattleboro , Vermont