PRESS RELEASE
14TH WORLD SUMMIT OF NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES TO BE RELOCATED TO ROME
The 2014 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, earlier planned for 13th-15th October in Cape Town will be relocated to Rome.
The summit was suspended earlier in September after the South African Government failed to issue a visa for His Holiness the Dalai Lama who had hoped to attend the world peace summit in Cape Town.
Instead the 14th global peace summit will be hosted by the City of Rome, at the invitation of Mayor Ignazio Marino between December 12th to 14th.
His Holiness the Dalai Lama along with 22 other Peace Laureates have confirmed their attendance. Among these include Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Shirin Ebadi, Leymah Gbowee, Tawakkol Karman, Mrs. Mairead Maguire, President José Ramos-Horta, David Trimble, President Lech Walesa, Betty Williams.
Mazda will be the leading partner of the summit again after the successful collaboration with the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of No- bel Peace Laureates last year in Warsaw. As in the previous year, the Japanese car maker from Hiroshima will actively contribute to the sum- mit’s programme.
Rome is the city where the Summit was originally conceived. The Munici- pality has previously hosted the first 8 world summits.
The organizing committee of the summit, the Permanent Secretariat for the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, is also based in Rome.
PERMANENT SECRETARIAT OF THE WORLD SUMMIT OF NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES Tel.: +39 06 56566159 Fax: +39 06 92942573 [email protected] - www.nobelforpeace-summits.org
As planned for the South African summit, the 2014 event will be dedicated to the memory of Nelson Mandela and is entitled: “Peace Living It”.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu will officially lead the opening ceremony of Rome Summit, which will be also attended the Mayor of Cape Town Pa- tricia De Lille.
Background
The 2014 summit was due to be held in Cape Town, South Africa between October 13th to 15th but was suspended after the Peace Laureates and Laureate Institutions agreed to withhold their collective attendance in protest at the decision that a visa had not been granted to His Holiness the Dalai Lama.
On the 15th of September, 14 Peace Nobel Laureates wrote to President of South Africa Jacob Zuma urging him to grant and guarantee his holi- ness the Dalai Lama a visa to attend the summit but have yet to receive any reply or guarantees.
Background to SUMMIT;
The World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, an event globally recog- nized for its contributions to the global discourse on peacemaking and previously held in Rome, Paris, Berlin, Hiroshima, Chicago, Warsaw will be hosted once again by Rome.
**** According to Nobel Laureate, Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu, it will be an event not just in honour of President Mandela’s legacy but a call to action to those who might take on his mantle of peace and reconcilia- tion.
PERMANENT SECRETARIAT OF THE WORLD SUMMIT OF NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES Tel.: +39 06 56566159 Fax: +39 06 92942573 [email protected] - www.nobelforpeace-summits.org
****
Over the last fourteen years, the World Summits of Nobel Peace Laureates have featured participation by numerous Nobel Peace Laureate individ- uals and organizations, including: President Mikhail Gorbachev, His Holi- ness the Dalai Lama, President Shimon Peres, Professor Muhammad Yunus, President Óscar Arias Sánchez, President Lech Walesa, President José Ramos-Horta, Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Rt. Hon. Lord David Trimble, Professor John Hume, Kim Dae Yung, Jody Williams, Betty Williams, Mairead Corrigan- Maguire, Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, Professor Adolfo Pérez Esquiv- el, Dr. Rigoberta Menchù Tum, President Frederik Willem de Klerk, United Nations Children’s Fund, Pugwash Conferences, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, International Peace Bureau, American Friends Service Committee, Médecins Sans Frontières, Amnesty Interna- tional, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International La- bour Organization, International Campaign to Ban Landmines, United Na- tions, International Atomic Energy Agency, Grameen Bank and Red Cross.
The event will also see the high-profile announcement of the winner of the Peace Summit Award, which has been won by Sharon Stone, Sean Penn, Roberto Baggio, Annie Lennox, Bono, George Clooney, Don Cheadle, Pe- ter Gabriel, Sir Bob Geldoff, Cat Stevens, the Italian National Football Team and Robert Benigni.
From The Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. Navdip Dhariwal - Chief of Communications For further details please contact [email protected]
PERMANENT SECRETARIAT OF THE WORLD SUMMIT OF NOBEL PEACE LAUREATES Tel.: +39 06 56566159 Fax: +39 06 92942573 [email protected] - www.nobelforpeace-summits.org