April 9, 2012

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CHICAGO—The Chicago World Summit Host Committee today announced that Nobel Peace Laureates will kick off the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates by visiting 17 Chicago public high schools on the morning of April 23, the opening day of the three-day summit. Individual laureates and top representatives from laureate organizations will engage students on the issues of peace and human rights around the world. 

Joining the laureates on the school visits will be 16 students and four teachers from conflict regions including Timor Leste, Liberia, Yemen and Bangladesh. The students will visit the U.S. for three weeks this spring, including full participation in the Summit. The Youth Exchange is being organized by the U.S. State Department’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs. Secretary Clinton provided a special video message about the State Department’s youth initiatives surrounding the 12th World Summit. Click here to view the video.

“Our students come from every nation, ethnicity, and background,” said Mayor Emanuel, honorary co-chair of the 12th World Summit Host Committee. “I am honored that Nobel Peace Prize winners will visit 17 of Chicago’s public schools to discuss their crusade for human rights and peace giving our students an experience that will both inspire them and give them something to aspire to.”  

“Hosting the Nobel Peace Laureates in our schools is a tremendous honor for this District, as well as an amazing opportunity for our students,” said Chicago Public Schools CEO Jean-Claude Brizard. “I want to thank the Summit leaders and the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights for their continuous support of our schools and the academic success of our students. Discussing the issues surrounding peace and human rights is critical to the world we live in right now and it is vital for our students to be a part of the global discussion.”

Laureates will each visit one Chicago public high school, with the exception of some circumstances where two laureates or laureate organizations will attend one school together. Many of the schools receiving laureates have been studying a special human rights curriculum, Speak Truth To Power, that uses the experiences of courageous defenders, including Nobel Peace Laureates, to educate students about human rights. Speak Truth To Power was developed by the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights.

Schools participating in the laureate visits include:

• Amundsen High School
• Benito Juarez Community Academy
• The Chicago Academy
• DeVry Advantage Academy High School
• Frederick Von Stueben Metropolitan Science Center
• Gage Park High School
• Hancock High School
• Infinity Math, Science and Technology High School
• Lincoln Park High School
• Lindblom Math and Science Academy
• Morgan Park High School
• Phoenix Military Academy
• Prosser Career Academy
• Robert Clemente Community Academy
• Theodore Roosevelt High School
• Walter Payton College Prep
• Whitney M. Young Magnet High School

Individual Nobel Peace Laureates currently confirmed to participate in school visits:

• Mrs. Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Northern Ireland (1976)              
• President Lech Wałęsa, Poland (1983)
• President Óscar Arias, Costa Rica (1987)                                            
• President Mikhail Gorbachev, Russia (1990)
• President Frederik Willem de Klerk, South Africa (1993)
• Professor Jody Williams, United States (1997)
• Dr. Shirin Ebadi, Iran (2003)                      
• Professor Muhammad Yunus, Bangladesh (2006)
• Ms. Tawakkol Karman, Yemen (2011)     

Nobel Peace Laureate Organizations currently confirmed to participate in school visits:

• International Peace Bureau (1910)
• American Friends Service Committee (1947)
• United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1954)
• International Committee of the Red Cross (1963)
• Amnesty International (1977)
• International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985)
• PUGWASH Conferences (1995)
• International Campaign to Ban Landmines (1997)
• Médecins Sans Frontières (1999)
• United Nations/Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2001)
• Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007)

The World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates is internationally recognized as among the most important annual events in the field of peacemaking, attracting Nobel Peace Laureates and high-profile leaders and organizations from around the globe. The Summit is organized by the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates on a yearly basis in partnership with a host city.

The World Summit is chaired by the former Soviet President and Nobel Peace Laureate Mikhail Gorbachev and co-chaired by former Mayor of Rome, Hon. Walter Veltroni. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will serve as the Summit’s Honorary Co-Chair. The Chicago Host Committee is co-chaired by Illinois Governor Pat Quinn; Chris Kennedy, chairman of Joseph P. Kennedy Enterprises; Kerry Kennedy, president of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights; Terry Mazany, president and CEO of The Chicago Community Trust; and Michael Sacks, CEO of Grosvenor Capital Management and vice chairman of World Business Chicago.

For more information on the 12th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, please visit www.nobelsummitchicago.org. Follow the Summit on Twitter at @nobelforpeace and on Facebook at facebook.com/nobelforpeace.

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The Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates together with the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice and Human Rights, The Chicago Community Trust, John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, City of Chicago and World Business Chicago are collaborating to organize the 12th World Summit. Sponsors include: Grosvenor Capital Management, L.P.; Jeep®; Coventry; Vista Equity Partners; Bank of America; Clear Channel Airports; BMO Harris Bank; DePaul University; Harris Associates L.P.; JW Marriott Chicago; Robert R. McCormick Foundation; Scholastic; Spencer Foundation; Wendy and Jim Abrams; The Joyce Foundation; Liz and Eric Lefkofsky; University of Illinois at Chicago; Cristian and Jonah Goodhart; ASCA; Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center and 1871; State of Illinois, Office of Tourism; The Field Museum; the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and the Art Institute of Chicago.

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Source: City of Chicago