USD's Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice Congratulations 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winners

The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace & Justice (IPJ) at the University of San Diego congratulates the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize Winners Leymah Gbowee and Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia and Tawakul Karman of Yemen. 

Gbowee and her colleague Vaiba Kebeh Flomo, a participant in the IPJ’s Women PeaceMakers Program last year, were featured in the documentary “Pray the Devil Back to Hell.” Gbowee herself spoke at a previous IPJ conference after a screening of the film, offering insight into her role in the Liberian peace process. 

The recognition of these three outstanding women by the Nobel Committee is an acknowledgment of the continued need for implementation of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1325, a key focus of the IPJ for the last decade. As stated in the prize announcement today in Oslo, “In October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325. … It underlined the need for women to become participants on an equal footing with men in peace processes and in peace work in general.”

The institute is currently hosting the international forum “Women, Media, Revolution,” which brings together journalists, filmmakers and social media activists to examine how women in conflict are using their voices in a revolution against ongoing political and cultural violence. The participants include Prue Clarke, an Edward R. Murrow award-winning journalist who founded New Narratives, a project training women journalists in Liberia, and has an article in last week’s Newsweek magazine on President Sirleaf. 

About the University of San Diego

The University of San Diego sets the standard for an engaged, contemporary Catholic university where innovative Changemakers confront humanity’s urgent challenges. With more than 9,000 students from 69 countries and 50 states, USD is the youngest independent institution on the U.S. News & World Report list of top 100 universities in the United States. The university's eight academic divisions include the College of Arts and Sciences, the School of Business, the Shiley-Marcos School of Engineering, the School of Law, the School of Leadership and Education Sciences, the Hahn School of Nursing and Health Science, the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies, and the Division of Professional and Continuing Education. USD's Envisioning 2024 strategic plan capitalizes on the university’s recent progress and aligns new strategic goals with current strengths to help shape a vision for the future as the university looks ahead to its 75th anniversary in the year 2024.