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Peace Prize winners: How to best right wrongs
Nobel Peace Prize laureates gather to discuss global peace with CNN's Jonathan Mann.
(CNN) -- Two dozen former Nobel Peace Prize laureates met in Oslo, Norway, to discuss with much candor, and sometimes disagreement, the best way to resolve the world's most intractable and difficult conflicts and injustices.
In a live broadcast during the Nobel awards ceremony, the world's top experts at peacemaking reviewed accomplishments and failures with CNN's Jonathan Mann during a 90-minute session titled "In the pursuit of peace."
Some laureates said borders and differences should be pushed aside for the higher aim of peace -- a mission in which violence is not a part of negotiation.
Others believed violent intervention was sometimes necessary to decisively end injustice. These laureates pointed to Nazi genocide in World War II, ethnic cleansing in Kosovo in 1999 and the Taliban treatment of the Afghan people as crimes against humanity that could only be stopped by military intervention.
Jody Williams, who won the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for her work with the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, disagreed with military intervention.
"We have dedicated our lives, our work, to dealing with a different way of dealing with conflict," she said, speaking about the recent U.S. military action in Afghanistan. "Perhaps in this moment of apparent victory, people are emboldened to believe that violence is an appropriate response to terrorism. I fear that in the long run, that will not be the case."
But Jose Ramos Horta said sometimes military action is necessary. Referring to his country's history, he asked, "How many times over the year did we want someone to intervene in East Timor to free us?" If someone had not intervened, he said, "We would still be enslaved. And if the United States had not been drawn into World War II, the Jews would have been all killed."
"I would have supported intervention in Cambodia in the 1970s against the Khmer Rouge," he said. "It's easy to say they should not intervene, but then what?"
Williams' organization supports an international ban on the use of antipersonnel land mines. Here, a man locates a land mine in Cambodia, where 40,000 people have lost limbs in explosions.
The 1996 Peace Prize winner instigated an online discussion responding to the September 11 attacks on the Web site thecommunity.com, a company that pairs corporate technology with community involvement.
Several of the laureates added comments to the page.
Eight Peace Prize laureates issued a statement asking the United States government to "refrain from military retaliation." The statement also said, "Any actions must be guided by international law and fall within the bounds of the United Nations charter."
Rigoberta Menche Tum, 1992 Peace Prize recipient, signed this declaration.
"Even in times of war, one has to be sane and one has to try dialogue," said the laureate from Guatemala, who was recognized for her work for social justice for indigenous peoples.
Plea for dialogue in Mideast
Reaching peace in the Middle East spurred similar debate.
"Peace is no easy task," said Oscar Arias Sanchez, 1987 prize winner from Costa Rica, referring to the Middle East. "Patience is required because you will not achieve results in the short run. But above all, trust is required. Trust can only be achieved by seeing each other at the same table. And I would like to appeal to both parties, (Palestinian leader Yasser) Arafat and (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon, to not be afraid of dialogue."
Sanchez, who worked to end war in Central America, plans to go to the Middle East with other laureates to aid in the peace process.
Former Foreign Minister of Israel Shimon Peres responded to this plea. "Once we arrive at a cease-fire, we can proceed straight ahead to confidence-building measures and negotiations."
"Peace is a matter of an agreement, not a matter of imposition, not a matter of a one-sided act, not a matter of power. A good neighbor is always better than the best of guns that you can acquire."
Peres, Palestinian Authority President Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, former Israeli president who was assassinated in 1995, jointly won the Nobel Peace Prize for work to create peace in the Middle East in 1994.
Rights for people, not territory
Conflict over territory is one the people of Northern Ireland know well.
John Hume, Northern Ireland political leader, agrees that dialogue is the best solution to confronting adversaries.
The Nobel committee awarded Wiesel with the 1986 Peace Prize because "his message is one of peace, atonement and human dignity."
"It's your duty to do anything in your power to solve the problem and to save human life," said the 1998 Peace Prize winner. "People have rights, not the territory," he said.
Hume lists three major points of achieving peace. "Respect differences, don't fight about it... And build institutions which respect your differences. Create the circumstances which allow both sides to work together in their common interests."
While some laureates said they strive to perfect the art of negotiation in political peace, others focus on humanity and the victims of war and violence.
'Adults make war and children perish'
Witness to the horrors of Nazi concentration camps during World War II, Elie Wiesel embraces this drive for humanity.
"I've seen violence. I've seen war," said the winner of the 1986 Peace Prize. "War means children are dying. Adults make war, and children perish."
"I must listen to the victims. The victims say, 'Don't be indifferent.'" If there had not been action in World War II, he said, "I would not be here."
"There must be a limit to silence. So, therefore, it is with some measure of agony, that I say, you can not allow terrorists to prevail."
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Related sites:
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• The official Nobel Prize web site
• The Community
• The International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL)
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