“Militarists say that to gain peace we must prepare for war. I think we get what we prepare for. If we want a world where peace is valued, we must teach ourselves to believe that peace is not a ‘utopian vision’ but a real responsibility that must be worked for each and every day in small and large ways. Any one of us can contribute to building a world where peace and justice prevail.”
In 1992, Jody Williams founded and coordinated the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL). Originally backed by six non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the campaign grew to represent more than thirteen hundred NGOs in over eighty-five countries. During the first five years, Williams was the ICBL´s chief organizer, strategist, and spokesperson, coordinating with other governments, the United Nations, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. In 1997, the campaign achieved its goal: an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines, and Jody Williams was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – the third American woman to receive this honor.
Addressing the Mine Ban Treaty-signing conference in Ottawa, Canada, Williams said: “It wasn’t until the voice of civil society was raised to such a high degree that governments began to listen, that change began to move the world, with lightning and unexpected speed.”
Williams trained to be a “voice of civil society” both in formal studies and as an activist working to build public awareness about U.S. policy in Central America. She graduated from the University of Vermont and received a master’s degree in teaching Spanish and English as a Second Language (ESL) from the School for International Training in Brattleboro, Vermont. She earned a second master’s degree in international relations at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. For six years she worked on humanitarian relief projects for El Salvador. She coordinated the Nicaragua-Honduras Education Project, which involved leading fact-finding delegations in the region. She has also taught ESL in Mexico, the United Kingdom and Washington, D.C.
Since her receipt of the Nobel for her work with ICBL, Williams has continued her mission of creating a more peaceful world. She works with other Nobel laureates for the organization PeaceJam “to inspire a new generation of peacemakers who will transform their local communities, themselves, and the world.”
Since 2006, Williams has worked with the Nobel Women’s Initiative, harnessing the laureates’ influence “to promote the work of women working for peace, justice and equality.” In 2019, in support of the Every Woman Coalition, she called for a treaty to end violence against women, and in 2020, she called upon Chevron to pay cleanup costs to the residents of the Lago Agrio oil field in Ecuador. She also continues to be a “campaign ambassador” for the ICBL.
Williams is the Sam and Cele Keeper Endowed Professor in Peace and Social Justice in the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston, where she began teaching in 2003. She has received fifteen honorary degrees and other public recognitions and is the author of many essays and book contributions. She released her memoir in 2013: My Name Is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize.
Described as lifelong advocate of freedom, self-determination, and human and civil rights, Williams is quick to remind us that “[w]e must teach ourselves to believe that peace is not a ‘utopian vision’ but a responsibility that must be worked for each and every day.”
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