Zafar Shayan
Betty Williams is an Irish peace activist, co-founder of Compute of Peace People, and the co-winner of the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize. She was born in 1943 in Northern Ireland. After completing her high school education, she stared working as an office receptionist. She had experienced religious tolerance with his Protestant father and Catholic mother from childhood.
Williams took part in anti-violence protests in early 1970s, which inspired her to form her own peace movement. In 1982, she moved to the United States and began lecturing on various issues related to peace, education, children's rights, and so on. As a result, in 1984, she received the Eleanor Roosevelt Award from the International Platform Association, and she was named as the Speaker of the Year.
Williams also has taught history and political sciences as a visiting professor at Sam Houston State University in Texas. In 1993, she traveled to Thailand as a member of the Nobel peace laureate to protest against the detention of Aung San Suu Kyi. Currently, she leads the Global Children Foundation and also serves as the president of world Center of Compassion for Children International.
Williams’ child support and peace activities began when he witnessed a car accident in 1976, in which three children were killed. The driver of the car was shot to death by British troops and the car went out of control and killed the children. In the following days, she collected six thousand signatures for peace that gained media attention. She organized a peace march in which ten thousand protestant and catholic women took part and the gathering was violently suppressed by the Irish army. Later she led another march in which 35 thousand people had participated. Along with Ciaran McKeown, she established The Community for Peace People.
Due to her efforts for peace, she was awarded the 1977 Nobel Peace Prize jointly with her friend, Mairead Corrigan. She has also been received the People’s Peace Prize of Norway, the Schweitzer Medallion for Courage, the Martin Luther King Jr. Award, the Eleanor Roosevelt Award and the Fran Foundation Child Care International Oliver Award.
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The Nobel Prize: www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1976/williams/biographical
Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Betty_Williams_(Nobel_laureate)