Betty Williams Biography

Betty Williams (born 22 May 1943) was a co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work as a cofounder of Community of Peace People, an organisation dedicated to promoting a peaceful resolution to The Troubles in Northern Ireland.

She heads the Global Children’s Foundation and is President of the World Centers of Compassion for Children International. She is also the Chair of Institute for Asian Democracy in Washington D.C. and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Nova Southeastern University. In 2006, Williams was one of the founders of the Nobel Women’s Initiative along with sister Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Jody Williams and Rigoberta Menchu Tum.

• Nobel Peace Prize

First Declaration Of The Peace People

* We have a simple message to the world from this movement for Peace.

* We want to live and love and build a just and peaceful society.

* We want for our children, as we want for ourselves, our lives at home, at work, and at play to be lives of joy and Peace.

* We recognize that to build such a society demands dedication, hard work, and courage.

* We recognize that there are many problems in our society which are a source of conflict and violence.

* We recognize that every bullet fired and every exploding bomb make that work more difficult.

* We reject the use of the bomb and the bullet and all the techniques of violence.

* We dedicate ourselves to working with our neighbours, near and far, day in and day out, to build that peaceful society in which the tragedies we have known are a bad memory and a continuing warning