The City Paper of Bogota
5.11.2016
Nobel Peace Laureates chose Bogotá to host 16th World Summit
The summit, which will be held from February 2 to 5, is expected to bring to Bogotá some 270 international media outlets, delegates from 150 international organizations and 20 Nobel Peace laureates, including Iranian social leader Shirin Ebadi and Yemeni activist Tawakkul Karman. It is the first time a Latin American city will host the event.
“The summit offers an opportunity to promote inclusive and participative dialogue that fosters the reflection needed to construct a reconciled society,” said Mónica de Greiff, president of Bogotá Chamber of Commerce, who campaigned for the city to host the event.
The announcement of the summit comes as Colombia’s peace process faces an uncertain future. President Juan Manuel Santos has been scrambling to revive the four-year-long peace talks with the FARC after voters shot down a proposed peace deal with the country’s largest rebel group in a plebiscite.
For its part, Colombia will “receive enormous benefits” from hosting the summit, said Ekaterina Zagladina, the president of the Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates. The event is designed to promote world peace and includes forums and panel discussions.
“To be successful, the summit has to revolve around ordinary people, and not the other way around,” said Virgelina Chará, a displaced community leader from Cauca and founder of Asomujer y Trabajo, an organization that helps displaced families.
Inaugurated in 1999, the summit was created by the Gorbachev Foundation, a Moscow-based non-profit founded by former Soviet premier and Nobel Peace laureate Mikhail Gorbachev. Previous summits have featured the Dalai Lama, former U.S. president Jimmy Carter and South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu. The summit has been held in Rome, Paris, Berlin, Warsaw, Chicago and Hiroshima.
“Sixteen of every 100 Colombians are victims of the conflict,” said Paola Gaviria, Colombia’s presidential counsel on human rights. “What happened to the victims happened to all of us. It is part of our history.”
EFE, Fox News Latino
1.11.2016
Nobel Peace Laureates Summit to gather at least 16 recipients in Bogota
The 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates will gather at least 16 recipients of the prestigious award in Bogota, promoters of the event announced Tuesday.
To date, three women from among the 16 recipients have confirmed their attendance at the Feb. 2-5, 2017 summit although expectations are that ultimately about 20 prizewinners will be on hand, Monica de Greiff, the president of the Bogota Chamber of Commerce, which has been promoting the Colombian capital as the summit site, told reporters.
At the summit, promoters are seeking to provide attendees with “the possibility to recount their experiences,” and Colombians will be able “to learn and exchange opinions with them,” De Greiff said.
She said that she wants “for it to be an event for the whole city where we can learn the best practices” and where both civil society and businesspeople can understand “that in a secure, respectful environment of dialogue things are going to improve for everyone.”
The summit is considered to be a tool for building peace and seeking mechanisms to end war and achieve disarmament and reconciliation.
De Greiff said that such summits produce “specific projects where the Nobel Prize winners support new experiences that we transmit to all of society.”
Colombia is currently in the process of continuing to negotiate an end to its half-century civil war between the government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, or FARC, guerrillas, although a peace pact between the two sides recently was narrowly voted down in a national referendum.
El Tiempo
1.11.2016
Bogotá, camino a su cita con 20 premios nobel de paz
Con una sonrisa de satisfacción que la acompañó durante su intervención, Mónica de Greiff, presidenta de la Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá (CCB), confirmó que la capital será sede de la 16.ª Cumbre Mundial de Premios Nobel de Paz. El encuentro será en febrero del 2017. (Lea también: Presidente Santos obtiene premio Nobel de Paz 2016)
Lucía satisfecha porque, gracias a la gestión de su entidad, la ciudad será la primera que en Latinoamérica reciba el evento. Así lo confirmo Ekaterina Zagladina (Rusia), presidenta del secretariado que organiza el encuentro cada año.
“En nombre de los laureados del Nobel de Paz, esperamos celebrar con éxito la cumbre del 2017. Seleccionamos a Bogotá por su capacidad para evolucionar y responder al desafío de la paz. Agradecemos a la CCB por todos sus esfuerzos”, remarcó la dignataria desde el Centro de Memoria Histórica, hacia el mediodía de este martes. Allí, los aplausos no se hicieron esperar.
Al lugar acudieron medios de comunicación y personalidades relacionadas con la construcción de paz en Colombia y el mundo, entre ellos activistas y víctimas.
La alta consejera distrital para las Víctimas, Ángela Anzola, se mostró animada con el anuncio y expresó que para la ciudad “será un aprendizaje grande todo lo que los participantes vengan a compartir. Y algo muy importante es que, una vez termine la Cumbre, Bogotá será declarada Capital Mundial de la Paz (reconocimiento que portará durante año y medio)”.
Nombres como Rigoberta Menchú (Guatemala, nobel en 1992), Al Gore (Estados Unidos, nobel 2007), David Trimble (Irlanda, nobel 1998) y Mijaíl Gorbachov (Rusia, nobel 1990), se cuentan entre los posibles panelistas.
Durante tres jornadas completas, aparte de las grandes conferencias y foros, se abrirá un espacio-taller que involucrará a los jóvenes “con los expertos en construcción de paz, para dejarles un insumo o guía, para que tengan elementos de inspiración en sus propias acciones y emprendimientos de paz”, precisó Zagladina.
Agency France Press, Le Figaro
1.11.2016
Colombie: 16e sommet des Nobel de la paix en février
Le 16e sommet des Nobel de la paix aura lieu en février en Colombie, pays déchiré par plus de 50 ans de guerre, dont le président Juan Manuel Santos a reçu ce prix en octobre, ont annoncé ce mardi les organisateurs.
Seize prix Nobel de la paix ont à ce jour confirmé leur participation à ce sommet, prévu du 2 au 5 février 2017 à Bogota. Parmi eux, les ex-présidents américain Jimmy Carter, soviétique Mikhaïl Gorbatchev, sud-africain Frederik de Klerk et polonais Lech Walesa, ainsi que l’ancien Premier ministre irlandais David Trimble et le Quartet du dialogue national tunisien.
Ce sommet, qui se tiendra pour la première fois en Amérique latine, “est l’une des scènes les plus reconnues dans le monde en matière de construction de paix et de recherche d’outils pour la fin de la guerre, le désarmement et la réconciliation”, a précisé la Chambre de commerce de Bogota, qui a géré la candidature de la capitale, présentée il y a près d’un an, pour accueillir l’évènement.
“D’une importance particulière pour les Colombiens, cet événement permettra de partager des exemples de courage et de non-violence qui ont aidé d’autres nations dans l’édification de voies démocratiques pour parvenir à la justice sociale et à une paix durable”, a déclaré Ekaterina Zagladina, président du secrétariat du sommet, présente lors de l’annonce, estimant que “impliquer tous les membres de la société (est) la clé essentielle de la paix”.
Les organisateurs ont pour leur part souligné que “ce sommet vient à Bogota à un moment très spécial pour la Colombie” -déchirée par un conflit armé qui a fait plus de 260.000 morts mais entrée dans un processus de pourparlers de paix avec les deux guérillas encore actives- et que “c’est une opportunité unique pour la société colombienne d’apprendre de ceux qui ont parcouru le chemin vers la paix”.
Le sommet des Nobel de la paix, qui est organisé depuis 1999, a eu lieu par le passé dans plusieurs villes emblématiques telles que Hiroshima, Varsovie, Berlin, Paris, Rome ou Barcelone.
El Espectador
1.11.2016
Los 16 confirmados para la Cumbre Mundial de Premios Nobel de Paz en Bogotá
Este martes se confirmó la presencia de los participantes, entre ellos, el expresidente estadounidense Jimmy Carter y el exsecretario del Partido Comunista de la Unión Soviética, Mijaíl Gorbachov.
Algunos de los expresidentes confirmados son Jimmy Carter, de Estados Unidos; Mijaíl Gorbachov, de la ex Unión Soviética; Oscar Arias, de Costa Rica; Lech Walesa, de Polonia, y Frederik de Klerk, de Sudáfrica.
También estarán presentes líderes en derechos humanos como Shirin Ebadi, líder social en Irán; la periodista y activista yemení, Tawakkul Karman, fundadora de Mujeres sin Cadenas, y la organización Cuarteto de Diálogo Nacional de Túnez, reconocidos por su papel en la construcción de paz en ese país. Asimismo, participaran Lord David Trimble, exministro de Irlanda, y José Ramos-Horta, expresidente de Timor Oriental.
Tras su creación en 1999, será la primera vez que la reunión se realice en un país latinoamericano. “La Cumbre ofrece la oportunidad de promover un proceso de diálogo incluyente y participativo, que propicie la reflexión necesaria para la construcción de una sociedad reconciliada”, señaló Mónica De Greiff, presidenta de la Cámara de Comercio de Bogotá.
De acuerdo con las cifras de ediciones anteriores, en promedio asisten al evento 20 laureados y un centenar de líderes sociales, con reconocimiento internacional. Además, la ciudad sede la visitan 270 medios de comunicación extranjeros, 700 delegados y 150 organizaciones sociales del mundo.
El encuentro se ha desarrollado en ciudades emblemáticas para la paz como Paris, Berlín, Hiroshima, Varsovia, Chicago, Roma y Barcelona, entre otras.
Pressenza
02.11.2016
Bogotá starts moving towards the 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates
The Bogotá Chamber of Commerce (CCB) and the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates launched today the official preparations towards the 16th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, an event to be held in the Colombian capital city between February 2nd and 5th, 2017, and for which more than 16 Nobel Peace Prize Winners have already confirmed their attendance. The full attendance list will be revealed short before the event.
Some of the Nobel Peace Laureates who have confirmed their attendance to the event include former presidents: Mikhail Gorbachev, of the former Soviet Union; Oscar Arias, of Costa Rica; Lech Walesa, of Poland; and Frederik de Klerk, of South Africa. Also confirmed are Lord David Trimble; Ireland’s former Prime Minister; José Ramos-Horta, former president of Timor Leste; Shirin Ebadi, first woman jurist in Iran; Yemen human rights activist Tawakkul Karman, founder of Women Journalists Without Chains and the collective of institutions “Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet”, recognized for their role in the construction of peace in the North-African country.
The Summit is one of the most relevant and renowned events related to the construction of peace and the search for tools to end warfare, foster disarmament and promote world reconciliation. It is a meeting point for top social, enterprise and political leaders, as well as all members of the society who wants to be socially involved in the processes of peacebuilding and students and representatives from many countries. This will be the first time since its creation in 1999, that the Summit will be held in Latin America.
CCB Executive President, Monica de Greiff, said that the Summit will be held in Bogotá while Colombia is experiencing a very special historic moment. She added that this is a unique opportunity for Colombians to learn from those who have already traversed the path to peace, and who wish to share their experience to help achieve this goal around the world.
“The Summit provides an opportunity to promote an inclusive and participative dialogue that will foster the reflection required for the construction of a society reconciled”, points out the CCB’s President. She also added “The invitation is to participate in this global event that belongs to all Colombians”.
The CCB led the city’s nomination as the venue for this event, with support from the Bogotá and Cundinamarca Conventions Bureau. The nomination and election process lasted close to one year.
The Mayor of Bogotá, Enrique Peñalosa; Ekaterina Zagladina, president of the Permanent Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, and Monica de Greiff, Executive President of the CCB, were all present at the announcing ceremony, which was held at the Center for Memory, Peace and Reconciliation in Bogotá.
When asked about the importance of choosing Bogotá as the venue for the 2017 Summit, Ekaterina Zagladina, President of the Summit’s Permanent Secretariat stated: “As Nobel Peace Laureate His Holiness the Dalai Lama teaches us that it is our common responsibility to promote basic human values, love, compassion, forgiveness, tolerance and dialogue. The Nobel Peace Summit’s mission is exactly that. The Summit will bring together the minds and the inspiring stories of Nobel Peace Laureates, Peace Laureate Organizations as well as civil society leaders, to address issues that affect our common wellbeing. Of particular relevance to Colombians it will share examples of courage and non-violence that have helped other nations when building democratic paths towards social justice and sustainable peace. We look forward to the 16th Summit in Bogota with a view to engage all members of society: key champions of peace.”
The Summit has been held annually since 1999, and has been hosted by landmark cities for world peace, such as Rome, Paris, Berlin, Hiroshima, Warsaw, Chicago, and Barcelona.
