President Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama, Wangari Maathai and Elie Wiesel among 31 Nobel Laureates Urging World Leaders to Make Education of Children in Conflict Areas  a Priority

WESTPORT, Conn. (Nov. 20, 2008) — In a first-ever joint statement, 31 winners of the Nobel Peace Prize enlisted by Save the Children called for urgent action to implement quality education and build peace in conflict-affected countries.

The Nobel Laureates, including President Jimmy Carter, the Dalai Lama, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Elie Wiesel, and Wangari Maathai urged world leaders to take action on behalf of the 37 million children who live in areas of armed conflict and are unable to go to school.

"War and conflict are perpetrated by adults," the letter reads. "But every adult was once a child and grew up with experiences and guidance that shaped their lives. At the heart of this lies education. But if more than 70 million children do not even have the chance to go to school, and more than half of these children live in countries affected by armed conflict — what are these children learning?"

See complete statement with signatures

The Nobel Peace Prize winners support Save the Children's global campaign, Rewrite the Future, which seeks to provide quality education for children living in conflict-affected fragile states. The Nobel Peace winners' call for action comes on the anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and Universal Children's Day, and three weeks before the 2008 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in December.

The letter comes at a time when millions of children continue to be denied an education because of war and conflict. In the Democratic Republic of Congo, even before the recent fighting, 5 million of the 9.6 million children of school age were unable to go to school.  Without adequate protection from the escalating conflict in recent weeks, even more children have been forced to flee their schools. Some schools have even been targeted to recruit schoolchildren as child soldiers.

In agreeing to sign the joint letter, many Nobel Prize winners offered their own personal statements. Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, who won the prize for his decades of untiring effort to find peaceful solutions to international conflicts, said:  "I have seen the beneficial impact of education in promoting peace. It would be a mistake to underestimate the influence that children can have in shaping the opinions and decisions of adults."

Dr. Sein Win, first cousin of Nobel Prize winner Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar, signed the letter on her behalf. 

Read Personal Statements from Nobel Prize Winners

More on Nobel Prize Winners

The 31 Nobel Prize winners who support Save the Children's Rewrite the Future initiative are listed below along with the year they received the prize. Among the organizations supporting the letter are UNICEF, The International Labor Organization, the International Atomic Energy Agency and the International Peace Bureau, whose founders won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910.

American Friends Service Committee (1947)

Amnesty International (1977)

Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo (1996)

Jimmy Carter (2002)

The 14th Dalai Lama (1989)

Frederik Willem de Klerk (1993)

Shirin Ebadi (2003)

Mohamed ElBaradei (2005)

Adolfo Pérez Esquivel (1980)

Friends Service Council (1947)

John Hume (1998)

Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (2007)

International Atomic Energy Agency (2005)

International Committee to Ban Landmines (1997)

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (1963)

International Labour Organisation (1969)

International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (1985)

Kim Dae-jung (2000)

Sein Win on behalf of Aung San Suu Kyi (1991)

Wangari Maathai (2004)

Mairead Corrigan Maguire (1976)

Permanent International Peace Bureau (1910)

José Ramos-Horta (1996)

Oscar Arias Sánchez (1987)

Rigoberta Menchú Tum (1992)

The Right Reverend Bishop Desmond Tutu (1984)

United Nations Children’s Fund (1965)

Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (1981) (1954)

Elie Wiesel (1986)

Betty Williams (1976)

Jody Williams (1997)

Save the Children (www.savethechildren.org) is the leading independent organization that creates lasting change for children in need in the United States and around the world. Save the Children USA is a member of the International Save the Children Alliance, a global network of 27 independent Save the Children organizations working to ensure the well-being and protection of children in more than 100 countries.