Nobel Laureate Prof Muhammad Yunus addressed the opening session of the 13th Summit of Nobel Peace Prize Laureates held in Poland.
The three-day annual summit is being held in Warsaw from Monday marking 30 years since former Polish President Lech Walesa was awarded the Noble Prize for leading solidarity movement that toppled communism in Poland.
Lech Walesa, also a former trade union leader, received the Nobel Peace Prize 30 years ago for the successful leading of workers at strike in the Gdansk Shipyard, which led to historical downturn of the communist regime by means of negotiation and without violence. Lech Walesa is also celebrating his 70th birthday this year.
“Stand in Solidarity for Peace – Time to Act” is the official motto of the 13th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, which will end on Wednesday.
2006 Nobel Peace Laureate Professor Yunus spoke at the opening session of the summit along with South African president de Clark and Lech Walesa.
Dr Yunus also spoke in a plenary session entitled ‘Human Values in the Time of Crisis’ together with the host Lech Walesa as well as Maired Corrigan Maguire who was honoured for attempts to resolve peacefully the conflict in the Northern Ireland and Peter Launsky-Tieffenthal who represented the United Nations – laureate of Nobel Peace Prize awarded symbolically at 100th anniversary of the prize.
Muhammad Yunus presented a special Nobel Summit Medal on behalf of the Laureates to Jerzy Owsiak, Polish social activist, well known in the country for his work with young people.
In August every year, he organizes a music festival for young people, known as European Woodstock Festival, where over half a million young people create a city of tents.
Jerzy Owsiak invited Prof Yunus to join him in the next Woodstock Festival in August 2014.
Prof Yunus on Tuesday also spoke in the session entitled ‘Unheard Voices. Inequalities in Social Justice’ and he will speak in the session on ‘Youth in Solidarity’ on Wednesday.
Besides, the Yunus Centre organised two workshops on Social Business for students on October 21 and another for entrepreneurs on October 22. Dr Yunus together with other members of the centre spoke at the workshops.
This year the summit attracted some 1,500 young attendees from allover the world and representatives of the Polish public and business leaders, according to a Yunus Centre press release.
Source: UNB Connect
