21 Nobel Peace Prize laureates confirmed for Mérida summit

May 13, 2019

Guests in Mérida will include peace laureates Menchú, Walesa, Santos, Ramos Horta and de Klerk. — Guests in Mérida will include peace laureates Menchu, Walesa, Santos, Ramos Horta and de Klerk.

Nobel Peace Prize winners will be gathering in Mérida, Yucatán, in September.

The Secretariat of the World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates and the Yucatán state government have announced that 21 Peace Prize laureates have confirmed their attendance at the 17th World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates in the Yucatán capital September 19-22.

The guest list will include former presidents Juan Manuel Santos of Colombia, Lech Walesa of Poland, Frederik de Klerk of South Africa and José Ramos-Horta of East Timor.

Also confirmed are former first minister of Northern Ireland, Lord David Trimble; Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi; Shirin Ebadi, the first woman jurist in Iran; Women Journalists Without Chains founder Tawakkol Karman; American political activist Jody Williams; Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist who helped to end a civil war; Northern Ireland peace movement pioneer Betty Williams; and Guatemalan indigenous activist Rigoberta Menchu Tum.

The theme for this year’s summit is “Leave your mark for Peace.” Programs will focus on Mexico’s legacy and involvement in global peace-building. The summit will also include a youth program entitled “Leading by Example” to provide opportunities for expression and collaboration between university students and young professionals to build cultures of peace on campuses and in communities around the globe.

Summit president Ekaterina Zagladina highlighted the Nobel summit’s 20 years of activities in some of the world’s most important cities. She also thanked the Yucatán state government for cooperation in providing a dynamic platform in the “nest of the ancient Mayan civilization” for pursuing a global agenda of peace.

Yucatán officials said they hoped the international spotlight on the state would reveal Yucatán to outsiders as a model for peace. It was Mexico’s most peaceful state last year, recording the fewest homicides in the country.