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Fulbright Association
1100 G Street, N.W.
Suite 525
Washington, D.C. 20005
Phone: (202) 347-5543
Fax: (202) 347-6540 |
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SADAKO OGATA TO RECEIVE 2002 J. WILLIAM FULBRIGHT PRIZE FOR INTERNATIONAL
UNDERSTANDING |
| Ogata Recognized as Giant in Field of Humanitarian Assistance;
Advances Policies and Programs Promoting “Human Security” |
| WASHINGTON, D.C. (Sept. 26, 2002) – The Fulbright Association announced today
that the 2002 J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding will be
awarded to Sadako Ogata, special representative of the prime minister of Japan
for Afghanistan assistance, co-chair of the Commission on Human Security, and
Ford Foundation scholar-in-residence. Mrs. Ogata will be honored in a ceremony
at the International Trade Center on October 11. |
| As United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees from 1991 to 2000, Mrs. Ogata
protected and assisted millions of people forced by violence and deprivation to
flee their homes. Since her appointment last year by Japanese Prime Minister
Koizumi as special envoy on Afghan issues, Mrs. Ogata has raised $4.5 billion in
commitments from governments and international organizations for reconstruction
in Afghanistan. In a report to the United Nations Security Council she said
that while she had observed significant progress in Afghanistan this year,
security and the rapid return of refugees still require the world community’s
urgent attention. |
| Former congressman Lee H. Hamilton, chairman of the international selection
committee for the 2002 J. William Fulbright Prize, said, “Sadako Ogata is a
giant of international humanitarian action and a truly remarkable woman. Her
extraordinary work in a decade as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
made the growing refugee problem an international priority and advanced the
cause of disadvantaged and vulnerable peoples across the globe. For her
lifetime of service to mankind and for her tireless efforts to promote greater
international understanding, she is a very worthy recipient of the 2002
Fulbright Prize.” |
| The J. William Fulbright Prize for International Understanding carries a $50,000
award provided by The Coca-Cola Foundation. The Fulbright Association created
the Fulbright Prize in 1993 with a grant from The Coca-Cola Foundation to
recognize individuals who have made extraordinary contributions toward bringing
peoples, cultures or nations to greater understanding of others. Previous
recipients of the award are former South African President Nelson Mandela,
former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, former Austrian Federal Chancellor Franz
Vranitzky, former Philippine President Corazon C. Aquino, Czech Republic
President Václav Havel, former Chilean President Patricio Aylwin Azócar, United
Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, former president of
Finland Martti Ahtisaari, and United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
The Commission on Human Security, which Mrs. Ogata helped organize and co-chairs
with Professor Amartya Sen, Nobel Laureate in economics and Master of Trinity
College, Cambridge, responds to United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan’s
call at the Millennium Summit to broaden the world’s view of peace and security
to include the “freedom from want” and the “freedom from fear.” |
| “Threats to human security are varied—political and military, but also social,
economic, and environmental. A wide array of factors contribute to making
people feel insecure, from the laying of landmines and the proliferation of
small arms, to transnational threats such as drugs trafficking, to the spread of
HIV,” said Mrs. Ogata. |
| Under her leadership and that of Prof. Sen joined by ten commissioners from
throughout the world, the Commission on Human Security will promote wider
international acceptance of human security and its underlying imperatives,
develop the concept of human security as an operational tool for policy
formulation and implementation, identify critical and pervasive threats to human
security and propose action to result in practical improvements, taking into
account ongoing, related efforts. |
| Richard O. Lundquist, president of the Fulbright Association’s Board of
Directors, said, “Sadako Ogata’s lifelong work is centered on principles which
concerned the late Senator J. William Fulbright when he created the
international exchange program that bears his name. Senator Fulbright believed
in the ‘common bond of human dignity as the essential bond for a peaceful
world.’ Mrs. Ogata’s achievements throughout her long career exemplify a
passionate commitment to advancing the common bond of human dignity, and we are
honored to recognize her with the 2002 Fulbright Prize.” |
| In her long service to the international community, Mrs. Ogata has been
independent expert of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights on the Human
Rights Situation in Myanmar (1990); the representative of Japan on the United
Nations Commission on Human Rights (1982 to 1985); and chairman of the Executive
Board of UNICEF (1978 to 1979). In 1978 and 1979, she was envoy extraordinary
and minister plenipotentiary at the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United
Nations, having served as minister there from 1976 to 1978. She was delegate of
Japan to the 23rd, 25th, 30th, 31st, 32nd, and 33rd sessions of the United
Nations General Assembly and also to the Tenth Special Session devoted to
disarmament. |
| Mrs. Ogata has also had a distinguished academic career. She served as dean of
the Faculty of Foreign Studies at Sophia University in Tokyo in 1989. From 1987
to 1988, she directed the Institute of International Relations at the
university, where she had also been a professor since 1980. From 1974 to 1976,
she served as associate professor of diplomatic history and international
relations at the International Christian University in Tokyo. From 1965 to
1974, she lectured in international relations at the International Christian
University and at the University of the Sacred Heart, also in Tokyo.
Serving on the international committee convened by the Fulbright Association to
select the 2002 laureate were Her Excellency Heng Chee Chan, ambassador of the
Republic of Singapore to the United States; Dr. Pedro David, judge of the
Argentine Federal Criminal Court of Cassation; Dr. R. Fenton-May, a director of
the Fulbright Association and former director of operations development, The
Coca-Cola Company; and His Excellency Aivis Ronis, ambassador of Latvia to the
United States. Ambassadors Chan and Ronis and Dr. Fenton-May are alumni of the
Fulbright Program. Judge David is a member of the Board of Directors of the
Fulbright Commission in Argentina. |
| The Fulbright Association is a private, non-profit organization that supports
and promotes the Fulbright Program, an international educational and cultural
exchange initiative created in 1946 by legislation sponsored by the late Senator
J. William Fulbright of Arkansas. There are Fulbright exchanges between the
United States and more than 140 other countries throughout the world. This year
is the 50th anniversary of Fulbright exchanges between Japan and the United
States. There are more than 200,000 Fulbright alumni throughout the world. |
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