The 1974 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Seán MacBride, of Ireland, President of the International Peace Bureau; President of the Commission of Namibia. “For his strong interest in human rights: piloting the European Convention on Human Rights through the Council of Europe, helping found and then lead Amnesty International and serving as secretary-general of the International Commission of Jurists” and to Eisaku Satō, the Prime Minister of Japan, “for his renunciation of the nuclear option for Japan and his efforts to further regional reconciliation.” MacBride began his Nobel Lecture: “We are living in a world where war, violence, brutality and ever increasing armament dominate the thinking of humanity . . . humanity itself gives the appearance of having become numbed or terrified by its own impotence in the face of disaster.”
The Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes created by the Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel. Since 1901 it has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have “done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses” Over the next few months we’ll be introducing you to the past Nobel laureates, leading up to the award of the 2016 prize in October.
