Five Nobel Peace Prize winners to speak on peace and democracy at Friday Headliners luncheon

Five Nobel Peace Prize laureates will discuss the crucial role of women in the fight for peace and democracy on Friday, Sept. 13, at an NPC Headliners luncheon.

The event begins at 12:30 p.m. in the Holeman Lounge. The program begins at 1 p.m. Club members may purchase up to two tickets for the discounted $25 member rate. Non-member tickets cost $45. 

To reserve a ticket, click here.

From de-escalating war and conflict internationally to preserving peaceful elections at home, the leaders of the Nobel Women’s Initiative are seeking to change the world. Women are crucial to attaining lasting peace, and yet in times of war and conflict they are seen as victims and too often excluded from formal peace-building processes. The laureates work together to use the platform and access that the Nobel Peace Prize offers to elevate the voices and support the work of female peace activists around the world.

The Headliners luncheon will feature:

• Oleksandra Matviichuk, a human rights lawyer, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2022 for her efforts to document war crimes, human rights abuses and the abuse of power in her role as Chair of the Center for Civil Liberties in Ukraine. After Russia's invasion of Ukraine, she co-founded the Tribunal for Putin to document international crimes in all regions of Ukraine. 

• Leymah Gbowee was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for leading a non-violent movement, Women of Liberia Mass Action for Peace, which played a central role in ending Liberia's second civil war in 2003 and laid the path for the election of Africa's first female head of state, fellow 2011 Nobel laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf. 

• Tawakkol Karman, a journalist, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011 for her role in sparking the nonviolent struggle for women's rights and democracy in Yemen first by reporting on injustices and then, in 2007, mobilizing weekly protests in Yemen's capital, Sana'a, to demand an end to government repression and corruption. The weekly protests ultimately blossomed into the Arab Spring in 2011. 

• Shirin Ebadi, the co-founder of the NWI, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003 for her work to protect the rights of women, children and political prisoners in Iran. Ebadi, the first woman to become a presiding judge in Iran, was stripped of her position after the Islamic Revolution in 1979. After she obtained her law license in 1992, she took up the cases of political dissidents.

• Jody Williams, the co-founder of NWI, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997 for her work to ban landmines through the International Campaign to Ban Landmines. As its sole staff member, she played a pivotal role in the growth of the campaign from two organizations to over 1,300 globally, leading to the international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines.

To submit a question in advance for the speakers, put NOBEL on the subject line and email to [email protected]. The deadline for submitting questions in advance is 10 a.m. on the day of the event.