The Honorable Anson Chan
Understood as the "Conscience of Hong Kong," the
Honorable Anson Chan was a career public servant, serving 38 years
in Hong Kong's civil service. She retired in 2001 as the Chief Secretary
of the Hong Kong government. In that position she was a principal advisor
to the Chief Executive and head of Hong Kong's 190,00-member civil
service. Dr. Chan was the first woman, and the first person of Chinese
ancestry, to hold that position. She is very much a figure of continuity,
the most senior figure to straddle the British and Chinese eras in
Hong Kong.
Shirin Ebadi
Shirin Ebadi is a lawyer, human rights activist and Nobel
Peace Prize Laureate. In 2003, she became the first Iranian and
first Muslim woman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Ms. Ebadi
received her law degree from the University of Tehran. From the years
1975-79, she served as president of the city court of Tehran but was
forced to resign after the revolution in 1979. She was the first woman
judge in Iran. Ms. Ebadi is the cofounder and president of the
Association for Support of Children's Rights and the cofounder
and president of Human Rights Defence Centre. She is the author
of numerous books including The Rights of the Child (1994) and
History and Documentation of Human Rights.
Juan Guzman
Juan Guzman was the Chief Judge of the Court of Appeals in
Santiago, Chile and was in charge of the prosecution and trial
of former General Augusto Pinochet. Currently, Judge Guzman is
a Professor of Law at the Catholic University Law School and at the Central
University Law School of Santiago. In 1998, the Santiago Court
of Appeals appointed him to conduct investigations into human rights
violations committed during the Pinochet dictatorship. In March
2001, Guzman filed a motion with the court to strip Pinochet of
senatorial immunity from prosecution. In December 2001, he indicted
Augusto Pinochet in the "Caravan
of Death" case. In December 2004, Guzman
indicted Pinochet again in the "Operation Condor" case.
Carmen Hertz
Carmen Hertz is a lawyer for the Vicaa de la Solidaridad,
the principal organization for Human Rights defense law in Chile
during Pinochet's Dictatorship from 1977 to 1992. From 1996-98,
she was the director of Judicial Affairs in the Ministry of Foreign Relations
of Chile presiding over the Chilean delegation to the Rome Conference.
She renounced this position after the Chilean government decided
not to recognize Universal Jurisdiction in reaction to Pinochet's
detention in London in 1998. Ms. Hertz, whose husband was disappeared
and killed during the "Caravan
of Death", represents
other victims killed in this period of atrocity and other criminal
acts ordered by Pinochet during his regime.
Farooq Kathwari
Farooq Kathwari is the Chairman, President and Chief
Executive o ffi cer of Ethan Allen Interiors Inc. Mr. Kathwari serves
on several not-for-profit organizations, including Chairman of the
Kashmir Study Group, Chairman of Refugees International, and a
member of the Council on Foreign Relations. He also has received
several recognitions, including the 2005 Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill
Medal; 2005 Honoree from the International Center in New York; "National
Human Relations Awards" by the American Jewish Committee; "American
Muslim Recognition Awards" by several organizations; Worth Magazine
Recognition of one of 50 Best CEO's in USA; recipient of the International
First Freedom Award from the Council for America's First Freedom,
Ernst & Young's
Entrepreneur of the Year Award and the Anti-Defamation League's Humanitarian
Award.
Amory B. Lovins
Amory B. Lovins, Chief Executive Officer of Rocky Mountain
Institute, is a consultant and experimental physicist. He has received
nine honorary doctorates, a MacArthur Fellowship, the Heinz, Lindbergh,
Right Livelihood ("Alternative Nobel"), World Technology, and
TIME Hero for the Planet awards, the Happold Medal, and the Nissan,
Shingo, Mitchell, and Onassis Prizes. He has briefed 18 heads of
state, held several visiting academic chairs, authored or co-authored
29 books and hundreds of papers, and consulted for scores of industries
and governments worldwide. The Wall Street Journal named Mr. Lovins
one of 39 people worldwide "most likely
to change the course of business in the '90s" and Newsweek has praised
him as "one of the Western world's most influential energy thinkers."
Mac Maharaj
Mac Maharaj was a member of Nelson Mandela's inner circle
during the days of resistance in South Africa. In 1977, after spending
12 years in prison on Robben Island, he was appointed secretary
of the Internal Political and Reconstruction Department of the
ANC. He served on the Revolutionary Council and National Executive
Committee of the ANC, an underground program of armed resistance
against the apartheid government. After Nelson Mandela was released
from prison in 1990, Maharaj was a lead negotiator for the ANC
in talks with the National Party government and Joint Secretary
of the Transitional Executive Council, overseeing South Africa's transition
to democracy. Mandela appointed Maharaj minister of transport upon
becoming president in 1994; Maharaj served in parliament until 1999.
In 2005, Mr. Maharaj was appointed to the chair of the Democracy Project
at Bennington College in Vermont.
Roelf Meyer
Roelf Meyer is the former Minister of Defence and Minister
of Constitutional Affairs in South Africa and was the chief negotiator
for the National Party during the negotiations to end apartheid
in South Africa. After the first democratic election in 1994, Meyer
continued his position as Minister of Constitutional Affairs in
the cabinet of former President Nelson Mandela. In 2000, after
21 years, Mr. Meyer resigned from active politics. During this period
he was a Member of Parliament (since 1979), Deputy Minister for Law and
Order and subsequently of Constitutional Development (1986-1991)
and Cabinet Minister (1991-1996). Currently, Mr. Meyer is Chairman of
the Civil Society Initiative in South Africa.
Benjamin Pogrund
Benjamin Pogrund is the former deputy editor of The Rand
Daily Mail in South Africa, the former editor of the World Paper
Boston and the former sub-editor of The Independent in London.
He is the author of numerous books including Sobukwe and Apartheid (1991),
War of Words: Memoir of a South African Journalist (2000) and Nelson
Mandela: Leader Against Apartheid (2003). In 2001, he joined Israel's
delegation to the Durban UN Anti-Racism conference. Currently,
Mr. Pogrund is the director of the Yakar Center for Social Concern
in Jerusalem.
Ervin Staub
Ervin Staub is Professor of Psychology at the University
of Massachusetts at Amherst and Founding Director of the Ph.D. Concentration
in the Psychology of Peace and the Prevention of Violence. He has
studied helping behavior and altruism, passivity in the face of
others' need and the origins of human destructiveness. He is the
author of numerous books including Positive Social Behavior and Morality
(1978), The Roots of Evil: The Origins of Genocide and Other Group
Violence (1992) and The Psychology of Good and Evil (2003). He
is past President of the Society for the Study of Peace, Conflict
and Violence (1999-2000) as well as of the International Society
for Political Psychology (2000-2001). He is the recipient of the
Otto Klineberg Intercultural and International Prize.