Humanitarian Aid Is Focus of Lutheran Peace Prize Forum

DECORAH, Iowa (ELCA) -- Humanitarianism is not a tool to end war or create peace; it is a citizen's response to a political failure, according to Dr. Morten Rostrup, a medical doctor at Ulleval University Hospital, Oslo, Norway. Rostrup spoke to more than 1,200 students attending the 2001 Peace Prize Forum here March 9-10 at Luther College, a college of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
The forum's theme, "Striving for Peace: Crossing Borders, Challenging Boundaries," focused on issues related to providing humanitarian aid in nation-states where governments may not honor international humanitarian law and respect the rights of people in need. Students attending the forum also considered topics on religion and peace.
Rostrup is international president for Medecins Sans Frontierers/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), an organization that works to provide support and emergency medical aid to victims of armed conflict, epidemics and survivors of natural disasters. The organization, founded in 1971, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999 by the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Oslo.
"Achieving peace is always part of a political process and political responsibility, but bringing medical aid to people in distress is an attempt to defend them against what is aggressive to them as human beings," Rostrup told students.
"Humanitarian responsibility has no frontiers, no borders. All people -- regardless of state borders or existing interpretation of international law, whether it be humanitarian law or trade agreements or other barriers -- have a right to exist as human beings," he said.
"In the 1990s, we saw a harsh redefinition of long-held political beliefs. In the humanitarian field, this resulted in the blurring of the traditional distinction between foreign policy and humanitarian assistance, with negative consequences for both. From Kurdistan to Kosovo, Western political leaders have embraced humanitarian adventures with gusto. Troops have been deployed for 'active humanitarian service,' more often than not to disguise a dismal lack of political vision in tackling the crisis at hand. Humanitarian assistance has become a cheap form of foreign policy bringing short-term public relation gains to politicians," Rostrup said.
"The humanitarian action exists only to preserve life, not to eliminate it. And, it is in the humanitarians' action, independent from military or political powers, that we can challenge borders and boundaries and demand access," he said.
Rostrup asked students "to challenge the boundaries" that may exist in their minds.
"Challenge the boundaries that say, 'we cannot make a difference,' the boundaries that say, 'it is too difficult to do something,' the boundaries that say, 'it is too dangerous or too unpleasant,' and the boundaries that are created as convenience or excuses not to act, nor to engage ourselves, but to live as if nothing is happening out there," he said.
Rostrup told students that "these boundaries must be challenged today and tomorrow. And, if you allow yourself to challenge them and then cross some borders ... you will be amazed to see what is actually possible for you to do and the impact you can have. In doing this, you can only but acknowledge, grow and enrich your own humanity."
Kerry Kennedy Cuomo, founder of the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights in 1988, led a keynote presentation. The Robert F. Kennedy Center for Human Rights provides a base for supporting human rights defenders; uncovers and publicizes abuses such as torture, disappearances and repression of free speech; and works to encourage Congress to highlight human rights in foreign policy. Cuomo also serves as a board member for the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial, a non-profit organization designed to address social justice problems in the spirit of her late father.
Cuomo suggested to students that they "get a passport and leave this country."
"You are some of the most privileged people on earth because of your college education. All of us, it seems to me, have an obligation to get involved. We have a lot to learn from people around the world, especially from their generosity and from their love," Cuomo said.
Cuomo challenged students to develop ways they can support human rights in the United States and around the world.
"You can do humanitarian work right here. I don't know Decorah, but driving through I saw a lot of poverty. Use your common sense. Ask yourself, 'what's right in the world, what's wrong with it and what can be done about it?'" she said.
Musimbi Kanyoro, general secretary, World WYCA, Geneva, Switzerland, delivered the sermon at worship.
"As an African, I am asked as I travel around the world, 'do you see any hope in Africa?' [Africans] have suffered much. We are wounded, but not crushed. The Bible has messages of transformation and courage. If you tell me there is no hope for Africa, I will tell you that you are wrong. Hope is the vision in the continent from which I come. We hope you don't see Africa as a liability to you; rather, we ask that you see Africa as an opportunity to explore what God can do," Kanyoro said.
J. Brian Atwood, president for Citizens International and executive vice president of Citizens Energy Cooperation, Boston, told students he is "renewed and inspired by the forum." Atwood also led a keynote presentation.
Atwood told students the "United States exhibits the largest economic success the world has ever seen," while "world poverty and the gap between rich and poor grow wider."
Poverty, disease and climate change are affecting the world but no one is addressing it, Atwood said. "Poverty creates the conditions that cause disease. Conditions that cause disease create alienation among people," he said.
"The global climate is changing as a result of greenhouse gases that are entering the earth's atmosphere. The greenhouse effect is producing severe weather. We must work toward a climate-change agreement, since it is those living in poverty who suffer when the climate changes," he said. Atwood added that the United States must control its own greenhouse gases before it can expect others around the world to do the same.
"Reject self indulgence," Atwood told students. "Your country is sleeping. Ask what you can do to wake it up."
In addition to keynote presentations, the Peace Prize Forum featured 30 one-hour seminars on a variety of topics designed to address the forum's theme and Lutheran response to a "suffering world." Seminar topics ranged from international peacemaking education to violence in schools.
Other highlights of the forum included an ethnic arts festival, a peace fair exhibiting peacemaking organizations from around the world, and conversation sessions with the forum's keynote speakers.
The Peace Prize Forum "is deeply tied to the mission of the five sponsoring colleges," said Dr. Richard L. Torgerson, president of Luther. "Not only because of our Norwegian heritage, in which we take great pride, but in our mission as colleges of the church. Peacemaking is not optional for Christians; it is central to what it means to follow Jesus Christ," he said.
The site of the forum rotates annually among five Midwestern colleges of the ELCA with Norwegian heritage: Augsburg College, Minneapolis; Augustana College, Sioux Falls, S.D.; Concordia College, Moorhead, Minn.; Luther; and St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minn.
The site of the next forum is Augustana College.
Held in cooperation with the Norwegian Nobel Institute, this series of forums was created to offer an opportunity for Nobel Peace Prize laureates, diplomats, scholars, young people and the general public to come together in expression of their personal commitment to peace.

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