Media Release | Jan. 15, 2004

2003 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Shirin Ebadi to Participate in UBC Roundtable Dialogue

Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, the 2003 recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, will join His Holiness the Dalai Lama in a Roundtable Dialogue during his visit to Vancouver in April.

Ebadi, the first Iranian and first Muslim woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize, has worked tirelessly for three decades to improve the status of women and the rights of religious minorities.

"Shirin Ebadi is a dynamic advocate for basic human rights and nonviolence," said Victor Chan, chair of the organizing committee for His Holiness the Dalai Lama's visit to Vancouver. "We are extremely pleased she will share her vision and her time with us."

Ebadi will join international visionary thinkers including fellow Nobel Laureates His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Desmond Tutu as well as Vaclav Havel, Rabbi Zalman Schachter-Shalomi and Dr. Jo-ann Archibald of Canada's First Nations community in a Roundtable Dialogue entitled Balancing Educating the Heart With Educating the Mind.

They will dedicate a full afternoon on Tuesday, April 20 to discussing how compassion and reason can inform current policy challenges in such areas as community building and sustainable development.

For more information, please visit www.dalailamavancouver.org.

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Contact

Pitman Potter
Director
UBC Institute of Asian Research
Tel: 604.822.4686
E-mail: potter@interchange.ubc.ca

Victor Chan
Chair, Organizing Committee
HH the Dalai Lama's Visit to Vancouver
Tel: 604.827.5659
E-mail: victchan@interchange.ubc.ca

Erica Smishek
UBC Public Affairs
Tel: 604.822.3213
E-mail: erica.smishek@ubc.ca