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Former PM addresses religion and conflict
March 02, 2007
Norway’s former prime minister, Kjell Magne Bondevik, will give an address on Tuesday, March 6 at 7:30 p.m. in Chris Knutzen Hall.
Bondevik’s lecture, titled “Norway and the Oslo Centre’s Role in International Work for Peace and Human Rights,” will address the role of culture and religion in conflicts in the Middle East, the Balkans and Africa. Bondevik believes it is possible to reverse the tendency for religion to be the source of conflict, and he will propose two complementary ways to foster global peace.
In January of last year, Bondevik established the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights. The foundation aims to give people with international experience and competence an avenue through which to promote peace and human rights, and to combat global poverty.
The Centre’s work is based on the belief that although religion has often been the cause of conflict and misunderstanding, there is a great synchronicity of belief among the world religions. By basing dialogue on shared values, understanding and tolerance, the Centre hopes to create a context in which religion is a force for peace and unity.
In a little over a year, the organization has received a list of assignments involving some of the world’s most complex and pressing challenges. These include working with the World Health Organization on infant mortality, the Commission for Interreligious Peace in Africa and on issues of health with the Carter Center.
Less than one month after establishing the organization, Bondevik was tasked by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to serve as his new special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa. In this position, Bondevik will work to find long-term solutions to major humanitarian challenges in the region, such as malnutrition, drought and the effects of conflict.
Bondevik was prime minister of Norway from 1997 to 2000 and from 2001 to 2005. He served in the Norwegian parliament from 1973 to 2005. He became a theological candidate from the Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology in 1975, and he was ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran Norwegian State Church in 1979.
To learn more about the Olso Centre for Peace and Human Rights, visit www.oslocenter.no/english.html.
In January of last year, Bondevik established the Oslo Centre for Peace and Human Rights. The foundation aims to give people with international experience and competence an avenue through which to promote peace and human rights, and to combat global poverty.
The Centre’s work is based on the belief that although religion has often been the cause of conflict and misunderstanding, there is a great synchronicity of belief among the world religions. By basing dialogue on shared values, understanding and tolerance, the Centre hopes to create a context in which religion is a force for peace and unity.
In a little over a year, the organization has received a list of assignments involving some of the world’s most complex and pressing challenges. These include working with the World Health Organization on infant mortality, the Commission for Interreligious Peace in Africa and on issues of health with the Carter Center.
Less than one month after establishing the organization, Bondevik was tasked by U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to serve as his new special humanitarian envoy for the Horn of Africa. In this position, Bondevik will work to find long-term solutions to major humanitarian challenges in the region, such as malnutrition, drought and the effects of conflict.
Bondevik was prime minister of Norway from 1997 to 2000 and from 2001 to 2005. He served in the Norwegian parliament from 1973 to 2005. He became a theological candidate from the Norwegian Lutheran School of Theology in 1975, and he was ordained as a pastor in the Lutheran Norwegian State Church in 1979.
To learn more about the Olso Centre for Peace and Human Rights, visit www.oslocenter.no/english.html.