1974 Nobel Peace Prize
Sean MacBride
Sean MacBride, who retired in September 1974 as Chairman of Amnesty Interna- tional's International Executive Com- mittee, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize on 8 October 1974 in recognition of his lifelong work for human rights.
Mr MacBride, a founder member of AI, who had been Chairman of the IEC since its inception, shared the award with the late Eisako Sato, former Prime Minister of Japan, who himself was a member of AI.
Mr MacBride stood down from his IEC post because he could not combine it with his post as United Nations Commissioner for Namibia; but he remains chairman of the Irish Section. In his honour, the IEC has established an annual Sean MacBride Lecture on Human Rights to be delivered at future meetings of Al's International Council.
In announcing the award of the Peace Prize to Mr MacBride, the Nobel Committee of the Norwegian Parliament said he had been chosen for his "many years of effort to build up and protect human rights all over the world". It also cited the fact that as Foreign Minister of Ireland from 1948-1951, he had helped shape Ireland's role in UN peace-keeping operations.
All of Amnesty International would echo the words of The Irish Times which, in an editorial commenting on the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Sean MacBride, said:
As chairman of Amnesty International he has shown -what is not always the case with idealists-that he is aware of individuals, not only of people in the abstract. With his legal talents, he could easily have made a fortune at the Bar and relapsed into selfish, moneyed complacency: others are doing it all the time. Instead, he looked outward at the tormented world and immersed himself in it.
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