BERLIN, 13 - 14 June 2007 

Program of the Forum in German
on Acrobat Reader 

Program of the Forum in English and German
on Acrobat Reader

FRIEDENSKULTUR - PREISVERLEIHUNG
CULTURE OF PEACE AWARD CEREMONY
GERMAN PARLIAMENTARIAN SOCIETY

14 JUNE 2007 

PREISTRÄGER - LAUREATES

2. PROJETO UERÊ

 A MODEL SCHOOL FOR STREET CHILDREN AND CHILDREN AT RISK

 “In 1980, influenced by my experiences in Africa, I began to work as a volunteer with groups of street children in the suburban “south zone” and the downtown of Rio de Janeiro. I decided to establish a ‘school’ without windows or doors on the street for some 200 ‘students.’  In 1993, a death squad of policemen cold-bloodedly assassinated seven children from one of my groups at night, while these kids were sleeping on the pavement. The atrocious murder came to be called the “Candelária Massacre” (named after the public square where the murder occurred; the square was these children’s ‘home’).

As I had to find a new place to teach the survivors, I opted for an area under a highway overpass in downtown Rio.  This became our first “classroom.” In the first year under the overpass, children from a nearby „favela“ [Portuguese name for shanty town] also attended my classes. During the subsequent five years, my school functioned in these most inadequate surroundings, receiving over 100 street children a day. In 1998, my “school on the streets,” as I initially called my endeavors, evolved into the Projeto UERÊ (Project UERÊ), a non - profit institution and organization. The same year, a house was purchased to serve as the UERÊ premise,” writes Yvonne Bezerra de Mello in her article “Street Children and Children at Risk,” forthcoming in Mariginalizations: Dynamics of Injustice and Discrimination, ed. A. Colin, Editions UNESCO.

Yvonne Bezerra de Mello, an artist of note and UNESCO Award Winner, established Projeto Uerê in order to help street children and other traumatized children at risk from the slums of Rio de Janeiro, by providing them education, food, medical care, and  shelter.  Yvonne Bezerra de Mello personally helped and rescued over 1500 children from the slums of Rio.

“In 1998, with one little house, very little money and a ‘team’ of four dedicated and purposeful teachers, UERÊ opened its doors to 130 children.  Today, Projeto UERÊ attends daily 430 children with severe learning problems and disabilities caused by long-term exposure to violence. Since 1993, a total of 1020 children have received their education at Projeto UERÊ. Our teaching methodology proved to be successful. It helped re-habilitate children and return them to normal school life and curriculums,” underlines Yvonne Bezerra de Mello.

For more information about  Projeto UERÊ, see the web site of this important school which needs your support: www.projetouere.org.br

Recently, Yvonne Bezerra de Mello was the protagonist of the documentary film WARRIOR OF LIGHT/KRIEGERIN DES LICHTS, (2001/2) produced and directed by Monika Treut. See: http://www.hyenafilms.com 
The award-winning film is distributed by New Yorker Films in the US and Canada. See:  http://www.newyorkerfilms.com 
and by Absolut Medien in Europe, see: http://www.absolutmedien.de 
The film gives an insight into the sufferings of street children in Rio and Yvonne¹s efforts to help them."

3. HARRY ZOHN COLLECTION AT 
HOUGHTON LIBRARY, HARVARD UNIVERSITY

established in collaboration with the
City for the Cultures of Peace

Professor Harry Zohn (1923-2001) was one of the foremost US scholars in Austrian and Austrian-Jewish Literature as well as an unusual translator from German into English. His translations of works by Karl Kraus,  Walter Benjamin, Theodor Herzl, and many other authors into English are remarkable because English was Prof. Zohn's adopted mother tongue, while German was his native tongue.  Houghton Library, Harvard's primary repository for rare books and manuscripts, acquired Prof. Zohn's collection of letters.  Harvard University was Professor Zohn's Alma Mater.

4. CULTURAL AWARDS 

CITY FOR THE CULTURES OF PEACE
and
PRO EUROPA: 
EUROPEAN CULTURAL FOUNDATION

FRIEDENSKULTUR - PREISVERLEIHUNG
CULTURE OF PEACE AWARD CEREMONY
GERMAN PARLIAMENTARIAN SOCIETY

14 JUNE 2007 

Preisträger 
der 2007 Friedenskulturpreise
LAUREATES

europäischer friedenskulturpreis für zivilcourage
und die verteidigung der menschenrechtE

Nobelpreisträger Wole Soyinka
Präsident der Afrikanischen Kulturgemeinschaft und UNESCO-Botschafter des guten Willens
Elias Ghanem Professor für kreatives Schreiben an der Universität von Nevada

Laudatio: A.D. Colin / Dr. ADEREmi Raji-OYELADE (Nigeria)

Preisverleihung am 14. Juni 2007, Beginn 19.30 Uhr,

 in der Deutschen Parlamentarischen Gesellschaft

europäischer wissenschaftskulturpreis

Professor Henry L. Gates
Alphonse Fletcher University Professor und Direktor des W.E.B. Du Bois Instituts, Harvard (USA)

Laudatio: US GESANDTER JOHN M. Koenig 

Preisverleihung am 14. Juni 2007, Beginn 19.30 Uhr, 

in der Deutschen Parlamentarischen Gesellschaft

europäischer preis für soziales engagement

UNESCO-Preisträgerin

Yvonne BezerrA de Mello
Gründerin und Präsidentin des Kinderhilfswerks Projeto Uerê, Rio de Janeiro

Laudatio: professor dr. flora veit-wild

Preisverleihung am 13. Juni 2007, Beginn 19.00 Uhr, 

im Senatssaal der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 

Europäischer friedenskulturpreis

Für dEn kampf gegen die verletzung der menschenrechte

 Pierre Sané
 Beigeordneter General-Direktor für den Bereich der Sozial- und Geisteswissenschaften (UNESCO),
früherer Generalsekretär von Amnesty International

Laudatio: GESANDTER ABDOU AZIZ NDIAYE (Senegal)

Preisverleihung am 14. Juni 2007, Beginn 10.00 Uhr,

 im Senatssaal der Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin 

Elias Parish Alvars Preis für Musik als friedenskultur

 Professor Florence Sitruk

Harfenistin, Hochschule für Musik, Genf

LAUDATIO: Dr. CHRISTOF FRITZEN, VORSTANDSMITGLIED, DEUTSCHE BANK

Preisverleihung am 14. Juni 2007, Beginn 19.30 Uhr,

 in der Deutschen Parlamentarischen Gesellschaft 

EUROPÄISCHER FÖRDERPREIS FÜR MUSIK UND FRIEDENSKULTUR

BACARI SUSO (BRD),  Koraspieler

 
ABDOURHAMANE GILBERT DIOP (SENEGAL), Sänger

AKIN FANSOM (NIGERIA), Perkussionist

 LAUREATES
2004 - 2006

Dr. Elke Leonhard,  Honorary President of the German Parliamentary Association; Member of the German Federal Parliament from 1990 to 2005, received the BERTHA VON SUTTNER AWARD for Culture and Peace, at the UNESCO Forum in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2006. 


Professor Dr. Geoffrey Hartman, Sterling Professor of English and Comparative LiteraturE; Yale University, received the European Science and cultural Award, Vienna, Austria, 2005.

Professor Dr. Stanley Hoffmann, Paul and Catherine Buttenwieser University Professor, Harvard University, received the European Science and cultural Award, Vienna, Austria, 2005.

Professor Dr. Patrick Imbert, holder of the Canada Chair at the University of Ottawa, received the Culture of Peace Award in Ottawa, Canada, 2004. 

Thomas Lesch-Schmidt, musician and composer, received the
Franz Liszt Award for Musical Composition in Ottawa, Canada, 2004.

Laudation: Professor Dr. Amy Colin, University of Pittsburgh/W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University.

Professor Dr. Marcel Reich-Ranicki
Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung
received the 
European Media and Communication Award in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2004. 

Laudation: Professor Dr. Peter Demetz, Sterling Professor of German Languages and Literatures at Yale University, Frankfurt am Main, Germany 2004.

Professor Dr. Wolfgang Leonhard
Forschung und Archiv Leonhard, Germany/Yale University received the 
European Science and Culture Award in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2004. 

Laudation: Dr. Hans-Dietrich Genscher, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, Germany

Professor Dr. Peter Demetz,
Sterling Professor of German Languages and Literatures at Yale University
received the 
European Science and Cultural Award in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, 2004. 

Laudation: Professor Dr. Amy Colin, University of Pittsburgh/W.E.B. Du Bois Institute, Harvard University.