Press Release

10 October 1997

"A great encouragement", says Norway's Premier

"I am very pleased that this year's Nobel Peace Prize goes to the International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL) and to the campaign's coordinator Jody Williams", says Norway's Prime Minister, Thorbjørn Jagland.

"The prize is a great encouragement to the efforts of independent organisations, in cooperation with state authorities, to ban and remove these terrible weapons", says Mr. Jagland. "I hope the Prize will contribute to bring an end to the enormous human sufferings that anti-personnel mines are daily causing in conflict areas all over the world. These weapons also represent a considerable hindrance to social and economic development in conflict areas. This I could personally observe during my visit to Bosnia this August", Mr. Jagland says.

"Jody Williams' efforts to bring about a total ban on anti-personnell mines demonstrate the significance that committed individuals can have in awakening the conscience of the international society. The prize also demonstrates the importance of the work performed by Norwegian independent organisations, as the Norwegian People's Aid, in many parts of the world", the Prime Minister says.

Mr. Jagland also sees this year's Nobel Peace prize as a recognition of the work that Norway, in cooperation with Canada, South Africa and other committed countries, has done to secure full support for a total ban on anti-personnell mines. "This work was brought to a preliminary result through the treaty negotiated in Oslo this September. I hope the Nobel Committee's decision will secure the greatest possible support for the treaty at its signing in Ottawa in December", Prime Minister Thorbjørn Jagland says.