Former Nuremberg prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz visits Ikeda Center with his message of hope and commitment
The only living prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials, Ben Ferencz is an unflagging advocate for a peaceful world in which the rule of law replaces the rule of power. In 1947, at the age of 27, Mr. Ferencz was the Chief Prosecutor of the Einsatzgruppen Case, in which 22 high-ranking Nazis were convicted of slaughtering more than a million innocent men, women, and children. Today, he is a proponent of the International Criminal Court, which he played a major role in creating. Now that the Court is up and running, his goal is to see that it gain the authority to prosecute the illegal use of armed force by states as a crime against humanity.
During his April 30 visit to the Ikeda Center, Mr. Ferencz sat down for an in-depth dialogue with Center staff. With much good cheer and vitality, Mr. Ferencz embodied his exhortation to never give up trying to build a more just and humane world. Excerpts from this dialogue are posted at our website.
Scholars engage in dialogue with area university students on the complexities of conflict resolution and mediation
On May 4th, the Ikeda Center hosted its latest seminar bringing university students into dialogue with distinguished scholars working in peace- and education-related fields. On hand to share their expertise were Meenakshi Chhabra of Lesley University and Darren Kew of UMass Boston. Before engaging in a whole group dialogue, Chhabra spoke about her experience pioneering person-to-person exchanges between Pakistani and Indian young people. Kew discussed his experience working as a facilitator with the Interfaith Mediation Centre in Nigeria, helping mediate conflicts between Muslims, Christians, and regional ethnic groups.
