Thorbjørn Jagland receives Harvard Foundation Humanitarian Award

The Harvard Foundation presented its annual Humanitarian Award to Thorbjørn Jagland, chairman of the Norwegian Noble Peace Prize Committee, and secretary general of the Council of Europe. The award, which bears the signature of the president of Harvard University, was given in recognition of Jagland’s “notable contributions to humanitarianism and the cause of peace.” While at Harvard, Jagland delivered the Reverend Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Lecture and the Jodidi Lecture on World Peace at Harvard’s Weatherhead Center for International Affairs. “Harvard University was proud to honor Thorbjørn Jagland for his commitment to human rights and individual freedoms,” said S. Allen Counter, director of the Harvard Foundation, and students and faculty were impressed with his humanitarian philosophy and his heartfelt remarks. The award was presented at Harvard’s historic Winthrop House, the college residence of President John F. Kennedy and Sen. Robert Kennedy. Previous recipients of the award have included Secretaries General Kofia Annan, Boutros Boutros Ghali, and Javier Perez De Cuellar, along with Noble Peace Prize winners Eli Wiesel, Jose Ramos Horta, and Bishop Desmond Tutu.