page_title: Betty Williams (peace activist)
section_title: Nobel Peace Prize
hierarchical_section_title: Betty Williams (peace activist) / Nobel Peace Prize
caption_attribution_description: English: Betty Williams, 1976 Nobel Peace Prize co-recipient, co-founder of the Northern Irish Community of Peace People
context_page_description: Elizabeth Williams was a peace activist from Northern Ireland. She was a co-recipient with Mairead Corrigan of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976 for her work as a cofounder of Community of Peace People, an organisation dedicated to promoting a peaceful resolution to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
  Williams headed the Global Children's Foundation and was the President of the World Centre of Compassion for Children International. She was also the Chair of Institute for Asian Democracy in Washington D.C. She lectured widely on topics of peace, education, inter-cultural and inter-faith understanding, anti-extremism, and children's rights.
  Williams was a founding member of the Nobel Laureate Summit, which has taken place annually since 2000.
  In 2006, Williams became a founder of the Nobel Women's Initiative along with Nobel Peace Laureates Mairead Corrigan Maguire, Shirin Ebadi, Wangari Maathai, Jody Williams and Rigoberta Menchú Tum. These six women, representing North and South America, the Middle East, Europe and Africa, brought together their experiences in a united effort for peace with justice and equality.
context_section_description: In recognition of her efforts for peace, Williams, together with her friend Mairead Corrigan, became joint recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977 (the prize for 1976). In her acceptance speech, Williams said, 
  That first week will always be remembered of course for something else besides the birth of the Peace People. For those most closely involved, the most powerful memory of that week was the death of a young republican and the deaths of three children struck by the dead man's car. A deep sense of frustration at the mindless stupidity of the continuing violence was already evident before the tragic events of that sunny afternoon of August 10, 1976. But the deaths of those four young people in one terrible moment of violence caused that frustration to explode, and create the possibility of a real peace movement...As far as we are concerned, every single death in the last eight years, and every death in every war that was ever fought represents life needlessly wasted, a mother's labour spurned.
  The Peace Prize money was divided equally between Williams and Corrigan.  Williams kept her share of the money, stating that her intention was to use it to promote peace beyond Ireland, but faced criticism for her decision.  She and Corrigan had no contact after 1976.  In 1978 Williams broke off links with the Peace People movement, and became instead an activist for peace in other areas around the world.
caption: Williams around the time she received the Nobel Peace Prize
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