Seán MacBride

Facts

Seán MacBride

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Seán MacBride
The Nobel Peace Prize 1974

Born: 26 January 1904, Paris, France

Died: 15 January 1988, Dublin, Ireland

Residence at the time of the award: Ireland

Role: President of the International Peace Bureau, Geneva, Switzerland; President of the Commission of Namibia, United Nations, New York, USA

Prize motivation: “for his efforts to secure and develop human rights throughout the world”

Prize share: 1/2

From the IRA to Amnesty International

Seán MacBride received the Peace Prize for his efforts on behalf of human rights, among other things as one of the founders of Amnesty International. In 1974 he was also Chairman of the International Peace Bureau and Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, and had recently been elected UN Commissioner for Namibia.

MacBride had nevertheless had a violent past. His father was killed in the Irish struggle for liberation from Great Britain, and he was only 13 when he joined the IRA. He took part in the concluding battles with the British before the Irish Republic was founded in 1921, and in the civil war that followed. MacBride backed Eamon de Valera in the latter's refusal to accept Northern Ireland's continuing union with England. In the 1930s, MacBride broke with the IRA and qualified in law. He defended IRA prisoners in Irish prisons who had been condemned to death.

After World War II he was for a few years Minister for External Affairs for Ireland. He played a leading part in the establishment of the Council of Europe, and in the preparation of the European Convention on Human Rights of 1950.

To cite this section
MLA style: Seán MacBride – Facts. NobelPrize.org. Nobel Prize Outreach AB 2024. Tue. 19 Mar 2024. <https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/1974/macbride/facts/>

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