Sol Kanee Lecture Series for Peace and Justice

Professor Muhammad Yunus co-founded Yunus Social Business and currently serves as the Chairman of the Board. He is the founder of Grameen Bank and father of microcredit, an economic movement that has helped lift millions of families around the world out of poverty. Today, Grameen Bank has over 8.4 million members—97 per cent of who are female—and has lent over US$12.5 billion since its inception. In 2006, the Norwegian Nobel Committee jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Peace to Professor Yunus and Grameen Bank “for their efforts to create economic and social development from below.”

Professor Yunus is also the creator of social business and since 2006 has focused on spreading and implementing the concept. He has written four books about micro-lending and social business: “Banker to the Poor” (2003), “A World Without Poverty: Social Business and the Future of Capitalism” (2008) and “Building Social Business” (2010) and “A World of Three Zeros” (2017).

Yunus Social Business tackles poverty and the climate crisis from two angles.

Yunus Funds grows local social businesses that provide employment, education, healthcare, clean water and clean energy to over 17 million people in East Africa, Latin America & India. We turn donations into investments in social businesses, which we reinvest over and over again, multiplying the impact each time.

Yunus Corporate guides multinationals (such as Danone, Veolia, McCain, MAN and Tata) to help them transform their purpose. Harnessing our years of experience with social businesses and corporations, we connect the two. With our method, corporations can apply their core competencies to some of the greatest human challenges.

Jody Williams biography as published in the 2018 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

After a decade of work in the 1980s trying to stop US military involvement in El Salvador and Nicaragua, Jody Williams was asked to create a civil society campaign to ban antipersonnel landmines. Beginning in early 1992 with two non-governmental organizations and a staff of one – herself, Williams oversaw the growth of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines to over 1,300 organizations in 95 countries working to eliminate the weapon

In an unprecedented cooperative effort with governments, UN bodies and the International Committee of the Red Cross, she served as a chief strategist and spokesperson for the ICBL as it dramatically achieved its goal of an international treaty banning antipersonnel landmines during a diplomatic conference held in Oslo in September 1997. A few weeks later it was announced that Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines would share the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize for their groundbreaking work leading to the Mine Ban Treaty.

Since January of 2006, Williams has served as the founding chair of the Nobel Women’s Initiative. Along with sister Nobel Laureate Dr. Shirin Ebadi of Iran, she took the lead in establishing the Initiative. The Nobel Women’s Initiative uses the prestige of the Nobel Peace Prize and the influence and access of the women Nobel Laureates themselves to support and amplify the efforts of women around the world working for sustainable peace with justice and equality. Mairead Maguire (Northern Ireland), Rigoberta Menchú Tum (Guatemala), Shirin Ebadi (Iran), Leymah Gbowee (Liberia) and Tawakkol Karman (Yemen) are the other members of the Initiative.

Williams is the Sam and Cele Keeper Endowed Professor of Peace and Social Justice in the Graduate College of Social Work at the University of Houston, where she has taught since 2003.

Her memoir on life as a grassroots activist, My Name is Jody Williams: A Vermont Girl’s Winding Path to the Nobel Peace Prize was released by the University of California Press in 2013. Through her story she hopes to inspire others to understand that helping bring about positive change for everyone is not “magic” or something only “important people” can do. Change occurs when so-called ordinary people act with others to help create the world in which we want to live. The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is not defined by who we are, but by what we do for the common good.

Steve Killelea's biography as published in the 2017 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

Founded by Steve Killelea in 2007, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP) is the world’s leading think tank dedicated to developing metrics to analyse peace and to quantify its economic value. It does this by developing global and national indices, calculating the economic cost of violence, analysing country level risk and understanding positive peace as a tangible and achievable measure of human well-being and development.

Steve Killelea has over 30 years’ experience in the information technology industry. Highly skilled in international marketing, business and product strategy, he has developed two highly profitable global companies with exceptional track records of accomplishment.

Over the last two decades, he has applied these skills to his many global philanthropic activities; establishing an internationally renowned global think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace and a private family foundation, The Charitable Foundation, which currently has over 2.6 million direct beneficiaries.

Dr. Oscar Arias's biography as published in the 2016 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

Oscar Arias, two-time President of Costa Rica and 1987 Nobel Peace Laureate, holds international stature as a spokesperson for the developing world. Championing such issues as human development, democracy, and demilitarization, he has traveled the globe spreading a message of peace and applying the lessons garnered from the Central American Peace Process to topics of current global debate.

The New York Times reported that Oscar Arias’ “...positions on Central American issues have become the standards by which many people in Congress and elsewhere have come to judge United States policy.” In a similar way, he has come to take a leading position in international fora and discourse.

Dr. Arias was born in Heredia, Costa Rica in 1940. He studied Law and Economics at the University of Costa Rica. His thesis, Grupos de Presión en Costa Rica (Pressure Groups in Costa Rica) earned him the 1971 National Essay Prize. In 1974, he received a doctoral degree in Political Science at the University of Essex, England. After serving as Professor of Political Science at the University of Costa Rica, Dr. Arias was appointed Costa Rican Minister of Planning and Economic Policy. He won a seat in Congress in 1978 and was elected secretary-general of the National Liberation Party in 1981. In 1986, Oscar Arias was elected president of Costa Rica.

Dr. Arias assumed office at a time of great regional discord. The fall of the Somoza dictatorship in 1979 and the introduction of the Sandinista regime in Nicaragua had already been a source of contention in Central America. The ideological and military interference of the superpowers, still entrenched in the Cold War, threatened to broaden this conflict in both scope and definition. Such intervention heightened the state of civil war that had by then claimed more than one hundred thousand lives in Guatemala. It aggravated internal unrest in El Salvador and Nicaragua, as well as border tensions between Nicaragua and its neighboring states: Honduras and Costa Rica. Despite the previous presidential administration’s decision not to become embroiled in the growing conflict, Costa Rica’s involvement seemed almost unavoidable. In the face of these threats, Dr. Arias intensified his efforts to promote peace.

Fr. Gregory Boyle's biography as published in the 2015 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

Father Gregory Boyle is the founder and Executive Director of Homeboy Industries, the largest gang intervention, rehabilitation and re-entry program in the United States, now it’s in 25th year.

A native Angeleno, Father Greg was ordained a Jesuit priest in 1984. He was transformed by his work in Bolivia, Mexico, and Folsom Prison with those who “live at the margins.” His dedication to finding a place for all in our society brought him to the Boyle Heights community of East Los Angeles, where he served as pastor of Dolores Mission Church, then the poorest parish in the city, from 1986 through 1992.

It was there that Father Greg started what would become Homeboy Industries, a nonprofit organization that employs and trains more than 300 former gang-members every year in seven social enterprises, from Homeboy Silkscreen & Embroidery to Homeboy Bakery and Homegirl Café. Now located in Downtown Los Angeles, Homeboy also provides a path to change and free, critical services to the 12,000 people who walk through the doors every year seeking a better life. Homeboy’s unique and innovative approach of on-the-job training in conjunction with essential wrap-around services, including mental health therapy, tattoo removal, and case management, has become a model for other organizations around the world.

Father Greg is the author of the NY Times bestselling book, Tattoos on the Heart: The Power of Boundless Compassion. His debut book has been honored by SCIBA (Southern California Indie Booksellers Association), Pen USA, Publishers Weekly, and Goodreads Choice Awards. He is currently working on his second book, Barking to the Choir: Now entering the kinship of God.

Father Greg has received numerous honorary degrees, awards and recognition including the Civic Medal of Honor, the California Peace Prize, and in 2011 was inducted into the California Hall of Fame. He serves on the U.S. Attorney General’s (DOJ) National Task Force on Children Exposed to Violence, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention’s (OJJDP) National Gang Center Advisory Board, the CA State Commission for Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention, the Loyola Law School Center for Juvenile Law and Policy (CJLP) Advisory Board, and the Regis University Board of Trustees.

Justice Murray Sinclair's biography as published in the 2014 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

The Honourable Justice Murray Sinclair was appointed Chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, which looks at those affected by the Indian Residential School system, in June 2009. He was Manitoba's first Aboriginal Judge and the second Aboriginal judge in Canada.

Justice Sinclair was appointed Associate Chief Judge of the Provincial Court of Manitoba in March of 1988 and to the Court of Queen's Bench of Manitoba in January 2001, and Co-Commissioner, along with Associate Chief Justice A. C. Hamilton, of Manitoba's Aboriginal Justice Inquiry.

In 2000, Justice Sinclair completed the Report of the Pediatric Cardiac Surgery Inquest, into the deaths of 12 children in the pediatric cardiac surgery program of Winnipeg’s Health Sciences Centre in 1994. He was awarded a National Aboriginal Achievement award in addition to many other community service awards, as well as eight Honourary Degrees for his work in the field of Aboriginal justice.

Anuradha Koirala's biography as published in the 2013 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

Human rights activist Anuradha Koirala is the founder and director of Maiti Nepal, a not-for-profit organization with the aim of preventing human trafficking, forced prostitution, and slavery, and providing services for both children and women who have endured untold pain and suffering, often in silence. Maiti Nepal now operates three prevention homes, nine transit homes, two hospices, and a high school, along with local and international campaigns to end human trafficking.

Anuradha Koirala has rescued more than 20,000 women and children, and is credited with preventing more than 45,000 young people from being trafficked. She has led change in her community by personally raiding brothels, patrolling parts of the India-Nepal border, and providing serves and shelter to those in need. The documentary The Day My God Died (2003) describes the important and sometimes dangerous work Anuradha Koirala and Maiti Nepal do for the community.

Ms. Koirala has received 30 national and international awards in recognition of her courageous acts and lifetime achievement to further the cause of children’s and human rights, including: the Peace Abbey Courage of Conscience Award (2006), the German unifem Prize (2007), and the Queen Sofia Silver Medal Award (2007). In 2010, she was selected as CNN’s Hero of the Year. As a result of her efforts, the Government of Nepal recognized September 5 as Anti-trafficking Day, and in 2002, she served as Assistant Minister of Women’s affairs and Social Welfare.

Dr. Martin Mansergh's biography as published in the 2012 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

Dr. Martin Mansergh (Fianna Fáil party) was the Irish government’s point person in the negotiation process that led to the formation of the 1998 Belfast, or “Good Friday” Agreement that ended the long war between the Provisional Irish Republican Army and the British government and that brought the Loyalist and Republican paramilitaries in from the cold and into the peace process.

Dr. Mansergh played a critical role in the negotiation process with Bertie Ahearn’s Irish-led government and Tony Blair’s British-led government, Unionist, Nationalist, Loyalist, and Republican political actors, as well as with U.S. Senate Majority leader George Mitchell, who mediated the process. The resulting Agreement led to a devolution of political control to a Northern Irish government, based in Stormont in Belfast, and the creation of a process to build a lasting peace among the people of Northern Ireland.

Dr. Mansergh also served as a member of the drafting committee of the Forum for Peace and Reconciliation in Northern Ireland. He was a co-winner, with Fr. Alec Reid and Rev. Roy Magee, of the 1994 Tipperary Peace Prize. He was Teachta Dála (M.P.) for the Tipperary South constituency in the Republic of Ireland from May 2007–February 2011. From 2008 to 2011, Dr. Mansergh served in the Fianna Fáil government as Minister of State at the Department of Finance (including special responsibility for the Office of Public Works) and at the Department of Arts, Sports and Tourism (with special responsibility for the Arts). He was a Senator in the 22nd Seanad. He is the author of The Legacy of History for Making Peace in Northern Ireland (2003), and was the subject of a biography, Martin Mansergh (2002), by Kevin Rafter.

Dr. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela biography as published in the 2010 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

Dr. Pumla Gobodo-Madikizela describes herself as an engaged global citizen. From 1996–2003 she served on the Human Rights Violation Committee of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission as coordinator of public hearings in the Western Cape. She facilitated private encounters between perpetrators of gross human rights violations and their victims. From this experience she focused her research on the role of forgiveness in the aftermath of mass trauma and violence.

In 2000, she was featured in the award-winning documentary Long Night’s Journey into Day, which chronicles four post-Apartheid hearings brought before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Her first book A Human Being Died That Night: A Story of Forgiveness (2003) earned her the Alan Paton Award in 2004 and the Christopher Award for non-fiction in 2004. She is co-author of Narrating our Healing: Perspectives on Healing Trauma (2007), and co-editor of Memory, Narrative and Forgiveness: Perspectives on the Unfinished Journeys of the Past (2009).

Dr. Gobodo-Madikizela is a recipient of the Dr. Jean Mayer Global Citizenship Award at Tufts University (2001) for her insights on transitional justice, the Eleanor Roosevelt Val-Kill Medal Award (2007) for her significant contributions to society, and honoured among “100 People Who Made a Difference” in the Permanent Exhibit of Hall of Heroes in the National Freedom Centre in Cincinnati, Ohio (2005). She was nominated for the Reconciliation Award in South Africa (2004) and the Best Woman of the Year in the education category in South Africa (2004).

She has been involved in many socially responsible projects and serves on the boards of national and international non-profit organizations. She travels internationally lecturing on the relationship between trauma and forgiveness, and her opinion pieces have appeared in national newspapers, such as The Mail & Guardian, The Cape Times, The New York Times, and The L.A. Times.

Dr. Gobodo-Madikizela completed her undergraduate degree in social work and honors degree in psychology at Fort Hare University, her M.A. in clinical psychology at Rhodes University, and her Ph.D. in psychology at the University of Cape Town. She holds an honourary Doctor of Law from Holy Cross College in Worcester, Massachusetts, and is currently professor of psychology at the University of Cape Town.

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish's biography as published on the 2009 Sol Kanee Lecture poster:

Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish, MD, MPH, is a Gazan physician who is a passionate and eloquent proponent of peace between Palestinians and Israelis. He has devoted his life to medicine and the search for reconciliation in the Middle East. For years, Dr. Abuelaish has been an important figure in Palestinian-Israeli relations. He has treated Palestinian and Israeli patients and worked in Israeli hospitals, and is a committed advocate of forgiveness and healing as engines in the peace journey.

Tragically, on January 16th, Dr. Abuelaish lost three of his daughters and a niece when Israeli tank shells shattered his house in the Jabalia camp. The calamity was broadcast live on Israeli television, capturing for the first time the lethal toll that the battle was taking on Gaza’s civilian population and conveying it right into the living rooms of Israelis and others around the world. For a moving tribute by Dr. Abuelaish to his daughters, see www.daughtersforlife.com.

In the face of this horrific personal tragedy, Dr. Abuelaish has continued to advocate for peace and harmonious coexistence between Palestinians and Israelis. Dr. Abuelaish continues to live up to the description bestowed upon him by an Israeli colleague: a magical, secret bridge between Israelis and Palestinians.

An international foundation, inspired by Dr. Abuelaish’s vision and commitment to peace and reconciliation, is being created, with headquarters in Toronto and the Gaza Strip. The Foundation, with an international mandate, is being established to nurture leadership among women and girls in Gaza and the Middle East in the fields of education and health. Inspired by Dr. Abuelaish's values and lifetime commitment to working across challenging situations, the foundation will honour the memory of his daughters and serve as a living legacy.

Educated at Harvard (Master’s of Public Health), Dr. Abuelaish is currently associate professor at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health at the University of Toronto, Canada. Dr. Abuelaish is a finalist for the European Union’s 2009 Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought and a nominee for the 2010 Nobel Peace Prize.

The Honourable Flora MacDonald's biography as published on the 2008 Sol Kanee Lecture poster:

Following many years of distinguished leadership in federal politics, Flora MacDonald, P.C., C.C., O.Ont., O.N.S., has devoted herself to improving the lives of others in Canada and around the world. Through her humanitarian work—particularly in the areas of human rights, peace, human security, refugee advocacy, environmental conservation, and social and international development—she has become a leading figure in the movement to alleviate human suffering worldwide.

In 2007, she founded Future Generations Canada, a registered not-for-profit organization committed to teaching and enabling sustainable community change. FGC integrates environmental conservation with development, and is designed to facilitate three-way partnerships among communities, government, and nongovernmental organizations.

Her work has been recognized by numerous awards: the Jordanian El Kawkab Medal by King Hussein for significant contribution to public service, 1993; Companion of the Order of Canada, 1998; the Pearson Peace Medal 1999; the Churchill Society’s Award for Excellence in the Cause of Parliamentary Democracy, 2002. In 2004, she received the Padma Shri Award (India’s highest award to civilians) from the President of India for distinguished service in the field of public affairs—the first Canadian to be accorded this special recognition.

Flora MacDonald has served as a chair on the board of organizations, including: the International Development Research Centre (1992-1997), HelpAge International (1996-2001), Shastri Indo-Canada Advisory Council (1997-2004), the World Federalists of Canada (2000-2004), Partnership Africa Canada (2002-2004). She is also a member of the Carnegie Commission on the Prevention of Deadly Conflict, and Doctors Without Borders. Currently she is on the board or advisory council of the following organizations: Canadian Council for Refugees, CARE Canada, Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (Patron), Friends of the Library and Archives Canada, Partnership Africa Canada, UNIFEM Canada, iEARN-Canada, World Computer Exchange, and National Museums of Scotland.

Among her many achievements, in 1979, the Honourable Flora MacDonald became the first woman in Canadian history to serve as Secretary of State for External Affairs, in Prime Minister Joe Clark’s government. She has also served as Minister of Employment and Immigration (1984-1986), and Minister of Communications (1986-1988). She holds honourary degrees from a number of universities in Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom.

Chief Oren Lyons's biography as published on the 2007 Sol Kanee Lecture poster:

Dr. Chief Oren Lyons is Faithkeeper and Chief of the Turtle Clan of the Onondaga Nation of the Six Nations of the Iroquois Confederacy, the Haudenosaunee or “People of the Longhouse” who uphold Gai Eneshah G’ Nah, the Great Law of Peace. He was raised in the traditional lifeways of the Iroquois on the Seneca and Onondaga reservations in central New York State.

Chief Lyons is Professor Emeritus of American Studies at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Through his educational efforts, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution in 1988 that formally acknowledges the contribution of the Iroquois Confederacy to the development of the U.S. Constitution.

For nearly four decades, Chief Lyons has been a leading advocate for First Nations People, nationally and internationally. He participated in meetings of indigenous peoples in Geneva under the auspices of the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations; he serves on the Executive Committee of the Global Forums of Spiritual and Parliamentary Leaders on Human Survival; and he is a principal leader in the Traditional Circle of Indian Elders, which is a council of grassroots leadership of major First Nations of North America. On December 10, 1992, he gave the keynote address to the United Nations General Assembly that opened “The Year of Indigenous Peoples” (1993).

In 1990, Chief Lyons negotiated between the governments of Canada, Quebec, and New York State and the Mohawk of Kanesahtake; and he led a delegation of 17 Native American leaders who met with President Bush in Washington on April 16, 1991. Professor Lyons is the recipient of the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor, the National Audubon Award, and the First Annual Earth Day International Award of the Rosa Parks Institute for Human Rights. He holds an honorary law degree from Syracuse University.

He is featured in the recent Leonardo DiCaprio film, The 11th Hour, and in a 1991 PBS Bill Moyers documentary, Oren Lyons the Faithkeeper.

Dr. Oren Lyons was an all-American lacrosse player, and in 1993, was elected to the Lacrosse National Hall of Fame. In 1958, he received a degree in Fine Arts from Syracuse University, and worked as a commercial artist in New York City. He has exhibited his own paintings and is a noted American Indian Artist. He has said: “When we walk upon Mother Earth, we always plant our feet carefully because we know the faces of our future generations are looking up at us from beneath the ground. We never forget them.”

Rabbi Michael Melchior's biography as published on the 2005 Sol Kanee Poster.

Rabbi Michael Melchior is a recognized international leader in the promotion of world peace and interfaith dialogue. The recipient of the Sovlanut Peace Prize as well as the Norwegian Nobel Institute’s Prize for Tolerance and Bridge-Building, Rabbi Melchior helped to initiate the Alexandria Declaration in which the religious leaders in the Holy Land agreed to work for the peaceful resolution of conflicts.

The Rabbi is a member of the Knesset in Israel, serves as Israel's Deputy Minister for Israeli Society and the World Jewish Community, chairs the Knesset's Children's Rights Committee, and co-chairs its Caucus for Jewish-Arab relations. He established the Citizen's Accord Forum between Jews and Arabs in Israel, which campaigns for the correction of injustices against Israel's Arab minority, and he helped to create the Mosaica Center for Interfaith Dialogue. He is the international relations director of the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity.

Rabbi Melchior was born in Denmark and is a seventh generation Scandinavian Chief Rabbi.

Biography of Dr. Lloyd Axworthy as published in the 2003 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

Lloyd Axworthy is Director and CEO of the Liu Institute for Global Issues at the University of British Columbia. Lloyd Axworthy's political career spanned 27 years, during six of which he served in the Manitoba Legislative Assembly and twenty-one in the Federal Parliament. He has held several cabinet positions: Minister of Employment and Immigration, Minister Responsible for the Status of Women, Minister of Transport, Minister of Human Resources Development, Minister of Western Economic Diversification, and Minister of Foreign Affairs.

Dr. Axworthy served as Canada's foreign minister from 1995 to 2000, during which time he became internationally known for his advancement of the human security concept. For example, in 1997, he was nominated for a Nobel Peace prize for his leadership in the Ottawa Treaty, a landmark global treaty banning anti-personnel landmines. He received the North-South Institute's Peace Award for his effort in establishing the international Criminal Court and the protocol on Child Soldiers.

Since leaving public life in the fall of 2000, Dr. Axworthy has been the recipient of several prestigious awards and honours. The Vietnam Veterans of America Foundation presented him with the Senator Patrick J. Leahy Award in recognition of his leadership in the global effort to outlaw landmines and the use of children as soldiers and to bring war criminals to justice. Princeton University awarded him the Madison Medal for his record of outstanding public service. He received the CARE International Humanitarian Award. Also he was elected Honorary Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Further, he has been named to the Order of Manitoba and to the Order of Canada.

He has received honourary doctorates from Lakehead University, University of Victoria, University of Denver, Niagara University, the University of Winnipeg, and Dalhousie University.

Currently, Dr. Axworthy holds postions on several boards and companies. He joined the law firm of Fraser Milner Casgrain as a consultant on trade and international affairs. He is a Board member of the MacArthur Foundation, Human Rights Watch—where he chairs the Advisory Board For Americas Watch, Lester B. Pearson College, University of the Arctic, the Pacific Council on International Policy, on the Port of Churchill Advisory Board, as well as on the Advisory Board of the Ethical Globalization Initiative. He is also serving as Chairman of the Human Security Centre for the United Nations University for Peace (UPEACE); Co-Chair of the State of the World Forum, Commission on Globalization; and Honourary Chairman of the Canadian Landmine Foundation.

He graduated in 1961 with a B.A. from United College (now the University of Winnipeg), obtained his M.A. in Political Science from Princeton University in 1963, subsequently earning a Ph.D. from Princeton in 1972.

Lloyd Axworthy remains involved in international matters and lectures widely in Canada, the U.S. and abroad. His book Navigating a New World: Canada's Global Future, Knopf Canada, will be released this fall.

Lloyd Axworthy is married to Denise Ommanney. They have three children and live on Vancouver Island.

Biography of His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan as published in the 2002 Sol Kanee Lecture program:

Born in Amman on March 20th, 1947, Prince El Hassan is the younger brother of His Late Majesty King Hussein. Their branch of the Hashemite family is directly descended from the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of the Islamic Religion, and is the forty-second generation.

Prince El Hassan had his early schooling in Amman, largely with tutors. He then went to Summer Fields School in England, and later to Harrow. He graduated from Christ Church, Oxford University with a B.A. (Hon.) in Oriental Studies, after which he completed an M.A. degree. His Royal Highness was officially invested as Crown Prince to the Hashemite Throne of Jordan in April, 1965. He served as the King's closest political advisor, confidant and deputy, and he acted as Regent in the King's absence from the country. In 1999, he was made His Royal Highness Prince El Hassan bin Talal.

Prince El Hassan has initiated, founded, and is actively involved in many Jordanian institutes including the Royal Scientific Society, the Arab Thought Forum, the Hashemite Aid and Relief Society, the Arab Youth Forum, the Centre for Educational Development, the Institute for Diplomacy, and the Royal Institute for the Inter-Faith Studies.

The Prince also chairs, and is a member of many international committees and organizations. He is the Chair of the Policy Advisory Commission for the World Intellectual Property Organization, President of the Club of Rome, a Member of the International Board of the Council of Foreign Relations, and Moderator of the World Conference on Religion and Peace.

Prince El Hassan is the author of six books including: A study on Jerusalem (1979), Christianity in the Arab World (1994), Continuity, Innovation and Change: Selected Essays (2001). Decorated by over twenty nations, his awards include ten Honorary Doctoral Degrees, the Abu Bakr Al-Siddique Medal of the Organization of Arab Red Crescent and Red Cross Societies, and the Order of Al Hussein bin Ali.

His Royal Highness married Her Royal Highness Princess Sarvath in 1968. Princess Sarvath comes from a distinguished family of the Indian-subcontinent. They are blessed with three daughters: Princesses Rahma, Sumaya and Badiya, and a son, Prince Rashid; and with five grandchildren - Tariq, Zein El Sharaf, Ali, Sukayna and Aysha.