Shirin Ebadi

ernance and human rights. Efforts to promote respect for human rights can help prevent armed conflict and mass atrocities. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Shirin Ebadi, herself a leading human rights defender, stated in her Nobel lecture that: “[i]f the twenty-first century wishes to free itself from the cycle of vi

mmitment to poverty reduction. Iceland also attaches special importance to the rights of women and children. As the Iranian Nobel Peace Prize winner, Shirin Ebadi, so rightly pointed out in her Nobel Peace Prize Lecture on 10 December 2003, “To disregard women and bar them from active participation in political