Seán MacBride, Nobel Peace Prize, 1974

Seán MacBride (26 January 1904 – 15 January 1988) was an Irish government minister, a prominent international politician and a former Chief of Staff of the IRA.[1] Rising from a domestic Irish political career, he founded or participated in many international organisations of the 20th century, including the United Nations, the Council of Europe and Amnesty International. He received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974, the Lenin Peace Prize for 1975–1976 and the UNESCO Silver Medal for Service in 1980.

International politics

MacBride was a founding member of Amnesty International and served as its International Chairman. He was Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists from 1963 to 1971. Following this, he was also elected Chair (1968–1974) and later President (1974–1985) of the International Peace Bureau in Geneva. He was Vice-President of the Organisation for European Economic Co-operation and President of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.

He drafted the constitution of the Organisation of African Unity (OAU); and also the first constitution of Ghana (the first UK African colony to achieve independence) which lasted for nine years until the coup of 1966. Some of MacBride's appointments to the United Nations System included:

• Assistant Secretary-General
• President of the General Assembly
• High Commissioner for Refugees
• High Commissioner for Human Rights
• High Commissioner for Namibia
• President of UNESCO's International Commission for the Study of *Communications Problems, which produced the controversial 1980 MacBride report.

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Fought in the Irish Civil War and remained a member of the IRA, of which he became chief of staff in 1936. He resigned from the IRA in 1937, joined Irish Government in 1948 as Minister for External Affairs. He quit politics in 1961 and became campaigner for human rights. becoming a founding member of Amnesty International. Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974.