UN Secretary General Kofi Annan To Keynote American Jewish Committee Tribute To Ambassador Morris Abram

American Jewish Committee
Wednesday, 24 November 1999

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan will be the keynote speaker at the American Jewish Committee tribute to Ambassador Morris Abram on Sunday, December 12, at 6:00 p.m. at the Plaza Hotel.

Ambassador Richard Holbrooke, the Permanent Representative of the United States to the UN, and Ambassador Yitzhak Lior, Deputy Director General for International Organizations at Israel's Foreign Ministry, also will address the AJC dinner.

"Morris is an icon - in the law, in civil rights, in academia, in the Jewish world. He is a great and innovative leader," said Bruce M. Ramer, President of the American Jewish Committee, who will present AJC's National Distinguished Leadership Award to Ambassador Abram at the dinner.

"Through Ambassador Abram's relentless and principled efforts, our nation, our world, and the Jewish people and the State of Israel are in vastly better shape than they were a half century ago," said David A. Harris, Executive Director of the American Jewish Committee.

"The American Jewish Committee, Ambassador Abram's home for so many years, is privileged and proud to pay tribute to this giant among us."

Ambassador Alfred Moses, Special Presidential Emissary for Cyprus and a former president of AJC, is chairman of the tribute, and Jack Lapin, Chairman of AJC's Board of Governors will lead off the evening's program.

Throughout Ambassador Abram's illustrious career, which began on the prosecution staff of Justice Jackson at the Nuremberg Trials, he has been a tireless champion of democratic principles, a passionate advocate of social justice and a devoted friend of Israel and the Jewish people.

A former president of the American Jewish Committee, Ambassador Abram has served, by appointment, five American presidents. His decades of service have influenced the shaping of civil rights and education in America and international human rights.

During the past decade Ambassador Abram has focused his work on the UN, first as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, and since 1993, as founding Chairman of UN Watch, an organization established and supported by Edgar M. Bronfman and the World Jewish Congress.

UN Watch has rapidly gained wide international respect, earning a reputation for effectively monitoring the UN, particularly in regard to combating anti-Semitism and advocating fairness for the State of Israel.

Earlier this year, UN Watch took steps to formalize a permanent relationship with AJC, broadening the scope of AJC's international work. Like AJC, UN Watch has been vigilant in calling attention to the double standard at the UN that discriminates against Israel.

In addition to serving as AJC President in the 1960s, a time when he spearheaded AJC's role in the civil rights movement, Ambassador Abram has served as Chairman of the National Conference of Soviet Jewry, Chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, Chairman of the United Negro College Fund, President of Brandeis University, and founding Chairman of the Cardozo School of Law at Yeshiva University.

Five American presidents have called upon Ambassador Abram. He served John F. Kennedy as general counsel of the Peace Corps; Lyndon B. Johnson as U.S. representative to the UN Commission on Human Rights; Jimmy Carter as Chairman of the President's Commission for the Study of the Ethical Problems of Medicine; Ronald Reagan as Vice Chairman of the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights; and George Bush as the U.S. Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva.

For more information, or to contact American Jewish Committee, see their website at: www.ajc.org