2006 Hilton Humanitarian Prize to be awarded to Women for Women International

LOS ANGELES - Vaclav Havel, an internationally renowned Czech intellectual and playwright and advocate of human rights and democracy who served as the last president of Czechoslovakia and the first president of the Czech Republic, will deliver the keynote address at the 2006 Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize/Symposium on October 30 in New York City.

"Vaclav Havel's life and work align perfectly with the theme of the day's symposium - Democracy and Development: Political, Economic and Human Rights," said Steven M. Hilton, president and CEO of the Hilton Foundation. "He has been a champion of human rights even to the point of being imprisoned for his beliefs. Under his leadership, the Czech Republic gained its independence and his fellow citizens won political, economic and human rights."

Havel is currently in residency at Columbia University and the Untitled Theater Company #61 is hosting a Havel Festival, the first ever-complete festival of his plays, at various venues in New York City from October 26 through December 4.

The one-day symposium is an open dialogue between speakers and invited participants who are comprised of decision makers from governments, multilateral agencies, human rights organizations, NGOs, and major humanitarian institutions. Following the symposium, Hilton will present the 2006 $1.5 million Conrad N. Hilton Humanitarian Prize to Zainab Salbi, founder and CEO of Women for Women International, an organization that provides women survivors of war and other conflicts with the tools and resources to move from crisis and poverty to stability and self-sufficiency.

Kemal Dervis, Administrator of the United Nations Development Programme, will be the morning keynote speaker discussing "Democracy, Development and Economic Governance." A morning panel will consist of Paula Dobriansky, U.S. Under-Secretary of State for Global Affairs; William Easterly, Professor of Economics, New York University; and Jose Antonio Ocampo, Under-Secretary-General for Economic & Social Affairs at the United Nations.

Other speakers include Nils Daulaire, President and CEO, Global Health Council; Ousmane Sy, Director, Centre for Political and Institutional Expertise in Africa; Nancy Birdsall, President, Center for Global Development; Ivan Vejvoda, Executive Director, Balkan Trust for Democracy; John Danilovich, CEO Millennium Challenge Corporation; and Ann Veneman, Executive Director, UNICEF.

Founded in 1993 by Zainab Salbi, herself a survivor of war and conflict in Iraq, Women for Women International today works with women survivors of wars and conflicts in nine countries: Iraq, Afghanistan, Congo, Sudan, Kosovo, Colombia, Nigeria, Rwanda and Bosnia and Herzegovina. Picking up where humanitarian aid leaves off, Women for Women has served more than 70,000 women and distributed approximately $28 million in direct aid and micro-credit. loans, assisting 350,000 family members.

The symposium proceedings will be broadcast via the Internet and transcripts will be available through the Hilton Foundation website ( www.hiltonfoundation.org).

Based in Los Angeles, the Hilton Foundation was created in 1944 by the late hotel entrepreneur and business leader, Conrad N. Hilton, who left his fortune to the foundation with instructions to help the most disadvantaged and vulnerable throughout the world without regard to religion, ethnicity or geography. Along with its related entities, the foundation has total assets of approximately $2.6 billion and, since its inception, has provided more than $450 million for charitable projects throughout the United States and the world. It is one of the few U.S. foundations with a worldwide mission, in keeping with the wishes of Conrad Hilton who noted that the Hilton fortune was built internationally as well as domestically. The foundation is an independent nonprofit organization and is not part of the Hilton Hotels Corporation.

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

Conrad N. Hilton Foundation

The Conrad N. Hilton Foundation has assets of over $2.5 billion and was started by the late hotel pioneer. It funds both domestic and international humanitarian efforts and awards the annual $1.5 million Hilton Humanitarian Prize.

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