Dr. José Ramos-Horta, is a 1996 Nobel Laureate for Peace, the former President of Timor-Leste, and a Patron of the International Peace Foundation. Ramos-Horta began his career in journalism in 1969 in Timor-Leste. He was a co-founder of FRETILIN, the Revolutionary Front for the Independence of Timor-Leste. On 28 November, 1975, after more than 400 years of Portuguese occupation, FRETILIN proclaimed independence and established the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste. Ramos-Horta was appointed FRETILIN’s Minister for External Affairs and Information. He was asked to go overseas to gain international support for the new country. On 4 December, 1975, José Ramos-Horta left Timor-Leste for New York. Three days later, Indonesia invaded and occupied the island.Arriving in New York, he addressed the United Nations Security Council, which adopted a unanimous resolution demanding that Indonesia withdraw its forces from Timor-Leste. From 1975 to 1999, Ramos-Horta was the permanent representative for FRETILIN at the United Nations — the youngest diplomat in the history of the UN. He traveled extensively lobbying governments and creating networks of supporters for the cause of his people.In 1990 he settled in Sydney, Australia, and founded the Diplomacy Training Program in the University of New South Wales. In December 1996 José Ramos-Horta and Bishop Carlos Belo were awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for “their sustained efforts towards a just and peaceful solution to the conflict in Timor-Leste, based on the people’s right to self-determination”. A portion of the funds received from the Nobel Prize were used to establish the Jose-Ramos-Horta Microcredit Fund for the Poor, which is in full operation today, with a payback rate of 97%. In December 1999 Ramos-Horta returned to his homeland for the first time in almost 25 years. Thousands of Timorese crowded the airport and the seaside promenade of Dili to cheer him home. He was appointed Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation in 2002.On 10 July, 2006, he was sworn in as the Prime Minister of Timor-Leste, following the resignation of then Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri. In 2007 he was elected President of the country by a 70% margin. He was sworn in as the second President of Timor-Leste on 20 May, 2007. Ramos-Horta holds an Executive Program for Leaders in Development Diploma from Harvard, Master of Arts in Peace Studies and Public International Law at the Hague Academy of International Law and at Antioch University in the U.S. He was trained in Human Rights Law at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg and attended Post-graduate courses in American Foreign Policy at Columbia University in New York. He is a Senior Associate of the University of Oxford’s St. Antony’s College and until today continues in his role as the international voice of East Timor. He also holds a number of honorary degrees and has written numerous books and articles about East Timor and international law.His latests appointments include: Chair, High Level Independent Panel on UN Peace Operations, to review UN peace and security mechanism (October 2014 – June 2015); Co-Chair for the Independent Commission on Multilateralism (UN Reform), International Peace Institute, New York, (September 2014 – June 2016) and Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the UN Integrated Peace Building Mission in Guinea-Bissau (West-Africa), (Jan 2013 – June 2014). Over the years, Ramos-Horta has actively participated in numerous international conferences dealing with self-determination and de-colonization, human rights, law of the sea, world criminal court and small arms and disarmament. Ramos-Horta was injured and survived an assassination attempt by a band of rebel soldiers on 11 February 2008. He was born on 26 December, 1949, in Dili, Timor-Leste. He had 11 brothers and sisters, three of whom were killed during the Indonesian occupation.
He has been engaged in numerous arts and film projects for humanity around the world and believes passionately in the empowerment of the youth through the arts, filmmaking, culture and media in the promotion of human rights causes.