Welcome, everyone; it is a pleasure to see you as always. This is a very special inaugural event and one that I am very excited about because as we all know, the history of Goler T. Butcher is very special. This award has been awarded since 1997 to a distinguished person of American or other nationality for outstanding contributions to the development or effective realization of international human rights, and as we also know, it was named for Goler Teal Butcher, a remarkable person, prominent African American scholar, and professor of international law at Howard University School of Law, who served as the assistant administrator for Africa at the U.S. Agency for International Development in the Carter administration, and was a leading advocate for ending global hunger. We are here very much to honor the legacy.