Lieutenant Commander Katja L.H. Samuel

I have great pleasure in nominating Lieutenant Commander Katja L.H. Samuel Royal Navy for the Asle Enger Award 2004; and the following gives a flavour, not a full account, of her energy and activities.

Lt Cdr Samuel joined the Royal Navy after university in 1992, at which time she became a member of the Officers' Christian Union (OCU). Her naval career has included service on 4 warships; she became a barrister in 1996, and specialised in International Humanitarian Law (IHL), which she demonstrated her commitment in a practical way when she organised the voluntary delivery of humanitarian aid leading a party of junior RN ratings to Albania in 1995.

As the legal adviser to Flag Officer Sea Training (2001-2002), Lt Cdr Samuel developed a wide range of materials for chaplains and others to help with IHL training, setting up, running and lecturing at conferences on the subject. Indeed I was thrilled to contribute myself to one such conference on the legality and morality of intervention operations with the senior Royal Naval legal officer (the Judge Advocate to the Royal Navy) and the Chaplain in Chief RN at HQ FOST in July 2002.

She has been active in OCU ever since joining, working to promote a young officer's programme to envision them for mission within their services from 1995 -98, running two weekends a year for up to 50 officers each time. She served on the General Committee of the OCU from 200-2003, and has been active in supporting the OCU ladies' work since 1995, leading prayers, ministry teams and worship.

Since attending the Czech Eurosminar with Accts Military Ministries International (Accts MMI) in 1194, Lt Cdr Samuel has been an active supporter of and participant in the work of Accts MMI. She gave a paper at the ACCTS (US) sponsored Military Ethics Symposium in Riga, Latvia, in March 2002 entitled 'Sound Military Ethics are not Optional' (see ACCTS (US) website), and at the Denver Seminary War, Violence and the Bible Conference in February 2004 titled 'The Legal, Political and Ethical Triangle'. These are the tip of the iceberg in terms of her contribution to the debate on ethical issues, where she will have a lasting impact in the United Kingdom and elsewhere.

Lt Cdr Samuel leaves the Royal Navy in June 2004 to pursue a further study in this field.

In all of her naval career Lt Cdr Samuel has shown an unswerving and exemplary Christian commitment; her leadership has been outstanding, and her dedication to studying, teaching and demonstrating throughout her service that right moral actions are an essential underpinning of all military operations make her a superb model for others to follow, and I thoroughly recommend her for this prestigious award.

Yours sincerely

Ian Geoffrey Campbell Durie CBE
Major General (Retired) the Reverend

Katja S. and her mother, Sybille Samuel, in the artist Veslemøy Nystedt Stoltenberg's workshop	Katja receives the 2004 Asle Enger Award and diploma from Helge Utaker (president of KBS of Norway) assisting by Grethe M. Robertsen
Lt Cdr Katja L.H. Samuel with the 2004 Asle Enger Award for Achievement in Military Ethics. Norway, April 24, 2004	From left : Katja with the diploma, Katja's mother with the Asle Enger award painting, KBS president Helge Utaker and Grethe M. Robertsen