In January 2003, just months before the U.S. began its "Shock and Awe" campaign and invaded Iraq, Frank Kromkowski rallied a throng of protesters at the state Capitol and called on them to urge Congress to avoid war.

Of course, the war came anyway, and while 31 months have passed since the U.S. opened its blitz on international television, Kromkowski and his band of peace seekers continue to gather in cities across the state, hoping to bring an end to what they see as an unjust war.

For that and other human rights efforts, the Montana Chapter of Amnesty International will give Kromkowski its Montana Human Rights Award in a ceremony here tonight.

The award recognizes Kromkowski as "peace seeker of the year," along with his efforts to advance all aspects of human rights -- such issues as global peace, gay rights, gender work, prison work and "prisoners of consciousness," the latter a focus of Amnesty International.

"We have a moral obligation to address social wrongs," Kromkowski said Thursday. "The world is changed one person at a time. I have never believed the idea that we are powerless and that we shouldn't do anything."

Eve Malo, the coordinator of the Montana Chapter of Amnesty International and president of the Dillon Peace Seekers, said the award is now in its second year. Mary Craig of Butte won the award last year.

Malo said people are nominated by like-minded organizations from across the state. A panel of three from the Montana Chapter of Amnesty International selects the winner.

"This is for his lifetime work," Malo said. "It's volunteer work and that needs to be acknowledged."

Jo Anne Thun, co-chair of the Helena Peace Seekers, said Kromkowski is highly deserving of the award and the recognition it brings.

"He's been a good teacher and a good mentor," Thun said. "I've learned a lot from him."

Thun and Malo both credited Kromkowski for unifying the Montana Peace Seekers, an organization they say now claims several thousand members from around the state. They said he's also brought several human rights speakers to Montana, including Kathy Kelly from the Wheels of Justice, and a Palestinian speaker in October.

"He's been instrumental in helping promote peace," Thun said. "I think we're more active because of him. He gets the information out."

Kromkowski said the scope of his work also includes that for the poor and hungry. Over the years, aside from the Peace Seekers, he's been part of the Montana Hunger Coalition, the Friendship Center and the Montana Low-Income Coalition, among others.

"I've been doing this sort of thing since I was a student at Notre Dame in 1963 and worked on a project in Peru," Kromkowski said. "It was a natural part of our family, not something I discovered when I got to college. Being a Christian meant following Christ and caring for the most vulnerable, those who are a special concern to our Lord."

Kromkowski graduated from Notre Dame in 1966 with a degree in liberal studies. He went on to earn his master's degree in philosophy from Boston University in 1969. Over the years, he has taught at Notre Dame, Carroll College and Dickenson College.

On Thursday, he described the successes and failures of the Montana Peace Seekers, an organization that has come and gone over the years, depending the nation's standing abroad.

"Our initial failure was a failure to convince all of Montana that the war shouldn't have been pursued," he said. "But most people in Montana and across the country now believe the war was not justified and that it was a huge mistake, and that's been our success."

Kromkowski also said that he and the Montana Peace Seekers remain nonpartisan. As an organization, the group is less interested in politics than it is in advancing human rights and in working for equality, he said.

"We're not Democrats or Republicans and we don't take a partisan stance," he said. "We commit ourselves to nonviolence."