Category Archives: Nobel peace prize

Belarus jails Nobel peace prize-winning dissident Ales Bialiatski

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Pro-democracy activist sentenced to 10 years as part of Alexander Lukashenko’s purge of opponents

Belarus has sentenced the Nobel peace prize-winning dissident Ales Bialiatski to 10 years in prison as part of Alexander Lukashenko’s purge of opponents after the 2020 pro-democracy protests against his rule.

Bialiatski, a pro-democracy activist, is the founder of Viasna, the authoritarian country’s most prominent human rights group. He was detained in July last year and charged with smuggling cash into Belarus to fund his group’s activities, but is widely recognised as being persecuted for his opposition to Lukashenko.

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Nobel peace prize given to human rights activists in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine

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Jailed campaigner Ales Bialiatski, Memorial and Center for Civil Liberties win award that will be seen as condemnation of Putin

The jailed Belarusian human rights activist Ales Bialiatski, the Russian human rights organisation Memorial and the Ukrainian human rights organisation Center for Civil Liberties have won the 2022 Nobel peace prize, in an award the committee said was to honour champions of “peaceful coexistence” during the most tumultuous period in Europe since the second world war.

“The peace prize laureates represent civil society in their home countries,” said Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee. “They have for many years promoted the right to criticise power and protect the fundamental rights of citizens.”

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Nobel peace prize auctioned by Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov fetches record $103.5m

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Muratov, who was awarded the gold medal in October 2021, said proceeds would go to Unicef to help children displaced by Ukraine war

The Nobel Peace Prize that Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov was auctioning off to raise money for Ukrainian child refugees has sold for $103.5m (£84.5m), shattering the record for a Nobel.

“I was hoping that there was going to be an enormous amount of solidarity,” Muratov said after the sale. “But I was not expecting this to be such a huge amount.”

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Russian editor auctions Nobel medal to raise money for Ukraine refugees

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Novaya Gazeta editor Dmitry Muratov will sell 23-carat gold medal in US on Monday, donating proceeds to charity

The editor of the Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta is auctioning his Nobel peace prize medal, with the proceeds to go to helping children displaced by the war in Ukraine.

Dmitry Muratov led one of the last major independent media outlets critical of Vladimir Putin’s government after others either closed or had their websites blocked after the invasion of Ukraine. In March, Novaya Gazeta announced it was suspending operations for the duration of the war after it became a crime to report anything on the conflict that veered from the government line.

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Philippines court allows Nobel laureate Maria Ressa to go to Norway

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Journalist permitted to receive peace prize in person after judge eases travel restrictions

The Philippine journalist Maria Ressa will be allowed to travel overseas so she can accept her Nobel peace prize in person after a court gave her permission to leave the country to visit Norway this month.

Ressa, who is subject to travel restrictions because of the legal cases she faces in the Philippines, shared the prize with the Russian investigative journalist Dmitry Muratov, amid growing concerns over curbs on free speech worldwide.

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FW de Klerk obituary

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Last president of South Africa under apartheid who oversaw the orderly transfer of power

Frederik Willem – FW – de Klerk, who has died aged 85, was the last president of South Africa under apartheid. He was often compared with Mikhail Gorbachev, the last leader of the Soviet Union, for his work in consigning a bankrupt and reviled regime to oblivion.

When De Klerk succeeded PW Botha in 1989, he oversaw an event no less unexpected than the collapse of Soviet communism was when Gorbachev came to power in 1985. His stunning act of realpolitik in announcing sweeping political reform, including the release of his eventual successor, Nelson Mandela, was the grand gesture that saved his country, and in 1993 they shared the Nobel peace prize. The following year Mandela became the country’s first democratically elected leader.

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Maria Ressa says her Nobel prize is for ‘all journalists around the world’

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Press groups and rights activists hail peace prize won by vocal critic of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte

Veteran Philippine journalist Maria Ressa has said her Nobel peace prize was for “all journalists around the world” as she vowed to continue her battle for press freedom.

Ressa, co-founder of news website Rappler, and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov were awarded the prize on Friday for their efforts to “safeguard freedom of expression”.

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Moment Maria Ressa learns of Nobel peace prize win during Zoom call – video

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Maria Ressa, the journalist and founder of the Philippine news organisation Rappler, said she was 'speechless' after learning of her Nobel peace prize win while participating in a panel discussion on journalism in south-east Asia.

Ressa could be seen answering a call from the Norwegian Nobel committee informing her of her win on the event's live video feed. Reacting with visible shock, she briefly left the panel to continue the call.

'It's a recognition of how we're going to win the battle for truth,' she said, after returning to the discussion. 'We hold the line.'

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Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov win Nobel peace prize

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Filipina and Russian given 2021 award as organisers warn of threat to independent media worldwide

Campaigning journalists from the Philippines and Russia have won the 2021 Nobel peace prize as the Norwegian committee recognised the vital importance of an independent media to democracy and warned it was increasingly under assault.

Maria Ressa, the chief executive and cofounder of Rappler, and Dmitry Muratov, the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta, were named as this year’s laureates by Berit Reiss-Andersen, the chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee.

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Nobel peace prize winner Maria Ressa: ‘A world without facts means a world without truth’ – video

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Maria Ressa, the journalist and founder of the Philippine news organisation Rappler, said 'we are fighting for facts' after she was announced the joint-winner of the 2021 Nobel peace prize with the Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov. 'This shows that the Nobel peace prize committee realised that a world without facts means a world without truth and trust,' she said. 

Ressa, a former CNN bureau chief, founded Rappler in 2012. She and her organisation have faced threats of closure and arrest after publishing critical coverage of President Rodrigo Duterte's bloody war on drugs. Ressa was named a Time Person of the Year in 2018 for her work on press freedom.

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The Nobel committee should resign over the atrocities in Tigray

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Members of the body that awarded the 2019 peace prize to Ethiopia’s premier, Abiy Ahmed, should all depart in protest

The war on Tigray in Ethiopia has been going on for months. Thousands of people have been killed and wounded, women and girls have been raped by military forces, and more than 2 million citizens have been forced out of their homes. Prime minister and Nobel peace prize laureate Abiy Ahmed stated that a nation on its way to “prosperity” would experience a few “rough patches” that would create “blisters”. This is how he rationalised what is alleged to be a genocide.

Nobel committee members have individual responsibility for awarding the 2019 peace prize to Abiy Ahmed, accused of waging the war in Tigray. The members should thus collectively resign their honourable positions at the Nobel committee in protest and defiance.

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Jared Kushner nominated for Nobel peace prize

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Kushner and his deputy Avi Berkowitz join Greta Thunberg and Alexei Navalny on the nominations list

Former White House senior adviser Jared Kushner and his deputy, Avi Berkowitz, have been nominated for the Nobel peace prize for their role in negotiating four normalisation deals between Israel and Arab nations known as the “Abraham Accords”.

Kushner, who is Trump’s son-in-law, and Berkowitz, who was the Middle East envoy, were key figures in negotiating deals between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain, Sudan and Morocco.

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A Nobel prize for feeding the world can’t erase the shame of Yemen’s starving children | David Beasley

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I feel pride, but can’t shake my sense of failure that the World Food Programme’s media moment comes as hunger rages

I have done the usual things you do before an awards ceremony. After extensive high-level consultation, I think I now have the right suit and tie. Carefully folded in my pocket is a long list of people to praise, many far more deserving of praise than I. I am ready.

Growing up in a small South Carolina town, I never imagined life would bring me to this moment and allow me to be part of the wonderful, blessed enterprise I have found in WFP, the World Food Programme.

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PM who won Nobel peace prize takes Ethiopia to brink of civil war

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Abiy Ahmed made his name as a reformer – but was there always an authoritarian waiting to come out?

The beginning of the week saw Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, in one role: a forward-looking statesman, with a vision of peace and prosperity, and a tailored suit. The 44-year-old leader was at Addis Ababa’s recently modernised airport to welcome General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan, effective leader of neighbouring Sudan for a two-day visit including trade discussions and tours of the Ethiopian capital’s skyscrapers, a seedling nursery and an industrial park.

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UN’s World Food Programme wins Nobel peace prize

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Organisation wins prestigious award for efforts to combat hunger in war-hit areas

The World Food Programme (WFP) has won the 2020 Nobel peace prize for its efforts to combat hunger and to improve conditions for peace in conflict areas.

The chairwoman of the Norwegian Nobel committee, Berit Reiss-Andersen, revealed the 2020 laureate at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, where coronavirus restrictions drastically reduced the usual throng of reporters in attendance.

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European tour tests Chinese foreign minister’s pulling power

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The reassessment of China highlighted by Wang Yi’s trip has political, economic and security implications

The Chinese foreign minister Wang Yi did not exactly end his week-long European tour with his tail between his legs but he may have been chastened if he ever believed Beijing could simply win over Europe by pointing to the extremist cold war rhetoric of Europe’s natural ally America.

The five-nation tour surely marked the end of an era where China can any longer get away with simple homilies on win-win solutions, multilateralism and non-interference in another’s internal affairs. Pointing to Donald Trump is also no longer enough to win European friends.

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Nobel Women’s Initiative founders ‘shaken’ as seven staff resign

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External review launched following collective resignation, which cited need for ‘profound organisational reforms’

Five women Nobel laureates said this week they were “profoundly shaken and saddened” by the resignation of seven staff at the organisation created to promote peace, justice and women’s rights.

Shirin Ebadi, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Leymah Gbowee, Tawakkol Karman and Jody Williams said while they were aware of challenges within the Nobel Women’s Initiative, they “deeply regret not recognising the depth of their broader impact on staff”. They have launched an external review.

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Nobel peace prize winner Abiy Ahmed embroiled in media row

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Officials say winner’s refusal to face public questioning is ‘highly problematic’

Abiy Ahmed, the prime minister of Ethiopia, has come under pressure to appear before the media in Oslo this week when he collects the Nobel peace prize on Tuesday.

Senior officials of the Norwegian Nobel Institute have said the 2019 winner’s refusal to attend any event where he could be asked questions publicly is “highly problematic”.

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Nobel winner Peter Handke avoids genocide controversy in speech

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Literature laureate accused of supporting Slobodan Milošević gives inaugural lecture

The controversial 2019 Nobel literature laureate, Austrian author Peter Handke, gave his inaugural lecture on Saturday night in front of the Swedish Academy and in the face of intense criticism of his selection for the honour.

Handke, 77, who is perhaps best known for the novel Wings of Desire, is accused of supporting the genocidal Serbian regime led by Slobodan Milošević and of denying the extent of Serbian terror and killing during the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia.

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Protests against Ethiopia’s Nobel peace prize PM turn deadly

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Violent clashes leave at least 67 dead as activist compares Abiy Ahmed to a dictator

Violence in Ethiopia that began with protests against the prime minister, Abiy Ahmed, and quickly morphed into ethnic clashes has left 67 people dead in Oromia state, a police official said on Friday.

“The total number dead in Oromia is 67,” said Kefyalew Tefera, the regional police chief, adding that five of the dead were police officers.

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