Nobel Peace Prize Awarded in Oslo

8/2/2019 Nobel Peace Prize Awarded in Oslo

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Nobel Peace Prize awarded in Oslo

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf speaks at the ceremony in Oslo

The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize has been presented to three women at aceremony in the Norwegian capital, Oslo.

This year's award was won jointly by Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the president ofLiberia, Leymah Gbowee, the Liberian peace activist, and Yemeni pro-

democracy campaigner Tawakkol Karman.

They were recognised for their "non-violent struggle" for women's safety andfor women's rights to participate in peace-building work.

Chinese lawyer Liu Xiaobo won in 2010.

Each of this year's winners was presented with a gold medal and a diploma.

The prize money of $1.5 million (958,000) will be shared between them.

'Humbled and honoured'

Mrs Sirleaf, 72, is Africa's first elected female head of state and is credited withhelping to end Liberia's 14 year civil war. The announcement of her awardcame days before the country's presidential election.

She went on to win a run-off poll last month but her rival boycotted the votealleging the first round was rigged.

The Liberian president told delegates that she was honoured to be following inthe footsteps of the Africans who had won the prize before her, including


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South Africa's Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Kofi Annan, the Ghana-bornformer UN secretary-general.

You represent one of the most important motive forces for change intoday's world, the struggle for human rights in general and the struggle ofwomen for equality and peace in particular

Thorbjorn JaglandChairman, Norwegian Nobel Committee

Mrs Sirleaf also expressed her "deepest sympathy" for the people of Norway inthe wake of the twin attacks carried out by Anders Behring Breivik on 22 Julythat led to the deaths of 77 people.

"On behalf of all the women of Liberia, the women of Africa, and womeneverywhere in the world who have struggled for peace, justice and equality, Iaccept with humility the 2011 Nobel Prize for Peace," she said.

Ms Gbowee, 39, led a peaceful campaign to end Liberia's civil war and oust itsex-President Charles Taylor.

She said: "I am humbled and honoured to have been selected and I receivethe prize in the name of women who continue to work for peace, equality and

justice across the world."

"I believe that the prize this year not only recognises our struggle in Liberiaand Yemen.

"It is in recognition and honour of the struggles of grass roots women in Egypt,the Democratic Republic of Congo, Cote d'Ivoire [Ivory Coast], Tunisia, inPalestine and Israel, and in every troubled corner of the world."

Ms Karman, a 32-year-old mother of three, founded the organisation WomenJournalists Without Chains in 2005 and becomes the first Arab woman to win

the prize.

'Freedom and dignity'

Addressing the audience in Arabic, she said: "Thank you for the award, which Iconsider as an honour to me personally, to my country Yemen, to Arabwomen, to all women of the world, and to all people aspiring to freedom anddignity.

Recent Nobel Peace Prize winners


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2010 - Liu Xiaobo - Chinese dissident lawyer

2009 - US President Barack Obama

2008 - Martti Ahtisaari, former Finnish president

2007 - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), former US vice-president and

environmental campaigner Al Gore 2006 - Muhammad Yunus, founder of Grameen Bank

2005 - International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its president, Mohamed El Baradei

"I accept the award on my behalf and on behalf of the Yemeni and Arabrevolutionary youth, who are leading today's peaceful struggle against tyrannyand corruption with moral courage and political wisdom."

Speaking before the presentation at Oslo's City Hall, Thorbjorn Jagland, thechairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said: "We congratulate this

year's winners of the Nobel Peace Prize.

"You represent one of the most important motive forces for change in today'sworld, the struggle for human rights in general and the struggle of women forequality and peace in particular."

The Nobel committee received a record 241 nominations for the 2011 prize.

The first Nobel peace prize was awarded in 1901 and the award takes itsname from the Swedish scientist Alfred Nobel

Documents

Nobel Peace Prize Awarded in Oslo