Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad Win Nobel Peace Prize
Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad Win Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. The announcement was made Friday.
Nadia Murad is a Yazidi rights activist and the first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). Denis Mukwege is a gynecologist who helps victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“This year’s Nobel Peace Prize is firmly embedded in the criteria spelled out in Alfred Nobel’s will. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad have both put their personal security at risk by courageously combating war crimes and seeking justice for the victims,” the Nobel Committee said.
The decision to jointly-award the prestigious prize, has the potential to help end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war, the UN said in a statement.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres, speaking at UN Headquarters in New York, said that “in defending the victims of sexual violence in conflict, they have defended our shared values.”
He praised Dr. Mukwege’s “fearless” championing of women raped and abused in conflict, repairing “shattered bodies” as a skilled surgeon but also restoring “dignity and hope”.
BREAKING NEWS:
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. #NobelPrize #NobelPeacePrize pic.twitter.com/LaICSbQXWM— The Nobel Prize (@NobelPrize) October 5, 2018
Ms. Murad, he said, had given voice to “unspeakable abuse” in northern Iraq, when Dae’sh terrorists brutally targeted the Yazidi ethnic minority in 2014. “She has pursued support for victims of human trafficking and sexual slavery, and justice for perpetrators.”
The UN chief said the award was part of a “growing movement to recognize the violence and injustice” faced by women and girls, the world over.
