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what do a 17 year old Pakistani a
Norwegian explorer a Tibetan monk and an
American pastor have in common they were
all awarded the Nobel Peace Prize among
the top prestigious awards in the world
this prize has honored some of the most
celebrated and revered international
figures and organizations in history to
understand how it all got started we
have to go back to the 1800s Swedish
chemist Alfred Nobel was then mostly
known for the invention of dynamite a
breakthrough which launched his career
as a successful inventor and businessman
30 years later he had become extremely
wealthy but never married and had no
children when his will was opened after
his death it came as a surprise that his
fortune was to be used for five prizes
in physics chemistry medicine literature
and peace these prizes Illustrated his
lifelong commitment to sciences and his
passion for literature but what about
peace because no bells name was tied to
inventions used in the war industry many
have assumed that he created the Peace
Prize out of regret however this is all
speculation as he never expressed any
such sentiments and his inventions were
also used for constructive purposes
instead many historians connect Alfred
Nobel's interest for the peace caused to
his decade-long friendship and
correspondence with an Austrian pacifist
named Bert ovens owner bonds owner was
one of the leaders of the international
peace movement and in 1905 after nobels
death she became the first woman to be
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize no bells
will outlined three criteria for the
Peace Prize which unlike the other
sweden-based prizes would be
administered in Norway disarmament peace
congresses and brotherhood between
nations these standards have since been
expanded to include other ways of
promoting peace such as human rights and
negotiations and the prize doesn't just
have to go to one person about a third
of Nobel Peace Prizes
have been
aired by two or three laureates so how
do nominations for the prize work
according to the Nobel foundation a
valid nomination can come from a member
of a National Assembly state government
or an international court eligible
nominators also include university
rectors professors of the social
sciences history philosophy law and
theology and previous recipients of the
Peace Prize but if you want to know more
about who was recently nominated you'll
have to be patient all information about
nominations remains secret for 50 years
take Martin Luther King jr. we didn't
actually know who nominated him until
2014
his nominators turned out to be the
quakers who would won the prize
previously and eight members of the
Swedish parliament there's no limit to
the number of times a person or
organization can be nominated in fact
Jane Addams recognized as the founder of
Social Work in the United States was
nominated ninety-one times before
finally being awarded the prize
the absence of a laureate can also be
symbolic the 1948 decision not to award
the prize following the death of Mahatma
Gandhi has been interpreted as an
attempt to respectfully honor the
so-called missing laureate as with the
other Nobel Prizes the Peace Prize can't
be awarded posthumously
the secret selection process takes
almost a year and is carried out by the
five appointed members of the Norwegian
Nobel Committee who are forbidden from
having any official political function
in Norway starting with a large pool of
nominations exceeding 300 in recent
years they assess each candidate's work
and create a shortlist
finally the chairman of the Nobel
Committee publicly announces the
laureate in October the award ceremony
takes place on December 10th the
anniversary of Alfred Nobel's death the
prize itself includes a gold medal
inscribed with the Latin words pro pacce
at fraternity Tata gentium or for the
peace and Brotherhood of men as well as
a diploma and a large cash prize
recently it's been 8 million Swedish
kronor or roughly a million u.s. dollars
which is split in the case of multiple
laureates and while laureates can use
the prize money as they choose in recent
years many have donated it to
humanitarian or social causes for many
years the Nobel Peace Prize was
predominantly awarded to European and
North American men but in recent years
significant changes have been taking
place making the prize more global than
ever
23 organizations and 103 individuals
that's 87 men and 16 women have made up
the 126 Nobel Peace Prize laureates
in history they include Desmond Tutu for
his nonviolent campaign against
apartheid in South Africa
Jody Williams for her campaign to ban
and clear anti-personnel mines Rigoberta
menchú tomb for her work for social
justice and reconciliation based on
respect for the rights of indigenous
peoples Martti Ahtisaari for his efforts
to resolve international conflicts in
namibia kosovo and Indonesia and Ansan
suchi for her nonviolent struggle for
democracy and human rights in Myanmar
they're just a few examples of the
people who have inspired us challenged
us and demonstrated through their
actions that there are many paths to
peace
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