The Nobel Peace Prize will be awarded on Friday against the backdrop of devastating conflicts raging around the world, particularly in the Middle East, Ukraine and Sudan.
Alfred Nobel stated in his will that the prize should be awarded for “the most or the best work for the fraternity of nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of congresses of peace.” Since 1901, 104 Nobel Peace Prizes have been awarded, mainly to individuals but also to organizations known to promote peace efforts.
Last year’s prize went to jailed Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi for her advocacy for women’s rights and democracy, and against the death penalty. The Nobel Committee said it was also in recognition of “the hundreds of thousands of people” who demonstrated against “Iran’s theocratic regime of discrimination and oppression targeting women.”
But in a year of such conflict, the Norwegian Nobel Committee that decides the winner could choose not to award a prize. The last time that happened was in 1972.
In the Middle East, persistently rising levels of violence have killed tens of thousands of people over the past year, including thousands of children and women. The war, sparked by a bloody attack on Israel by Hamas-led militants on October 7, 2023, that killed around 1,200 people, mostly civilians, has spread to the wider region.
According to the Gaza Ministry of Health, more than 42,000 people have been killed in the war in Gaza. The Health Ministry does not distinguish between civilians and combatants, but says more than half are women and children. In Lebanon, more than 1,400 people have been killed, thousands injured and about 1 million displaced since mid-September, when the Israeli army dramatically expanded its offensive against Hezbollah.
The war in Ukraine, sparked by the Russian invasion, is entering its third winter, with staggering loss of life on both sides.
The UN has confirmed more than 11,000 Ukrainian civilian deaths, but this does not take into account as many as 25,000 Ukrainians believed to have died during the Russian capture of the city of Mariupol or unreported deaths in the occupied territories.
Western officials estimate Russian military casualties at around 600,000, with perhaps as many as 150,000 dead, and public reports indicate there have been around 150 Russian civilian casualties, mainly in the Belgorod border area.
The number of Ukrainian military deaths was last announced in February at 31,000 and the president has said there are six wounded for every soldier killed.
On the African continent, Sudan has been devastated by a seventeen-month war that has so far killed more than 20,000 people and displaced more than 8 million from their homes, with another approximately 2 million people in the country already displaced before hostilities broke out. .
The Nobel Prizes carry a cash prize of 11 million Swedish crowns ($1 million). Unlike the other Nobel Prizes that are selected and announced in Stockholm, founder Alfred Nobel decided that the Peace Prize would be established and awarded in Oslo by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee.
The Nobel season ends on Monday with the announcement of the winner of the economics prize, formally known as the Bank of Sweden Prize for Economic Sciences, in memory of Alfred Nobel.
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Corder reported from The Hague, Netherlands, and Becatoros from Athens, Greece. Lori Hinnant in Paris and Vanessa Gera in Warsaw, Poland, contributed.
