The Noble Peace Prize 2009

8/9/2019 The Noble Peace Prize 2009

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The NOBLE PEACE PRIZE 2009

The favourites:

Sima Samar:

In 2002, Sima Samar became the first women's affairs minister in Afghanistan's post -Taliban interim government.

Prior to her appointment, Samar had dedicated her life to the preservation of basic rights for women and girls in

Afghanistan. She fled her country in 1984 during the Soviet ocupation and moved to the border town of Quetta,

Pakistan, where she founded the Shuhada Organization to support the education and health needs of Afghanwomen and girls. With dogged persistence and at great personal risk, she kept her schools and clinics open in

Afghanistan even during the most repressive days of the Taliban regime, whose laws prohi bited the education of

girls past the age of eight. When the Taliban fell, Samar returned to Kabul and accepted the post of Minister for

Women's Affairs, even as she continued to run her clinics and schools. But her persistent calls for equality and

justice attracted the attention of Afghanistan's powerful religious leaders, who still saw no place for women in

Afghan public life. She was taunted by male colleagues, and she began to receive thinly veiled death threats from

Islamic conservatives hoping to sil ence her. She was ultimately forced to step down from her cabinet post, which

was left unfilled. She subsequently was offered a non -cabinet position chairing the Independent

AfghanistanHuman Rights Commission, a position she still hold s.

Dr. Denis mukwege:



Dr Mukwege had treated 21,000 women suffering from devastating gynecological injuries as a result of rape in Congos

brutal war. He is the only gynecologist treating these wounds in the country. Oct. 14, 2008 .

Seeing pregnant women arrive at the hospital on a donkey and dying during childbirth encouraged Mukwege to study

gynaecology and obstetrics. Noticing that so many women had been sexually abused, he later founded the Panzi hospital inthe Democratic Republic of Congo. Hundreds of thousands of female sexual violence victims have been helped so far

Handicap International and Cluster munitiion coalition:

These organizations are recognized for their consistently serious efforts to clean up cluster bombs, also known as landmines. Innocent civilians are regularly killed worldwide because the unseen bombs explode when stepped upon. Thirty -

four nations are known to have air -dropped cluster bombs from the 1970s to the 1990s

Piedad Cordoba:

Piedad Córdoba is a senator for Colombias Liberal Party, and leads Colombians for Peace Colombianas y Colombianos

por la Paz - a civil society initiative that has been consistently arguing in favor of a negotiated solution to the conflictbetween Álvaro Uribes government and the FARC guerrillas. Since 2007, Cordoba has played a key role in negotiating therelease of hostages held by FARC, at first in collaboration with Venezuelas President Hugo Chávez. After Uribe objected to

Chavezs involvement, Cordoba has been spearheading the negotiations with some engagement from the Braziliangovernment and the International Red Cross. Given Cordobas efforts, there have now been four rounds wh ere FARC hasunilaterally released a total of sixteen hostages. Suspicious of other possible intermediaries, including the Red Cross, whos eemblem has been used by Uribe to lure his soldiers into F ARC heartlands, the movement expressed their confidence inCórdoba. The main concern now is with the remaining hostages, who are mostly ordinary Colombians, with no

international prominence to draw attention and diplomatic pressure. While it is the hostage releases that have broughtCórdoba and her organization the most attention, her role as a principal proponent of peace negotiations and of long term

reconciliation is probably more important to her candidacy for the Nobel Peace Prize.



Ghazi bin Muhammad:

Ghazi bin Muhammad, a professor in the Philosophy of Islamic Faith at Jordan University, as well as a member of theJordanian Royal family, is playing an increasingly central role as an advocate of interfaith dialogue. Prince Ghazi was the k ey

actor in bringing about the 2005 Amman Initiative, in which 170 Islamic scholars, Shia and Sunni, from 40 countries met inAmman to work out what they referred to as a theological counter -attack against terrorism. The Amman Message wasfollowed in 2007 by a new initiative A Common W ord Between Us and You where a gathering of prominent Islamicscholars have formulated a letter to leaders of the Christian Faith, calling for mutual understanding and peace. The

Common Word letter was in part a response to Pope B e nedict XVIs famous 2006 lecture at Regensburg, who many saw asan attack on Islam. In May 2009, Prince Ghazi gave a broadly accommodating welcome speech when the Pope visitedAmman. The importance of Prince Ghazis initiatives to date lies first and forem ost in the way he engages Islamic theology,

institutions and leaders in a debate on the relationship between Islam and other faiths, thereby contributing a wider

platform for interreligious dialogue for Muslims in general.

The Winner:

Barack Hussein Obama:

President Obama had been awarded the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize for "his extraordinary efforts to strengthen internationaldiplomacy and co-operation between people.´

A few Achievements:

y Barack Obama promised a new era of American leadership in which military might would be tempered byhumility and restraint.

y Mr Obama reached out to the Muslim world and said that America must earn its greatness once again.

y His promise to close Guantanamo Bay and some of his key quotations were extremely powerful but will time

reveal the true identity of this man of words.



y Has called for nuclear disarmament but anything significant is yet to come forth.

So we finally see another President who has done a lot of talking and pushing his hidden agenda as to why theyare in Afghanistan and using similar scare tactics with other world leaders that we must complete the job. He

agreed with a new surge tactic and delivered more troops to Afghanistan and even changed the US Commanderwith little result to date. We now have this new commander saying that if more troops are n ot provided the war

will be lost.

We see another President taking control of the United Nations by publically announcing what others countries

should or should not do and clearly leaves the UN surplus to requirements.

Now the question-Why was he awarded the Noble prize?

y Was it given to him as a reward for delaying the Israeli War Crime process?

y Was it given to him for pretending to pull his troops out of Iraq but allowing private military security

firms to put thousand of their people in and continue clandestine operations?

y Was it given to him for extending the war in Afghanistan and wanting to put thousands of troops intothe war zone?

y Was it given to him for wanting to red uce nuclear weapons but in disguise creating many more smallerconventional weapons of mass destruction?

y Was it given to him for standing by Israel and giving in to all their demands?

y Was it given to him for applying contin ues pressure on Iran that is no threat to the US?

y Was it given as a reward for propping up the financial institutions and making the poor pay the price?

So is the Noble Peace prize all about talking the TALK or walking the WALK?

Suraj Dey,

MBA-1st semester

Banglore university

Documents

The Noble Peace Prize 2009