Tag: Nobel Peace Prize

Categories
-Top News Asia News China

Uyghur rights group nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

This is the second consecutive Nobel Prize nomination for the Uyghur rights group after being nominated in 2023 as well….reports Asian Lite News

The World Uyghur Congress (WUC), a Germany-based rights organization, that voices for the human rights and freedom of the Uyghur People through peaceful means, was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 2024 on Wednesday.

Notably, this is the second consecutive Nobel Prize nomination for the Uyghur rights group after being nominated in 2023 as well.

The WUC informed in a press release that the nominations for the Nobel Prize were submitted by Canadian Member of Parliament, Vice-Chair of the Subcommittee on International Human Rights (SDIR), Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, and Senator of the Italian Republic and former Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Giulio Terzi.

“It is an immense honour to see the World Uyghur Congress being nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize two years in a row,” World Uyghur Congress President, Dolkun Isa said in the press release. “This nomination significantly contributes to the recognition of the WUC’s valuable efforts in advancing democracy and human rights for Uyghurs.”

Isa further said that the nomination sends a ‘powerful message’ highlighting the urgent need to act against the Uyghur genocide being committed by China.

“The nomination of the World Uyghur Congress for the Nobel Peace Prize sends a powerful message against authoritarianism, highlighting the urgent need to end the Uyghur genocide. It is crucial for the international community to actively acknowledge and condemn the genocidal policies enacted by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) against the Uyghurs, rather than allowing them to go unnoticed and unpunished,” the statement added.

The nomination letters of the WUC highlighted the ‘non-violent approach’ that the Uyghur people have chosen, even when they are facing “harsh repression.”

“The international community should acknowledge and cherish the non-violent approach that the Uyghur people have chosen in the face of the harsh repression they are being subjected to. Such an effort should not be taken for granted and the Nobel Peace Prize would definitely provide the Uyghur community invaluable encouragement,” the nomination letter stated.

It added that over the past 20 years, the World Uyghur Congress has significantly contributed to bringing global attention to the extensive campaign of physical, religious, linguistic, and cultural repression orchestrated by the Chinese Communist Party against the Uyghurs and other Turkic peoples in East Turkistan.

The World Uyghur Congress thanked Canadian MP Brunelle-Duceppe, and Italian Senator Terzi for their “thoughtful recognition of the WUC’s crucial work”.

“The WUC is truly honoured by their support, as it reflects a shared commitment to promoting peace, human rights, and democracy for the Uyghur community,” it said. (ANI)

ALSO READ: Pakistan Closes Iran, Afghanistan Borders

Categories
-Top News UK News

Attenborough, WHO among nominees for Nobel Peace Prize

Environmentalists have won the Nobel Peace Prize in the past, including Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former US Vice President Al Gore, reports Asian Lite News

British nature broadcaster David Attenborough, the World Health Organization and Belarusian dissident Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya are among the nominees for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize after being backed by Norwegian lawmakers who have a track record of picking the winner.

Thousands of people, from members of parliaments worldwide to former winners, are eligible to propose candidates.

Norwegian lawmakers have nominated an eventual Peace laureate every year since 2014, with the exception of 2019, including one of the two laureates last year, Maria Ressa.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, which decides who wins the award, does not comment on nominations, keeping secret for 50 years the names of nominators and unsuccessful nominees.

However, some nominators like Norwegian lawmakers choose to reveal their picks.

Attenborough, 95, is best known for his landmark television series illustrating the natural world, including ‘Life on Earth’ and ‘The Blue Planet’.

He was nominated jointly with the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), which assesses the state of biodiversity worldwide for policy-makers.

They were nominated for “their efforts to inform about, and protect, Earth’s natural diversity, a prerequisite for sustainable and peaceful societies,” said nominator Une Bastholm, the leader of the Norwegian Green Party.

Environmentalists have won the Nobel Peace Prize in the past, including Kenyan activist Wangari Maathai, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and former US Vice President Al Gore.

Still, “there is no scientific consensus on climate change as an important driver of violent combat,” said Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, cautioning against a “too simplistic connection between the two.”

The coronavirus pandemic has been front and center of people’s concerns over the past two years and this year the international body tasked with fighting it, the WHO, has again been nominated.

“I think the WHO is likely to be discussed in the Committee for this year’s prize,” said Urdal.

Exiled Belarusian opposition leader Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya was nominated for the second year running for her “brave, tireless and peaceful work” for democracy and freedom in her home country, said parliamentarian Haarek Elvenes.

Other nominees revealed by Norwegian lawmakers are jailed Russian dissident Alexei Navalny, the International Criminal Court in the Hague, WikiLeaks and Chelsea Manning, NATO, aid organization CARE, Iranian human rights activist Masih Alinejad and the Arctic Council, an intergovernmental forum for cooperation for Arctic nations.

Nominations, which closed on Monday, do not imply an endorsement from the Nobel committee.

The 2021 laureate will be announced in October.

Additionally, the report also stated that Pope Francis was nominated for his efforts to help tackle climate change and also for working towards peace and reconciliation. Kofe was nominated by the leader of Norway’s Liberal Party, Guri Melby. WHO was nominated for the second consecutive year after being at the forefront of the COVID-19 pandemic. The director of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, Henrik Urdal said that the organisation is “likely to be discussed in the Committee for this year’s prize”.

Nobel Peace Prize 2021 was awarded to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov “for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.”  In a statement, the academy noted Ressa and Muratov’s “courageous fight for freedom of expression” in the Philippines and Russia.

ALSO READ-Easing curbs should be slow and steady: WHO

Categories
-Top News Media World News

Nobel Peace Prize 2021 awarded to two Journalists

“The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov is intended to underscore the importance of protecting and defending these fundamental rights,” the Committee said…reports Asian Lite News.

Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov were on Friday conferred the Nobel Peace Prize 2021 for “their courageous fight for freedom of expression” in their homeland, the Philippines and Russia, respectively and as “representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions”.

Maria Ressa

Announcing the coveted prize, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said it chose Ressa, the founder and chief of Rappler, digital media company for investigative journalism, and Muratov, the founder of Russian daily Novaya Gazeta, for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, “which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace”.

Filipino journalist Maria Ressa, whose digital investigative media outfit has been chronicling abuses and excesses of power in the Phillipines, especially in the present, and Russian journalist Dmitry Muratov, who is heading a free paper taking a critical view of the government for nearly a quarter-century now in face of all challenges, were on Friday conferred the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021.

Honour for the courageous fight for freedom of expression

Announcing the 2021 laureates, the Norwegian Nobel Committee said that it chose Ressa, the founder and chief of Rappler, and Muratov, the founder of Russian daily Novaya Gazeta, for “their courageous fight for freedom of expression”, and as “representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions”.

Stressing that “free, independent and fact-based journalism serves to protect against abuse of power, lies, and war propaganda”, it said it “is convinced that freedom of expression and freedom of information help ensure an informed public” and that these rights are “crucial prerequisites for democracy and protect against war and conflict”.

“The award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov is intended to underscore the importance of protecting and defending these fundamental rights,” the Committee said.

It noted that without freedom of expression and freedom of the press, it will be difficult to successfully promote fraternity between nations, disarmament and a better world order to succeed in our time, and thus, this year’s Nobel Peace Prize award “is therefore firmly anchored in the provisions of Alfred Nobel’s will”.

The Committee said Ressa has used freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines. As a journalist and CEO of the Rapplers, which she co-founded in 2012, she has “shown herself to be a fearless defender of freedom of expression”.

Dmitry Muratov

Rappler has focused critical attention on the Rodrigo Duterte regime’s “controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign”, which has led to so many deaths that it “resembles a war waged against the country’s own population”.

Ressa and Rappler have also documented how social media is being used to spread fake news, harass opponents and manipulate public discourse, it added.

The Committee said that Muratov has, for decades, defended freedom of speech in Russia “under increasingly challenging conditions”.

Muratov was one of the founders in 1993, and Editor-in-Chief since 1995, of the Novaya Gazeta, whose “fact-based journalism and professional integrity have made it an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media”.

“Since its start-up in 1993, Novaya Gazeta has published critical articles on subjects ranging from corruption, police violence, unlawful arrests, electoral fraud and ‘troll factories’ to the use of Russian military forces both within and outside Russia,” it said, despite its opponents having “responded with harassment, threats, violence, and murder” with six of its top journalists killed, including Anna Politkovskaya who wrote revealing articles on the war in Chechnya.

However, “Muratov has refused to abandon the newspaper’s independent policy. He has consistently defended the right of journalists to write anything they want about whatever they want, as long as they comply with the professional and ethical standards of journalism,” the Committee said.

ALSO READ.-Nobel Prize to be ‘home-delivered’ this year

READ MORE-TAGORE: The Nobel Prize, Impact on Europe and Alexander VON Zemlinsky