The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded this Friday (5) to a duo considered an example of efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon in wars and armed conflicts. Congolese Denis Mukwege and Yazidi people activist Nadia Murad are this year's recipients.
“Each of them in their own way helped to give greater visibility to sexual violence in wartime, so that perpetrators can be held accountable for their actions,” says the official text from the Nobel Prize Academy in Sweden. The award recognizes the greatest contribution to world peace.
Gynecologist, Denis Mukwege works to care for and defend victims of violence and sexual abuse. Nadia Murad, from the Yazidi minority persecuted in several countries, is considered a witness to the abuses. She was a sex slave in Iraq.
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The list of nominees is kept confidential, hence the difficulty in knowing exactly who they are. However, it was reported that, this year, there were 311 competitors: 216 people and 115 organizations.
The names of Korean leaders Kim Jong-Um, from North Korea, and Moon Jaen-in, from South Korea, were on the list, as well as the President of the United States, Donald Trump, and the United Nations Refugee Agency ( UNHCR).
Another organization listed was the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) for the defense of individual freedoms and, mainly, of immigrants and refugees in the United States.
History
The first Nobel Peace Prize was awarded in 1901. International leaders involved in resolving international conflicts, such as Shimon Peres, Yasser Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin, have received the award in 1994.
Environmental issues, human rights and the fight against poverty were also among the highlights of the Nobel Peace Prize. Last year, the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons received the award.
(Renata Giraldi, Agência Brasil)
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