Great honour: Malala nominated for Nobel Prize
French, Canadian and Norwegian parliament members have all separately nominated her.
Malala Yousafzai. PHOTO: FILE
OSLO:
Teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
This year’s award will be announced in early October, but speculation was already underway as the deadline for nominations ran out on February 1. Apart from the teenage icon, some Eastern-bloc activists are also nominated.
“A prize to Malala would not only be timely and fitting with a line of awards to champions of human rights and democracy, but also ... would set both children and education on the peace and conflict agenda,” said the head of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, Kristian Berg Harpviken. Others known to have been nominated are human rights activists whose names have been mentioned in previous years, including Belarussian human rights activist Ales Belyatski -- currently behind bars -- and Russia’s Lyudmila Alexeyeva.
Trying to predict who will win the Nobel Peace Prize is a difficult task, complicated by the fact that the list of nominees each year is kept secret for 50 years.
But thousands of people are eligible to nominate candidates — including former laureates, members of parliament and government around the world, some university professors, and members of certain international organisations -- and they are allowed to reveal the names they have put forward.
As a result, it is known that French, Canadian and Norwegian parliament members have all separately nominated Malala.
Beliatsky’s and Alexeyeva’s names have meanwhile been put forward by two Norwegian lawmakers.
“They have both defied authoritarian state structures and the illegal and illegitimate abuse of power,” one of the two MPs, Jan Tore Sanner, said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2013.
Teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai has been nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
This year’s award will be announced in early October, but speculation was already underway as the deadline for nominations ran out on February 1. Apart from the teenage icon, some Eastern-bloc activists are also nominated.
“A prize to Malala would not only be timely and fitting with a line of awards to champions of human rights and democracy, but also ... would set both children and education on the peace and conflict agenda,” said the head of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, Kristian Berg Harpviken. Others known to have been nominated are human rights activists whose names have been mentioned in previous years, including Belarussian human rights activist Ales Belyatski -- currently behind bars -- and Russia’s Lyudmila Alexeyeva.
Trying to predict who will win the Nobel Peace Prize is a difficult task, complicated by the fact that the list of nominees each year is kept secret for 50 years.
But thousands of people are eligible to nominate candidates — including former laureates, members of parliament and government around the world, some university professors, and members of certain international organisations -- and they are allowed to reveal the names they have put forward.
As a result, it is known that French, Canadian and Norwegian parliament members have all separately nominated Malala.
Beliatsky’s and Alexeyeva’s names have meanwhile been put forward by two Norwegian lawmakers.
“They have both defied authoritarian state structures and the illegal and illegitimate abuse of power,” one of the two MPs, Jan Tore Sanner, said.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 2nd, 2013.