BFF-15 Global leaders, or grassroots campaigners? Nobel Peace Prize wide open

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BFF-15

NOBEL-PEACE

Global leaders, or grassroots campaigners? Nobel Peace Prize wide open

OSLO, Oct 5, 2018 (BSS/AFP) – The bookies’ odds point towards the Koreans,
or Donald Trump. The experts are betting on the fight against sexual violence
or defenders of the press. But all speculation ends Friday when the Nobel
Peace Prize is unveiled in Oslo.

At 0900 GMT, the annual Nobel prize-giving week reaches its peak as the
five-member Norwegian committee ends the guessing game by announcing this
year’s winner.

And anticipation is likely to be heightened after the postponement of this
year’s Literature Prize for the first time in 70 years over a rape scandal
that came to light as part of the #MeToo movement which took off exactly a
year ago.

This year, a total of 331 individuals and organisations were nominated for
the prestigious peace award, almost a record number. But with the list a
closely guarded secret, guessing who might be a contender is largely a game
of chance.

Among the bookmakers, the choice was largely unanimous with North Korean
leader Kim Jong Un and his South Korean counterpart Moon Jae-in frontrunners
for the prize for their efforts at rapprochement between the two nations.

But choosing Kim may be a step too far for the Norwegian committee, given
the UN’s damning verdict on North Korea’s “long-standing and ongoing
systematic, widespread and gross violations of human rights”.

Another unexpected favourite is Donald Trump, who at 7-1 is one of three
frontrunners flagged by online bookies Betsson, with the odds suggesting the
bombastic American president is 10 times more likely to win than figures like
France’s Emmanuel Macron or Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Taking a step back from the international spotlight, several Nobel experts
see the prize honouring those involved in the fight against sexual violence
at a time when the aftershocks of the #MeToo movement are still making waves
around the globe.

A top contender would likely be Congolese gynaecologist Denis Mukwege,
better known as “Doctor Miracle”, who has spent two decades helping women
recover from the violence and trauma of rape in war-torn eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo.

Another possible laureate is Nadia Murad, a 25-year-old Yazidi woman who
was kidnapped by Islamic State militants in 2014 and endured three months as
a sex slave before managing to escape.

– Taking on ‘fake news’ –

One area yet to be honoured by the Nobel committee is the campaign to
protect press freedom, which has been spearheaded by organisations like the
Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) and Reporters Without Borders (RSF).

Such an award would be a nod to the role of a free press as a pillar of
democracy at a time when the profession is increasingly under threat from
repression, violence and the proliferation of “fake news”.

Other potential laureates include the World Food Programme, the UN refugee
agency UNHCR, jailed Saudi blogger Raif Badawi and Russian human rights
champions like the NGO Memorial and opposition newspaper Novaya Gazeta.

Last year, the prize was won by the International Campaign to Abolish
Nuclear Weapons (ICAN).

The 2018 Nobel season opened on Monday with two immunologists, James
Allison of the US and Tasuku Honjo of Japan, winning the Medicine Prize for
research into how the body’s natural defences can fight cancer.

Tuesday’s Physics Prize was won by three scientists, Arthur Ashkin of the
United States, Gerard Mourou of France and Donna Strickland of Canada, for
inventing optical lasers that paved the way for advanced precision
instruments used in corrective eye surgery.

And on Wednesday, US scientists Frances Arnold and George Smith and British
researcher Gregory Winter won the Chemistry Prize for applying the principles
of evolution to develop proteins used to make everything from biofuels to
medicine.

This year’s award season will end on Monday with the economics prize.

Up to three nominees can share the prize, which consists of a gold medal, a
diploma and a cheque for nine million Swedish kronor (around $1 million or
867,000 euros).

The award will be presented at a ceremony in Oslo on December 10, the
anniversary of the 1896 death of prize creator Alfred Nobel, a Swedish
philanthropist and scientist.

BSS/AFP/MRI/0858 hrs