African medical doctor wins 2018 Nobel Peace Prize

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2018 to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.

The Nobel Committee received more than 300 nominations for this year’s Peace Prize. The award, worth more than a million dollars, has been given to Denis Mukwege, a Congolese doctor, and Nadia Murad, a Kurdish human rights activist from Iraq.

At a ceremony in the Nobel Institute on Friday (5 October), Dr Mukwege and Ms Murad were named the Nobel Peace Prize laureates for 2018 for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict. 

Mukwege is a gynecologist in the Democratic Republic of Congo who founded the Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, where he specializes in the treatment of women who have been gang-raped by rebel forces.

Nadia Murad Basee Taha is a Yazidi Kurdish human rights activist from Iraq. Since September 2016 she has been the first UN Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking. The 25-year-old Murad is the second-youngest laureate ever. Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai was 17 when she was named laureate in 2014 with Kailash Satyarthi

The Nobel committee received nominations for 216 individuals and 115 organizations for this year’s peace prize, one of five Nobel Prizes established through the will of Swedish industrialist and arms manufacturer Alfred Nobel in 1895.

Last year’s winner was the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons.

© DW

 

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