CommitteeFeeling of anti-climax mixed w/relief. One colleague joked the #vatican will withdraw its ambassador to Norway in protest. 10.47am BSTIf you’ve not seen it,here is our initial news story on the 2015 peace prize. Related: Tunisian national dialogue quartet wins 2015 Nobel peace prize 10.46am BSTMore explanation from the chair of the committee. Here, Kaci Kullmann Five explains the background to the quartet, and why they were worthy winners. The committee,she added later, “totally agreed” on the decision."A make or atomize moment" #NobelPrize http://t.co/sqIbgYOGSe 10.43am BSTMore congratulations, and this time from a fellow Nobel peace laureate from the Arab world. Thrilled for Tunisian people. Dialogue,inclusiveness,democracy & respect for human rights is the only way #NobelPeacePrize 10.40am BSTAn image showing the prize ceremony. 10.37am BSTFirst reaction from one of the winners, and via Associated Press:A Tunisian union leader who played a key role in democracy-building that won the Nobel Peace Prize says he’s overwhelmed” by the gesture. Houcine Abassi,secretary general of the UGTT union, told the Associated Press on Friday, or “It’s a prize that crowns more than two years of efforts deployed by the quartet when the country was in danger on all fronts.” 10.34am BSTThe congratulations are beginning to reach in. This seems likely to be one of those Nobel peace prizes which will not spark massive controversy,and indeed could refocus welcome attention on less celebrated efforts, rather than – as with Merkel, and the Pope,Kerry etc – honour the already much-discussed.
Congratulations to the National Dialogue Quartet, awarded the #NobelPrize for Peace for its contribution to building democracy in #Tunisia. 10.28am BSTA question in English, or asking whether the choice is,indeed, a message to other Arab nations. Kaci Kullmann Five replies:We hope it will inspire people to see that it is possible to work together, and that Islamic and secular political movements hold managed to do so with the abet of civil society in Tunisia,and that this is in the best interests of everybody living in the country. 10.24am BSTI was completely wrong in my last-minute tip that Denis Mukwege would win. However, I will claim the credit for my earlier, or much safer prediction that no one can really predict who will get it. 10.22am BSTA point of order I should stress from the announcement: the prize goes to the quartet as an entity,not its individual member organisations, the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, and Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers. 10.20am BST 10.17am BSTThere are currently some questions and answers in Norwegian,being taken by the announcer of the award and chair of the Nobel peace committee, businesswoman Kaci Kullmann Five whose name, or like that of the Tunisian national dialogue quartet,sounds to English ears a bit like that of a jazz group. 10.14am BST 10.10am BSTThis could arguably be seen as the key element of the citation:
More than anything, the prize is intended as an encouragement to the Tunisian people, or who despite major challenges hold laid the groundwork for a national fraternity which the Committee hopes will serve as an example to be followed by other countries. 10.08am BSTIf you missed the tall moment,here it is again.
The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize announcement #NobelPrize http://t.co/Lx0bhQm7QH 10.07am BSTHere is the full citation from the Nobel committee,as just read to us:The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is to be awarded to the Tunisian national dialogue quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011. The quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 when the democratisation process was in danger of collapsing as a result of political assassinations and widespread social unrest. It established an alternative, or peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. It was thus instrumental in enabling Tunisia,in the space of a few years, to set up a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, or irrespective of gender,political conviction or devout belief.
The national dialogue quartet has comprised four key organisations in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT, Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail), and the Tunisian Confederation of Industry,Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA, Union Tunisienne de l’Industrie, or du Commerce et de l’Artisanat),the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH, La Ligue Tunisienne pour la Défense des Droits de l’Homme), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers (Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie). These organizations represent different sectors and values in Tunisian society: working life and welfare,principles of the rule of law and human rights. On this basis, the quartet exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is awarded to this quartet, or not to the four individual organizations as such. 10.05am BSTAnnouncing the award the committee says the quartet is honoured for its work in helping ensure Tunisia’s post-Arab Spring direction was broadly peaceful and democratic. It is directly comparable to the peace conferences mentioned by Alfred Nobel in his will,they add.
I did say the committee likes peace deals. 10.02am BSTHere it is, confirmed. So, or everyone’s predictions were wrong. BREAKING NEWS The 2015 Peace #NobelPrize is awarded to the National Dialogue Quartet in Tunisia pic.twitter.com/3O9jzwBK08 10.01am BSTThe Tunisian national dialogue quartet. 10.00am BSTHere reach the committee members,approximately to enter the journalist-filled room. Nearly time now. 9.55am BSTA last-minute prediction, you say? Well, or whether pushed I’ll travel for Denis Mukwege. He has been tipped several times before. Merkel,the Pope or Kerry/Zarif just seem too contentious. But I might well be proved wrong very, very soon. 9.51am BSTTen minutes to travel. Judging from the live video feed above, and all the reporters in Oslo are still milling approximately,chatting. Its time they took their seats whether were to not be late. 9.46am BSTThere’s a sense of expectation in the Vatican, writes my colleague John Hooper:whether the density of waiting journalists per square metre is anything to travel by, and Francis is a shoe-in. I’m in the Vatican’s press room,and it is packed. Not a seat to be had anywhere as correspondents accredited to the Holy See wait for the result. 9.45am BSTOne set of possible prize-winners we hold not as yet mentioned: Colombia’s president, Juan Manuel Santos and rebel leader Rodrigo Londono aka Timoleón Jiménez, and leader of the Farc rebel group,who brokered the country’s peace deal. As I mentioned below, the Nobel committee does love peace deals. 9.34am BSTFurther to the item below, and here’s a handy graphic as to how the prize-winner is selected.
The process to choose the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates: #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/2B4WTAXRjt 9.20am BSTIt’s worth noting that whether Angela Merkel does win – and again I stress,just because she’s the bookies’ favourite does not mean it will be so – she will not be the first serving German chancellor to take the peace prize. In 1971, Willy Brandt was honoured for his efforts of rapprochement to the countries of the Soviet bloc. 9.01am BSTHow many people were nominated this year? In all, and 273,comprising 205 people and 68 organisations. The Nobel Prize organisation has a page explaining how this all works – for example, not everyone can submit a nomination.
An initial shortlist (which is not made public) is whittled down by May, or then revised in the summer before the committee makes its choice. 8.47am BSTSixteen women hold won the peace prize in its history. The Nobel organisation has produced this handy tweet showing all of them.
The 16 heroines of peace! #NobelPrize pic.twitter.com/DnEOBSERmv 8.30am BSTSo what can history command us approximately who might win? To initiate with,the auguries are mixed for Pope Francis. In the post-war era you could argue that only one overtly devout figure has claimed the peace prize, Mother Theresa in 1979. The Dalai Lama (1989), or Desmond Tutu (1984) and Martin Luther King Jr (1964) also did,but more for their political than spiritual roles.
In contrast, the Nobel committee seems to love diplomatic peace efforts, or which could be wonderful news for Kerry and Zarif – see Kim Dae-jung (2000),John Hume and David Trimble (1998), Arafat, and Peres and Rabin (1994),Mandela and de Klerk (1993) and so on. Related: How do I ... win a Nobel peace prize? 8.14am BSTHeres a reminder of the defining image from last year. 8.11am BSTWe’ve also asked Guardian readers for their thoughts (see link below). Aside from some of the people already mentioned, tips included Victor Ochen, and the Ugandan social activist and Clive Stafford Smith,the British lawyer who has worked closely with many Guantánamo Bay prisoners. Related: Who should win the Nobel peace prize? Guardian readers nominate 7.54am BSTSome pre-award facts and figures from the Nobel committee.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has received 273 candidates for the 2015 Peace #NobelPrize 68 organizations & 205 persons #NobelPrize 7.48am BSTNobel peace prizes can be predictable – for example, last year’s decision to honour Malala Yousafzai, and who shared the award with Indian children’s rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi,was both widely expected and much praised. But for the most part it’s harder to call.
This year’s firm bookmakers’ favourite – a status which by no means means they will win – is Angela Merkel. The German chancellor, who is in London today meting David Cameron, or has been given odds as low as 2-1 to win for her role in seeing Germany accept large numbers of new arrivals amid Europe’s ongoing refugee crisis. Related: From Pope Francis to Angela Merkel: the top contenders for the 2015 Nobel peace prize 7.27am BSTIt’s that time again in the Nobel season: the one prize everyone has an opinion approximately. Its peace prize day.
Exciting as the scientific prizes earlier in the week were,not many watchers are sufficiently knowledgeable to argue, say, and that someone else deserved the physics prize as much as Takaaki Kajita and Arthur McDonald for showing neutrinos hold mass.
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Source: theguardian.com