As the 123rd Nobel Prize season, which honors contributions to humanity with the world’s most prestigious award, has begun, attention is focused on who will be honored with the Nobel Peace Prize, which is scheduled to be announced on the 6th (local time).
There are 351 candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize this year. This is the second highest number after 376 candidates in 2016.
According to Reuters on the 3rd, like last year, figures who are the opposite of Russian President Vladimir Putin are considered strong candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. This is why betting companies believe that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky and Russian dissident Alexei Navalny are likely to win.
Also, last year, when the war in Ukraine began, the Russian human rights group Memorial, Belarusian activist Ales Bialyatsky, and the Ukrainian civic group Center for Civil Liberties (CCL) were selected as Nobel Peace Prize winners instead of President Zelensky.
However, experts and foreign media predict that, as anti-Putin figures won the Nobel Peace Prize last year, women, indigenous people, and environmental activists will be more influential this year.
Norway’s Oslo Peace Research Institute mentioned Iranian human rights activist Narges Mohammadi, Afghan journalist Mahbouba Serraj, Myanmar Ambassador Kyo Mo Tun, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Ecuadorian indigenous leader Juan Carlos Zintiach, and the Human Rights Data Analysis Group as strong candidates. .
In particular, given the situation in Iran, where anti-hijab protests took place in September last year, and Afghanistan, where women’s rights have been steadily restricted since the Taliban returned to power in 2021, Mohammadi and Serraj’s wins are likely. Mohammadi is serving his sentence in Tehran’s Evin Prison after being sentenced to 10 years in prison for ‘spreading anti-state propaganda’, while Seraj is still active in Kabul, Afghanistan, to secure women’s right to education.
Reuters also reported, “Nobel experts believe that the possibility of the Ukrainian president being nominated as a wartime leader is small,” and that “the imprisoned Navalny’s chances were also reduced last year when Russian dissidents won the award.”
“In the year we commemorate the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Nobel Committee will decide to highlight the contribution of activists to peace,” Henrik Urdal, director of the Oslo Peace Research Institute, told Reuters. “I think the most likely candidates are human rights activists.” It was said.
In addition to the candidates mentioned by the Peace Research Institute, Uyghur scholar Ilham Toti, who has criticized China’s policies on the Uighurs in Xinjiang, is also mentioned, but there is a precedent that China cut off diplomatic relations with Norway for six years after Liu Xiaobo, an anti-regime activist, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Considering this, it is unlikely that Totti will win the award.
In order to shed light on climate change, the Nobel Committee may also give credit to Swedish environmental activist Greta Thunberg and Brazilian Kayapa chief Raoni Metutire, who has dedicated her life to protecting the Amazon rainforest.
“This is a time when peace is collapsing, but at the same time the pressure of a large-scale ecological crisis is weighing us down,” said Dan Smith, director of the Swedish International Peace Research Institute. “Climate change causes more conflict in any situation.”
Source: Donga
Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.