Liberian Pres. Sirleaf, 2 Others Win Nobel Peace Prize
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 to Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, President of Liberia, Leymah Gbowee, a Liberian peace activist, and Yemeni democracy activist Tawakkul Karman.
It said the award was in recognition of "their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work"
“We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society”, the committee said in a press release issued Friday in Oslo.
Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s first democratically elected female president. Since her inauguration in 2006, she has contributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women, the Nobel committee noted.
It said Leymah Gbowee mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections. She has since worked to enhance the influence of women in West Africa during and after war.
For the third receipient, the committee said in the most trying circumstances, both before and during the “Arab spring”, Tawakkul Karman has played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee hoped that the prize to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent.
In October 2000, the UN Security Council adopted Resolution 1325. The resolution for the first time made violence against women in armed conflict an international security issue. It underlined the need for women to become participants on an equal footing with men in peace processes and in peace work in general.
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