African & Arab women win Nobel Peace Prize

Nobel Peace Prize winners 2011 (LtoR): Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman Photograph: Getty

‘Leymah Gbowee confronted armed forces in Liberia to demand that they stop  using rape as a weapon. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf became Africa’s first woman to win  a free presidential election. Tawakkul Karman began pushing for change in Yemen  long before the Arab Spring. They share a commitment to women’s rights in
regions where oppression is common, and on Friday they shared the Nobel Peace  Prize.”

The Nobel committee said the three had been chosen “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work”.

It said: “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.”

Daily Times Nigeria

“Declaring women’s rights vital for world peace, the Nobel Committee awarded its annual Peace Prize on Friday to three indomitable female campaigners against war and oppression — a Yemeni and two Liberians, including that country’s president.

Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, the first woman freely elected as a head of state in Africa, shared the award worth $1.5 million with compatriot Leymah Gbowee, who promoted a “sex strike” among efforts to end Liberia’s civil war, and Yemen’s Tawakul Karman, who called her honour “a victory for the Arab Spring”.

Read full text of the Nobel prize citation here

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Posted by Pamela on October 8, 2011. Filed under Media watch. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry