Tunisian mediators win Nobel Peace Prize
OSLO—Four organizations known as the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday for building democracy in the country after the 2011 revolution which unleashed the Arab Spring.
The National Dialogue Quartet is made up of the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.
“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is awarded to this quartet, not to the four individual organizations as such,” the committee said.
The award was given for the quartet’s “decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011,” the Nobel panel said.
“The quartet exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority,” the panel said.
“It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war,” the committee said in its citation.
The committee said the prize was intended as an encouragement to other countries to follow in Tunisia’s footsteps.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee hopes that this year’s prize will contribute toward safeguarding democracy in Tunisia and be an inspiration to all those who seek to promote peace and democracy in the Middle East, North Africa and the rest of the world,” it said.
The laureates will receive their prizes at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of prize creator Alfred Nobel, a Swedish philanthropist and scientist.
The prize is a huge victory for small Tunisia, whose young and still shaky democracy suffered two extremist attacks this year that killed 60 people and devastated the tourism industry.
Members of the Tunisian winning team called the award a message for the region on the power of dialogue.
“This is a great joy and pride for Tunisia, but also a hope for the Arab World,” labor union chief Houcine Abassi told Reuters.
Message for the region
“It’s a message that dialogue can lead us on the right path. This prize is a message for our region to put down arms and sit and talk at the negotiation table.”
There were 273 candidates nominated for the 2015 peace prize, five fewer than in 2014.
Among the popularly mentioned nominees were Pope Francis, German Chancellor Angela Merkel for pledging to keep her country’s borders open to hundreds of thousands of refugees; Rev. Mussi Zerai, an Eritrean priest who helps coordinate rescue missions for migrants crossing the Mediterranean, and Saudi blogger Raif Badawi.