The Nobel Peace Prize, an esteemed recognition of individuals and organizations striving for peace and progress, has long held a position of utmost prestige. However, recent years have witnessed growing controversies and debates surrounding both the laureates and the nomination process. As the world eagerly awaits the announcement of the 2023 laureates, questions are being raised about the legitimacy and value of this prestigious award. Past recipients’ actions, coupled with the evolving criteria for selection, have led to intense scrutiny and challenges to the prize’s credibility. Moreover, issues of gender representation and the long-term commitment to peace by some laureates have sparked further discussions about the prize’s relevance in today’s complex global landscape. In this reexamination of the Nobel Peace Prize, we delve into the controversies, debates, and the quest for ensuring that the award continues to inspire and recognize genuine efforts towards a more peaceful world.

The 2022 Nobel Peace Prize focused on promoting the protection of citizens fundamental rights by awarding the Belarusian Ales Bialiatski, the Ukrainian NGO Centre for Civil Liberties and the Russian NGO Memorial. The former winners and the nomination process are increasingly coming under fire. The laureates for 2023 will be announced on 9 October, and then rewarded on 10 December, the anniversary of Alfred Nobel’s death in Oslo. When he died on 10 December 1896, he asked in his will for the creation of an institution to reward personalities who had rendered service to humanity or enabled progress in five fields: peace and diplomacy, literature, physics, chemistry, physiology and medicine. In October each year, the Nobel Peace Prize is awarded to “the individual (up to three individuals or institutions) who has made the greatest or best contribution to bringing people closer together, to abolishing or reducing standing armies, to assembling and spreading progress for peace”. The nomination process is as follows: each year, members of national parliaments, former laureates, judges specializing in international law, special advisers to the Nobel Committee and members of circles of university professors in geopolitics, law or political science have the opportunity to send (until spring) detailed, well-argued nomination proposals. All the proposals are then studied by the committee, which selects 199 to submit to the jurors. The jurors then select five nominees (a nominee may correspond to a name, a group of names or a structure).

The debates, discussions and vote are concluded in October at the unveiling ceremony in Oslo. As the nominations were secret for 50 years, only the personalities nominated between 1901 and 1973 are known today. The revelation of these nominations has led to much debate and controversy about the identity of the nominees, and in particular the legitimacy of the actions for which they were nominated. These have included Adolf Hitler in 1939 (by Swedish parliamentarian Erik Brandt, who later retracted his proposal), Benito Mussolini in 1935 and Joseph Stalin in 1945 and 1948. Similarly, the gender of the prize-winners also gives rise to debate: since its creation in 1901, and although it has been awarded to 109 individuals and 27 organizations, only 18 women have received it. This figure raises the more general question of the proportion of female Nobel Prize winners in general. Despite this low figure, the Nobel Peace Prize remains the Nobel with the most women represented.

Questions and debates about the legitimacy of the winners.

In 2019, Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for his efforts to achieve reconciliation with Eritrea, the country’s historic enemy. He described the war as an “incarnation of hell”. However, a few months later, Abiy Ahmed launched a war against the Tigrayan rebels in northern Ethiopia, resulting in the death of many civilians and the displacement of more than a million. These actions raised questions within the international community as to the veracity of his speech, and the credibility of the prize he was awarded. Another example is that of Aung San Suu Kyi, a non-violent opposition activist to the military dictatorship in Burma (now Myanmar), who won the prize in 1991. However, while she has been head of government since 2016, the international press has criticised her for inaction in the face of discrimination and massacres described by the UN as genocide committed by the Burmese army against the country’s Muslim minority, the Rohingya. However, the rules governing Nobel Prizes do not allow them to be withdrawn at a later date.

This raises questions about the credibility and value of the award.

By awarding prizes along these lines, the past is not necessarily taken into account, and the candidate’s future behavior has on several occasions proved to be at odds with the values promoted by the prize. For example, this prize for commitment to peace has been awarded three times to a former president (Jimmy Carter in 2002), former vice-president (Al Gore in 2007) and current president (Barack Obama in 2009) of the United States, a country with a strong military commitment. To alleviate these problems, the Nobel Committee decided in 2005 that the prize would now only be awarded to “individuals, groups or organizations that have committed their lives to the service of human rights, the promotion of the democratic model and the defense of diplomatic channels”. This measure is also intended to respond to criticism of the absence of certain personalities whose work has been unanimously acclaimed by the general public, or to criticism that the Nobel Prize rewards personalities whose efforts have been deemed minimalist, futile or sterile, as was the case, for example, with former UN Secretary – General Kofi Annan, who won the prize in 2001.

Fahim Bounoua

Sources: 

• Your Questions about the Nobel Peace Prize!
• The Norwegian Nobel Institute- From Nomination to Ceremony