Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to Dr. Dennis Mukwege & Nadia Murad for Efforts to End Sexual Violence in War
Author: WUNRN
Date: October 5, 2018
Physician Denis Mukwege and former captive of the Islamic State group Nadia Murad have won the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.
Gynaecologist Dr Mukwege has spent large parts of his adult life helping the victims of such violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, treating thousands of patients.
The Nobel committee said he had repeatedly condemned impunity for mass rape and criticised the Congolese Government and other countries for not doing enough to end the use of sexual violence as a strategy in war.
His basic principle is that “justice is everyone’s business,” the committee said, calling him the “foremost, most unifying symbol, both nationally and internationally, of the struggle to end sexual violence in war and armed conflicts”.
Ms Murad is the witness who tells of the abuses perpetrated against herself and others, the Nobel committee said.
She is one of an estimated 3,000 Yazidi girls and women who were victims of rape and other abuses by Islamic State fighters. She was held captive for three months before being able to escape.
In 2016, at the age of 23, she was named the United Nations’ first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.
“She has shown uncommon courage in recounting her own sufferings and speaking up on behalf of other victims,” the committee said.
In making the announcement, committee chairwoman Berit Reiss-Andersen said: “Both laureates have made a crucial contribution to focusing attention on and combatting such war crimes.
