Three Nobel Peace Prizes to three unworthy individuals – Middle East Monitor

When former United States president, Barack Obama, was awarded the celebrated Nobel Peace Prize in 2009, he was in workplace lower than a yr. The Nobel Committee, in its assertion, mentioned that the primary black president deserved it as a result of, below him, “multilateral diplomacy has regained a central place, with emphasis on the position of the United Nations”. Does that make him a peace maker? The Nobel Committee actually thinks so.

Mr. Obama, the peace maker, went on to preside over the hegemonic US international coverage, as a superpower, frequently flexing its muscular tissues across the globe. Underneath Obama, peacemaker, the US went to conflict in Libya in 2011, destroying a UN member state and setting it on a free fall course ever since. As Commander in Chief of the US armed forces, Mr. Obama authorised 1878 drone assaults on primarily Muslim nations together with Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Somalia and Yemen. In lots of such assaults, at all times justified by the absurd declare {that a} terror goal was hit, a whole bunch, if not hundreds, of harmless girls, males, youngsters and animals had been killed in what the US army often describes as “collateral harm”. Mr. Obama appeared to have deceived many by his speech on the Cairo College in June 2009, when he spoke of “new beginnings” with the Muslim world.

1878 drone assaults in eight years just isn’t a lot in comparison with the two,243 assaults recorded by Donald Trump within the first two years of his presidency. However poor Trump didn’t win the Nobel!

When president Obama checked out of the White Home, the US army was nonetheless on the bottom as an occupation power in Iraq and Afghanistan, whereas covertly supporting the Saudi conflict on Yemen, and America’s “conflict on terror” by no means ended.

READ: Empty gestures or substantive change? On the Nobel Prize in Literature and its discontents

Abiy Ahmed grew to become a first-rate minister of Ethiopia in 2018 and, in 2019, the Nobel Committee discovered him entitled to its peace prize given his “efforts to realize peace and worldwide cooperation” noting his “decisive initiative”, to finish the conflict with Eritrea. He gained elections on an anti-corruption and accountability platform. Final yr, the Nobel Laureate declared conflict inside his personal nation. Helped by Eritrean troops, Ethiopian forces are nonetheless making an attempt to root out Tigray fighters from the northern Tigray area. Since November 2020, hundreds have been displaced whereas tens of hundreds sought refuge in Sudan and a whole bunch of hundreds are on the point of famine, reviving horrible reminiscences of the Nineteen Eighties famine that hit the nation, significantly the Tigray area, killing over 1.2 million individuals.

For Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (former Burma), the Nobel Prize got here in a extra classical style. In 1991, the Committee managing the award mentioned Ms Suu Kyi, deserved it for her “non-violent battle” for democracy and human rights. In a reality sheet about her, the Committee mentioned that Ms. Suu Kyi was “impressed by Mahatma Gandhi”, the Indian father of non-violent protests in the whole world. But, that Committee didn’t discover Mahatma Gandhi eligible for its prize, regardless of being nominated 5 occasions between 1937 and 1948, however somebody he impressed gained!

A peace dove flies previous a aid of Alfred Nobel after it was launched in entrance of the Nobel Peace Middle in Oslo, Norway, on 8 October 2021. [ALI ZARE/NTB/AFP via Getty Images]

Aung San Suu Kyi’s occasion gained Myanmar’s two elections, first in 2015 after which in 2020, however the structure barred her from turning into president due to her international nationwide youngsters. Nonetheless, she grew to become the de facto chief of the nation, till the military deposed her final February. Underneath Ms. Suu Kyi’s watch, hundreds of Muslim minority Rohingya fled the nation into neighbouring Bangladesh, the place they stay in degrading circumstances. The Rohingya have at all times been victims of brutal crackdowns, rape and displacement in Myanmar, however what began in 2017 below the management of the Nobel Laureate has by no means been seen earlier than.

In all three instances, the winners have misplaced all ethical floor to even qualify due to their very own actions. Many see former president Obama as a conflict legal. The identical, to a lesser extent, could be mentioned about present Ethiopian Prime Minister, Abiy Ahmed. He might quickly be entangled in conflict with Sudan or Egypt, if not over border disputes with the primary, then over the Nile waters with the latter.

The cultural genocide in Palestine: On Sally Rooney’s determination to boycott Israel

For Ms. Suu Kyi, nonetheless in jail, being a Nobel Laureate is much more embarrassing, not solely to herself but in addition extra shaming for the Norwegian Committee that awarded her the prize. In contrast to Abiy Ahmed and Barack Obama, she was given the award primarily for her battle for human rights and democracy.

By no means as soon as has the Norwegian Committee withdrawn any peace prize after awarding it. In 2018, a UN report closely criticised Ms. Suu Kyi for not talking out in opposition to what her military did in opposition to the Rohingya civilians. When requested about the potential for taking again the prize from Aung Suu Kyi, a consultant of the Norwegian Committee mentioned, “We do not do it. It isn’t our job to supervise or censure winners’ behaviour after they’ve gained the prize.”

However that is fallacious, given the privileges the prize brings to people by way of cash, status and repute. On deciding who wins the award, the Norwegian Committee has clear standards to evaluate winners in, say, physics, medication or chemistry. Not for the peace prize, as a result of the rules are blurred, at greatest. On high of that, some previous worthy winners won’t really feel comfy when somebody much less worthy is given the award. For instance, by successful the Nobel in 2009, Barack Obama is now seen by many, to be on equal footing because the late Nelson Mandela, who gained the Nobel Peace Prize in 1993, which isn’t truthful. The one guideline for the Committee awarding the prize is a piece of its founder, Alfred Nobel’s Will: it says somebody deserves it if such individual has “completed essentially the most or the most effective work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or discount of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses” Obama, Abiy Ahmed and Aung Suu Ky don’t match such an outline. It’s time Nobel’s Will is tailored to replicate modern-day standards, with out really altering it. In any other case the award will proceed to lose credibility, whereas turning into extra politicised.

ADVERTISEMENT

The views expressed on this article belong to the creator and don’t essentially replicate the editorial coverage of Center East Monitor.