Nobel Peace Prize 2018 as it happened: Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad win award for combating sexual violence

Pair win for ‘efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon’

Nobel Peace Prize 2018: Winners announced as Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad

Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad have won the 2018 Nobel peace prize.

Doctor Mukwege is a gynaecologist who has treated victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Ms Murad is a survivor of sexual slavery by Isis in Iraq.

The selection by the Nobel committee saw the pair beat favourite nominees including North Korean leader Kim Jong-un and US president Donald Trump.

Read our rolling coverage in the blog below

According to Alfred Nobel’s will, the Peace Prize is awarded to the person who in the preceding year “shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.”

 

Key Points

Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad win prize

[5 October 2018 10:03 · Harry.Cockburn]

Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad win the 2018 Nobel peace prize!

[5 October 2018 10:06 · Harry.Cockburn]

Denis Mukwege is a gynecologist who has treated victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Nadia Murad is a Yazidi human rights activist and survivor of sexual slavery by Isis in Iraq.

[5 October 2018 10:12 · Harry.Cockburn]

The Nobel committee said Denis Mukwege and Yazidi campaigner Nadia Murad won the prize "for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict."

[5 October 2018 10:14 · Harry.Cockburn]

[5 October 2018 10:15 · Harry.Cockburn]

[5 October 2018 10:22 · Harry.Cockburn]

The committee has been unable to contact either Dr Mukwege or Ms Murad on the phone to tell them that they have won.

They said: “If they are watching this, my heartfelt congratulations.”

[5 October 2018 10:28 · Harry.Cockburn]

Ms Murad, 25, becomes the second-youngest recipient of the Nobel peace prize, after Malala Yousafzai.

She is an advocate for the Yazidi minority in Iraq and for refugee and women's rights in general, and was enslaved and raped by Islamic State fighters in Mosul in 2014.

[5 October 2018 10:29 · Harry.Cockburn]

[5 October 2018 10:36 · Harry.Cockburn]

The head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee says this year's Nobel Peace winners were chosen to draw attention to the fact that “women are ... actually used as weapons of war.” 

Berit Reiss-Andersen said after announcing the prize Friday that both laureates, Denis Mukwege of Congo and ethnic Yazidi Nadia Murad, had put their personal security at stake as activists on the issue. 

Oyvind Sternersen, a Nobel historian, said: “This is a Nobel bullseye; recognising victims of war has a long history in the peace prize.” 

[5 October 2018 10:49 · Harry.Cockburn]