Thursday, October 13, 2011

Three angels bag the Nobel for Peace

In his 1895 will, award creator Alfred Nobel gave only vague guidelines for the peace prize, saying it should honor "work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.

"This year the Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel peace prize for 2011 is to be divided in three equal parts between Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah gbowee and Tawakkul Karman for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for womens’s rights to full participation in peace- building work

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf 


Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf is the first woman to win a free presidential election in Africa. Sirleaf, a former World Bank economist known as the "Iron Lady" by opponents, was seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia when she took office as the President.

Since her inauguration in 2006, she has contributed to securing peace in Liberia, to promoting economic and social development, and to strengthening the position of women. Sirleaf was born in Monrovia and studied economics and accounts at college of West Africa. At the age of 17 she married James Sirleaf and went to US for higher studies. After gaining a Master of Public Administration degree, she returned to her native Liberia to work under the government of William Tolbert. She got the Vice President ticket of the Liberian Action Party in the 1985 elections, thus paved her way to the politics.

Tawakkul Karman
Tawakkul Karman is a leader of anti-government protests in Yemen. She is the first Arab woman to win the peace prize. She has played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen.

Karman, mother of three, now lives in the capital Sanaa. She is a journalist and member of the Islamic party Al-Islah and heads the human rights group Women Journalists without Chains. Her father is a former legal affairs minister under Saleh.

Leymah Gbowee

Leymah Gbowee of Liberia, who campaigned against the use of rape as a weapon in her country's brutal civil war, ensured women’s participation in elections. She mobilized and organized women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia.

Gbowee was born in central Liberia. During the time of first Liberian civil war, she moved to Monrovia at the age of 17. She trained as a trauma counselor and worked with the ex-child soldiers of Charles Taylors army.

In 2003, Gbowee led hundreds of female protesters through Monrovia to demand swift disarmament of fighters who preyed on women during her country's near-constant civil war.

Gbowee, mother of six, works in Ghana's capital as the director of Women Peace and Security Network Africa.

Last year's peace prize went to imprisoned Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo for his non violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.
Well done …you done it!!

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