Gynecologist of the Congo Denis Mukwege and Iraqi human rights activist Nadia Murad won the Nobel peace prize for their efforts to identify and eradicate the use of sexual violence as weapons of war.
«Denis Mukwege is the assistant who has dedicated his life to the protection of these victims. Nadia Murad – witness, which talks about the abuses committed against her and others», – reads the statement of the Norwegian Nobel Committee.
Almost ten years there were rumors about the nomination of the Congolese Dr. Denis Mukwege for the Nobel peace prize. In my clinic, Panzi Hospital has earned the nickname «the man who repairs women» after he put on the feet of thousands of women from Congo, survivors of sexual violence used as weapons of war during the conflict, which began in the East in 1995 and In 2012 tried to kill him because of what he had to temporarily leave the country.
Nadia Murad – one of 3 thousand women and girls Yazidis – people living in the North of Iraq who were victims of rape and other crimes by the army of the Islamic state. She managed to escape three months after capture. She then began to share their experiences, with the result that already at the age of 23 she became the first goodwill Ambassador of the UN for human rights, survivors of human trafficking.
Kenneth Roth, Executive Director of Human Rights Watch, described the victory on his Twitter page as «a long-awaited Nobel acceptance» in the fight against sexual violence during the war.
Well deserved and long awaited Nobel recognition of the fight against sexual violence in war. https://t.co/j37cMnXFWR
— Kenneth Roth (@KenRoth) October 5, 2018
And Jan Egeland, Secretary General Norwegian Refugee Council, called the Nobel peace prize this year, «the best reward for a long time.»
Mukwege and Murad will share a cash award in the amount of $1.01 million Official ceremony of awarding the Nobel prizes will be held December 10 in Sweden and Norway.
