OSLO, Norway (AP) _ The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman of Yemen for their work on women’s rights.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee honored the three women “for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”
Johnson Sirleaf, 72, is a Harvard-trained economist who became Africa’s first democratically elected female president in 2005.
She faces a presidential poll this month.
She was seen as a reformer and peacemaker in Liberia when she took office. But recently, opponents in the presidential campaign have accused her of buying votes and using government funds to campaign. Her camp denies the charges.
Liberia was ravaged by civil wars for years until 2003. The country is still struggling to maintain a fragile peace with the help of U.N. peacekeepers.
Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, organized a group of Christian and Muslim women to challenge Liberia’s warlords. In 2009 she won a Profile in Courage Award, an honor named for a 1957 Pulitzer Prize-winning book written by John F. Kennedy, for her work in emboldening women in Liberia.
Tawakul Karman, 32, is a mother of three. She headed the Women Journalists without Chains, a human rights group for journalist. She had been a leading figure in organizing the protests in Yemen that opposed the rule of President Ali Abdullah Saleh and which kicked off in late January.
Karman’s father is a former legal affairs minister under Saleh. She is a journalist and member of Islah party, an Islamic party.
“We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society,” the prize committee said.
<한글 기사>
노벨평화상에 설리프 등 여성운동가 3명
라이베리아 보위, 예멘 여성운동가 카르만 공동수상
올해 노벨 평화상 수상자로 아프리카 라이베리아의 엘렌 존슨-설리프 대통령과 평화운동가 레이마 보위, 예멘의 여성운동가 타와쿨 카르만 등 여성 3명이 선정됐다.
노르웨이 노벨 위원회는 7일(현지시간) 오슬로에서 올 노벨 평화상 수상자로 이 들 3명을 선정해 발표하면서 "여성들의 안전 및 평화 구축활동 참여를 위한 비폭력적인 투쟁"을 선정 이유로 설명했다.
지난해는 중국의 반체제 인사 류샤오보(劉曉波), 2009년에는 버락 오바마 미국 대통령이 각각 수상자로 선정됐다.
시상식은 노벨상 창설자인 알프레드 노벨(1833~1896)의 사망일인 12월 10일 노르웨이 오슬로에서 열리며 상금으로 1천만 스웨덴 크로네(한화 약 17억3천만원)가 수여된다.
