Women gathered in New Delhi on March 20th to launch an international campaign to nominate 1000 women for the 2005 Nobel Peace Prize.

As reported by Indo-Asian News Service, the project was initiated by a group of Swiss women led by Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, a member of the Swiss Parliament and the Council of Europe.

According to the organization, "the coordinators have agreed that at least one woman from every country in the world (225, according to the U.N. list) should be nominated. For the selection of the other 775 candidates, population density as well as the insecurity and gender situation in specific areas of the world will be considered."

The 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 group feels that women's contribution to world peace has been systematically ignored : "The eminent role of women, their strategies for sustainable peace work, their constant and courageous actions for their families and villages, their country and their culture, are not yet acknowledged as peace-promoting."

As stated on the group's web site, the nominees "should represent every continent and every level of society - e.g., farmers, teachers, artists, politicians - and be committed to a future without violence. They are, for example, women who resist the privatization of water rights in India, thereby pursuing active conflict prevention, or women in Sudan who mediate between the rebels and village populations. They are women who invest their experience and competence in the cause of more human security on a daily basis and are mainly women at the grass-roots level. "

2005 will mark the 100th anniversary of the first Nobel Peace Prize awarded to a woman. In 1905, Austrian Bertha von Suttner received the Prize for her activities as honorary president of the Permanent International Peace Office.

Since it's creation in 1901, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 80 men, 20 organizations and 11 women.

Categorie(s)/Catégorie(s): Lifestyles , World

Feedback/Réaction(s): TrackBack & pings(0) | Comments/Commentaires(1) | Referring Web Pages, last 5 days