Congolese Doctor Denis Mukwege And Nadia Murad Win 2018 Nobel Peace Prize

The 2018 Noble Peace Prize went to Congolese physician Denis Mukwege and human rights activist Nadia Murad, the awarding committee announced Friday at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Mukwege and Murad won the award for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war.

Mukwege, who is a doctor and gynaecologist, has long worked to treat thousands of women and girls affected by rape and sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Murad is a Yazidi woman from the northern Iraqi town of Sinjar, who was held as a sex slave by ISIS, She is a UN goodwill ambassador for the dignity of survivors of human trafficking.

“The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureate, Dr Denis Mukwege is the helper who has devoted his life to defending victims of war-time sexual violence,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said in a statement.

The statement further read: “Dr Mukwege, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, has spent large parts of his adult life helping the victims of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Dr Mukwege and his staff have treated thousands of patients who have fallen victim to such assaults.

“This year’s Peace Laureate Denis Mukwege has repeatedly condemned impunity for mass rape and criticised the Congolese government and other countries for not doing enough to stop the use of sexual violence against women as a strategy and weapon of war.”

“Fellow laureate, Nadia Murad, is the witness who shared the abuses perpetrated against herself and others.

“Murad is one of an estimated 3,000 Yazidi girls and women who were victims of rape and other abuses by the ISIS army. The abuses were systematic and part of a military strategy. They served as a weapon in the fight against Yazidis and other religious minorities

“Following her escape from ISIS, Peace Laureate Nadia Murad chose to speak openly about what she had suffered.

“In 2016, at the age of 23, she was named the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking.”