Nobel Peace Prize 2018

For nearly a decade, rumors have swirled of Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege’s nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize. Of course, this has never been confirmed because of the committee’s highly-secretive selection process.

But having dedicated his life to fixing the broken bodies of brutalized and violated women in the Democratic Republic of Congo, he has certainly always been a strong contender. Yet each year, another name was announced – until now.

Finally, Mukwege was jointly awarded the 2018 prize with Iraqi rights activist Nadia Murad.

Through his Panzi Hospital, Mukwege has earned the nickname “the man who mends women” after treating thousands of survivors of rape and sexual violence, which has been used as a weapon of war since the conflict begain in the east of the DRC in 1995.

Our live updates are now drawing to a close but read CNN’s profile of the work Mukwege has doggedly continued amid threats to his life and those of his family in a nation been ripped apart by war.

Nadia Murad once dreamed of becoming a history teacher or maybe a makeup artist. Instead, her life was brutally torn apart by ISIS militants and like so many other Yazidis endured horrific sexual violence at their hands.

She eventually escaped ISIS territory and turned to activism to stand up for sexual assault. Read CNN’s profile on Murad’s courageous work here.

Vian Dakhil, the only lawmaker representing the Yazidis in Iraq’s Parliament, praised Nadia Murad after winning 2018 Noble Prize.

“With her courage and tragedy, defeated the logic of injustice, tyranny and servitude. And proved to the whole world that the will of life and peace is above the savagery of terrorism and hard-liner ideas. Congratulations to dear Nadia Murad for winning the Nobel Peace Prize,” Dakhil said in a post on her official Facebook page.

Newly elected Iraqi president, Barham Salih tweeted: “I spoke by telephone with dear Nadia Murad and congratulated her for her Nobel Peace Prize. Nadia’s honor reflects the world’s recognition of the Yazidis tragedy, and all victims of terrorism in Iraq.”

Salih added that Murad’s recognition is an “appreciation of her courage and perseverance in defending the usurped rights. And it is a tribute to the struggle and steadfastness of Iraqis in the face of terrorism and extremism.”

Separately, the outgoing Iraqi Prime Minister Haidar al-Abadi also offered his congratulations to Murad, his media office said in a short statement.

Nadia says she was repeatedly raped at the hands of her kidnappers. Her sister killed herself in captivity.

Related article Bringing ISIS to justice for crimes against Yazidis

Congratulatory messages are continuing to pour in for 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureates Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad, with human rights groups appearing to put their seal of approval on the recipients.

Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch’s executive director, described their win on Twitter as “long awaited Nobel recognition” of the battle against sexual violence in conflict.

Meanwhile Jan Egeland, Secretary General of the Norwegian Refugee Council, called the joint Nobel honor the “best prize in a long time.”

The government of Iraq has expressed its “deepest respect” to Nadia Murad for her “courageous campaigning” against sexual violence in the wake of her joint win of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize.

In a second tweet, the government reiterated its commitment “to supporting victims of sexual violence perpetrated by Daesh (ISIS) and to delivering meaningful justice to survivors.”

In her bid to bring ISIS to justice for the atrocities the group have perpetrated against the Yazidi community in Iraq, Nadia Murad joined forces with international human rights lawyer Amal Clooney.

With Clooney’s counsel and support, Murad helped to put a face and a voice to the brutal realities of life under ISIS, revealing her traumatic experiences of being kidnapped, enslaved and raped by ISIS fighters in Mosul in 2014.

“I was taken with groups of unmarried girls and they took us all to rape us. they came not just to attack certain people, they came for all Yazidis,” she told CNN last year.

Human rights attorney Amal Clooney and human rights activist Nadia Murad visit the Secretary-General Of The United Nations Antonio Guterres at United Nations Headquarters on March 10, 2017 in New York City.

Clooney said she wanted to help because the Yazidi community has endured “some of the worst crimes of our generation.”

“We haven’t seen a single prosecution against ISIS in a court anywhere in the world for the crimes committed against the Yazidis,” Clooney said.

“What happened to (Nadia’s) family happened to thousands of Yazidis in 2014 … these are just simply some of the worst crimes of our generation. As an international lawyer, I wanted to try and help Nadia and people like her.”

Watch the full CNN interview with Murad and Clooney here.

Malala Yousafzai paid tribute to this year’s winners of the Nobel Peace Prize in a tweet on Friday, writing “their work saves lives and helps women speak out about sexual violence.”

Malala became the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner at just 17 years old back in 2014. She shared the honor with Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.

One of this year’s winners, Nadia Murad, was born in 1993, making her 24 or 25.

Shortly after Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad were named as the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize laureates, last year’s recipients – the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) – offered up some advice about the days and year ahead, saying that “nothing can prepare you for the rush.”

In a post on Facebook, ICAN started off their list of things to know with a useful tip – take a second and “breathe.”

“This is going to be a wild ride. Everything will happen at once, but don’t try to do it all at once,” ICAN wrote.

Beatrice Fihn, pictured right, leader of the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, and Hiroshima nuclear bombing survivor Setsuko Thurlow, pictured center, during the award ceremony for the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize on December 10, 2017. 

The group warned the attention could be overwhelming and encouraged Mukwege and Murad to call in reinforcements for support. ICAN explained they will be inundated with invitations and offers but gently reminded them that “you don’t have to accept all of them.”

ICAN described the experience of winning the prize as “weird and wonderful”, suggested this year’s winners take a moment to celebrate before getting back to business.

Lastly, ICAN offered up a piece of practical advice telling the winners to avoid speaking of their shock at being honored in interviews because “that’s all they’re going to show.”

ICAN ended its post, “Of course you knew your work was worthy. It’s why you do it. Congratulations.”

The prestigious honor of a Nobel prize is shrouded in so much secrecy that laureates often only find out in the minutes before their name is publicly announced.

As a result, it’s not unusual for the world to know who the winners are before they find out themselves.

On Friday, committee chair Berit Reiss-Andersen confirmed this to be the case.

“We have tried to contact the winners and we haven’t managed to get through on the phone. If they are watching this, my heartfelt congratulations,” she said.

The joint recipients of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize -- Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad.

In a year when the #MeToo movement has driven the global conversation about women’s rights and equality to center stage, it is perhaps unsurprising that the 2018 prize has gone to two people battling the scourge of sexual violence against women.

When asked if the Nobel committee had been inspired by the #MeToo movement, chair Berit Reiss-Andersen suggested there were elements in common between war crimes and the movement:

Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair of the Norwegian Nobel Peace Prize Committee, addresses reporters shortly after announcing Congolese doctor Denis Mukwege and Yazidi rape victim Nadia Murad as the recipients of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize on Friday.

The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN) won the 2017 Peace Prize for its efforts to prohibit nuclear weapons.

On Friday, ICAN congratulated this year’s honorees, saying “both laureates thoroughly deserve this honour through their incredible work to address sexual violence in conflict.”

“We look forward to working with them as Nobel laureates dedicated to a peaceful world safe from both the threats of nuclear weapons and the use of sexual violence in war, both fundamental violations of international law.

“The Nobel Committee has rightly chosen to highlight the role of women this year in giving the award to Nadia and Denis, and it is great to see women like Nadia leading on this issue just as they do in the disarmament movement.

“Dr. Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad have been given a great platform by recognising the importance of preventing sexual violence against women, as ICAN found the year since winning the Nobel to be a watershed one for nuclear disarmament thanks to the doors the Nobel Peace Prize opened and the focus it gave to our important issue.

“We found that when we act together in shared humanity, the human race is an unstoppable force for good and we look forward to being part of that journey with Denis and Nadia.”

CNN’s David McKenzie met Denis Mukwege in the Democratic Republic in Congo in 2009.

Reflecting on his joint win Friday alongside Nadia Murad, McKenzie described the tireless, and often dangerous, work undertaken by the man known locally as “the angel of Bukavu.”

Bukavu is a city in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo where Mukwege established a world-class facility to treat survivors of sexual violence.

“This will be seen as a real recognition of a life’s work,” McKenzie explained. “He’s now in his 60s and finally he has been recognized as the joint winner of a Nobel Peace Prize.

“He’s been a tireless campaigner – at one point he suffered an assassination attempt, his daughter was kidnapped and he had to flee to Europe.”

Mukwege and his family escaped the DRC shortly after they were violently attacked at their home in October 2012, according to his official website. Mukwege’s trusted friend and security guard Joseph Bizimana was killed in the assault. This assassination attempt came just weeks after the Congolese doctor had called for justice in a speech at the United Nations in New York.

Despite the personal security concerns, Mukwege defied his adversaries and returned home in January 2013 to continue work at his clinic.

2017 Aurora Prize Finalist Dr. Denis Mukwege offers remarks during ceremony in Yerevan, Armenia in May last year.

Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, declined to comment Friday when asked if Rohingya victims of sex crimes in war were considered for the Nobel Peace Prize this year.

Reiss-Andersen justified withholding any further information about the candidates in contention saying that founder Alfred Nobel’s will instructed judges to keep deliberations confidential.

In fact, the names of the nominees and other information about the nominations each year must be kept secret for 50 years, according to committee rules.

Rohingya women and children wait in line for food in Kutupalong camp in Cox's Bazar, Bangladesh back in August. A year ago, Myanmar's military crackdown on the ethnic Muslim minority forced over 700,000 to flee to Bangladesh from violence and torture.

The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize is intended to send the message that “women, who constitute half of the population, are used as a weapons of war, and they need protection, and the perpetrators have to be held responsible and prosecuted for their actions,” Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, said after announcing the winners Friday.

Berit Reiss-Andersen, pictured left, announces the laureates of the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Friday.

Nadia Murad is a human rights activist from Iraq. She was one of an estimated 3,000 girls and women from the Yazidi minority who were victims of rape and other abuses by the terror group ISIS when it overran key cities in the country in 2014.

In testimony to the United States Congress in June 2016, Murad detailed how she and thousands of other Yazidi women and girls enslaved and raped by their ISIS captors. She recounted how six of her brothers and her mother were executed by ISIS in a single day.

Murad eventually escaped to Mosul where a Muslim family helped her obtain fake Islamic identification that enabled her to escape ISIS territory.

In 2016, at the age of just 23, she was named the UN’s first Goodwill Ambassador for the Dignity of Survivors of Human Trafficking, the Nobel committee said.

Mukwege is a world-renowned Congolese surgeon and the founder and medical director of Panzi Hospital in Bukavu, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). 

He has been seen as something of savior for victims of sexual violence in his native country, where his surgery has become a refuge and beacon of hope for thousands of women. Through his work, he has earned the moniker “the man who mends women.”

At his hospital, women are treated for vaginal fistula – a muscular tear caused by violent rape – and are also given counseling and treatment for the psychological repercussions of their experiences.

Mukwege said a fistula is one of the worst conditions a woman can experience. “A fistula is dramatic for a woman,” he told CNN in a 2009 interview. “Everywhere she goes people don’t want to be around her and reject her, so it’s a disease that is worse than leprosy.”

Speaking at the announcement, Berit Reiss-Andersen, Chair of the Norwegian Nobel Committee paid tribute to both, saying the pair have “put their personal security at risk by courageously combating war crime and seeking justice for victims.”

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.

The Nobel Peace Prize medal

The Norwegian Nobel Committee will unveil this year’s 2018 Nobel Peace Prize winner at 11 a.m. Norway time (5 a.m. ET.)

It has been reported that 331 candidates are being considered for this year’s award.

CNN’s Nina Dos Santos reports that at this point “it’s impossible to know,” as the Nobel committee is famously secretive.

The award is decided by a committee of five, nominated by Norwegian politicians. “Because there isn’t an official nomination list that’s published … it is, as always, a bit of a guessing game,” Dos Santos says.

We’ll cover the announcement live here.