Thirty-six women from the Middle East, including four from Saudi Arabia, have been nominated for the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 by the ‘Association of 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005.’ The association was established specifically for this purpose under an initiative taken by Dr. Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, member of the Swiss Parliament and a member of the Council of Europe.
Of the thirty-six women, eight are from Occupied Palestine, followed by Saudi Arabia, and Jordan (4 each), Kuwait and Syria (3 each), Iraq (2), and Bahrain, Lebanon, Oman, Qatar, and the UAE (1 each). The four nominees from the Kingdom are Dr. Haifa Reda Jamal Al-Lail, dean of Effat College, Leila Alireza, Al-Jowhara Al-Angari, and Sara Al-Faisal.
Ruth-Gaby Vermot is president of Contact-Net, an institute for drug-dependency assistance and of the Swiss section of The Society for Threatened Peoples. She is also active in the Swiss Committee for the Protection of Children. In the following interview with Arab News, she talks about the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005
How did the project begin?
We believe that in the year 2005 the Nobel Peace Prize should be awarded to 1000 women for their untiring pursuit of peace. We want above all to profile these courageous women, to highlight their lives and work through films, photos and other documentation.
As a member of the Council of Europe, I have been visiting refugee camps for many years. Everywhere I meet women who manage the difficult task of obtaining food and medicine for those in need. They look for missing persons and struggle to acquire better living conditions. They give schooling to orphans in order to distract them from their war experiences and bad memories and to bring structure and courage into the children’s daily lives. They condemn unequivocally torture, murder and abductions. They take to the streets and, against the will of the authorities, hold vigils of protest in public places. It is women who are victims of war. It is women who weep for the dead; they are the survivors who press for a return to peace. Courageous and resolute, and without regard for personal safety, they demand peace. My contact with these women and the awareness that their work leaves scarcely a trace outside their sphere of activity has preoccupied me for a long time. I realized that people from countries at peace must render visible the concrete work for peace done by women. Thus the idea 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 gradually took form. The fact that since 1901 the Nobel Peace Prize for Peace has been awarded mainly to men, but only 10 times to women, deepened my conviction that this situation must be remedied. The widespread enthusiastic reaction to this idea encouraged me to launch the project.
Is it just for this year? If so, why?
The nomination of the 1000 women for the Nobel Peace Prize is for 2005. The main goal is to make women’s work for peace noticed and appreciated. This will be done by a worldwide campaign, a book and a mobile exhibition. It would be too expensive and time — consuming to repeat the procedure every year, checking the validity of 1000 nominations. The women are unique and the project is too so the idea is to have an overall view of today’s women’s activities for peace.
What does the letter of nomination submitted to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Oslo say? Who are the signatories? What are the chances of their receiving or not receiving the prize?
The nomination letter explains the idea of the project. Further it introduces three women who represent the entire 1000. The rules of the Nobel Committee will not accept a nomination of 1000 women as a collective — that’s why three out of 1000 are highlighted and they represent the whole group. The showed all 1000 names — printed in the background of the letter. The letter was signed by the Swiss Minister of Foreign Affairs, Micheline Calmy-Rey, Rosmarie Zapfl, a member of the board, and me.
The chances of receiving the prize depend upon the political and humanitarian situation of the world between now and October 2005. Theoretically speaking, we can say that about 200 candidates are nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize and the project of the 1000 women is one of them so its mathematical chances are 1:200. We estimate that the political chances are better.
Who are the three women who will receive the prize on behalf of the others? What are their achievements? Is there one from Saudi Arabia or the Middle East among the three?
The three women who are highlighted on behalf of the 1000 women will not be named specifically for the simple reason that their nomination is symbolic, standing for all the 1000 women. They are part of the 1000 women and their names will be published separately from the other 997 when they are honored by the Nobel Committee.
The names of the 1000 women will be announced worldwide on June 29.
Did you visit Saudi Arabia while soliciting nominations? Do you plan to in future?
The coordinator for Saudi Arabia is Aida Abu Ras from Jordan. For financial reasons, it was not possible for the coordinators to visit all the countries they were responsible for. They had to activate their networks and make a call for nominations in the media.
Was the nomination process in the Middle East, encouraging?
Nominations were open to every one. By the end of the nomination process, the international project team decided which nominations fulfilled the criteria. Now there are 36 women nominated from the Middle East, four of them from Saudi Arabia. Aida reported that nominations from Saudi Arabia were encouraging, and the cooperation was good.
What about the prize itself?
The Nobel Peace Prize has a value of approximately US $1 million. We discussed the distribution of the money with the 20 coordinators during our meeting in April 2005. The money will clearly go to already existing foundations to support women’s projects all around the world. The final decision will be made as soon as we know who wins. The vision is that in the long run, the prize money will grow with other donations and in the end women’s projects all over the world could apply for funding. More important than the prize money is the recognition of the work of these women.
Who were the sponsors? Was there any financial help from Saudi Arabia or the Middle East? How much?
Up to now, the donors are mainly from Switzerland and Germany. Most of the money has come from private individuals; some of the larger amounts came from Swiss groups and from Swiss and German governmental organizations. Unfortunately it was not possible to raise funds for the project in Saudi Arabia but it would be wonderful to find a sponsor in Saudi Arabia for the local exhibition!
Why will the project end in 2006?
The association has as its goal to nominate and document the achievements of 1000 women. The work will be finalized in 2006. Follow-up projects are already being discussed with the coordinators. It would be wonderful if Saudi Arabia were interested in participating in one of the follow-up projects.
