Tunisian civil society groups won the Nobel Peace Prize yesterday for helping to create the only democracy to emerge from the Arab Spring, at a time when the nation is under threat from Islamist violence.
The Nobel panel said the award to the National Dialogue Quartet was intended as an “encouragement to the Tunisian people” and as an inspiration for others, particularly in the troubled Middle East.
The committee hailed the quartet’s “decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011,” chairwoman Kaci Kullmann Five said. “The Norwegian Nobel Committee hopes that this year’s prize will contribute toward safeguarding democracy in Tunisia, and be an inspiration to all those who seek to promote peace and democracy in the Middle East, north Africa and the rest of the world.”
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UN spokesman Ahmad Fawzi congratulated the quartet, telling reporters in Geneva, Switzerland: “We need civil society to help us to move peace processes forward.”
The National Dialogue Quartet was formed in 2013 when the process of democratization was in danger of collapsing because of widespread social unrest, “establishing an alternative, peaceful political process” at a time when Tunisia was on the brink of civil war, Kullmann Five said.
It is made up of the Tunisian General Labor Union (UGTT), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.
“The quartet exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority,” the Nobel panel said. “More than anything, the prize is intended as an encouragement to the Tunisian people, who despite major challenges have laid the groundwork for a national fraternity which the committee hopes will serve as an example to be followed by other countries.”
The powerful labor union described it as a “tribute to martyrs of a democratic Tunisia.”
“This effort by our youth has allowed the country to turn the page on dictatorship,” UGTT chief Houcine Abassi said.
The trade confederation said they had succeeded where others had failed.
“We are here... to give hope to young people in Tunisia that if we believe in our country, we can succeed,” its head Ouided Bouchamaoui said.
On the streets of Tunis, people welcomed the Nobel as a boost for democracy.
“It’s an encouragement for the parties in opposition and those in power so they can believe in democracy and not just grab power,” Tunis resident Shukri ben Nasif said.
Tunisian President Beji Caid Essebsi said the award recognizes the “path of consensus” chosen by the nation.
The prize is a gold medal, a diploma and a check for 8 million Swedish kronor (US$950,000) to be shared by the laureates.
They are due to receive the prize at a ceremony in Oslo on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the 1896 death of prize creator Alfred Nobel.
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