The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 European Union (EU) The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 European Union (EU) Prize share: 1/1 The Nobel Peace Prize 2012 was awarded to European Union (EU) "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe". Share this: To cite this page MLA style: "The Nobel Peace Prize 2012". Nobelprize.org. Nobel Media AB 2014. Web. 20 Jan 2017. < Chemical Weapons Watchdog Wins Nobel Peace Prize - The New York Times The New York Times World |Chemical Weapons Watchdog Wins Nobel Peace Prize Search Continue reading the main story Photo Julian Tangaere, left, leader of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons mission to Syria, briefed team members in Damascus on the receipt of the Nobel Peace Prize Friday.

Credit Peter White/Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons LONDON — Urging the destruction of an “entire category” of unconventional weapons, the Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded its 2013 Peace Prize on Friday to a modest and little-known United Nations-backed organization that has drawn sudden attention with a mission to ensure that Syria’s stocks of chemical arms are eradicated. The award, to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons , surprised some Nobel watchers partly because of the unprecedented nature of its current task: overseeing the destruction of a previously secret chemical weapons program quickly amid a raging civil war. “We were aware that our work silently but surely was contributing to peace in the world,” Ahmet Uzumcu, the director general of the organization, told reporters at its headquarters in The Hague after the award was announced. “The last few weeks have brought this to the fore. The entire international community has been made aware of our work.” Video A Century of Chemical Weapons Nations have fought for a century to stop the scourge of chemical weapons. But their use continues, as evidenced by the recent sarin gas attack in Syria. By Poh Si Teng on Publish Date September 23, 2013. .

Watch in Times Video » embed Among diplomats, the prize was seen as the high point of a startling rise to prominence for an organization that had worked in relative obscurity. Some Syrians, however, took strong exception to the idea of lauding chemical weapons watchdogs when the bulk of the more than 100,000 deaths in Syria’s 31-month-old conflict have been caused by conventional weapons, like airstrikes and artillery and rocket fire. Continue reading the main story Despite the urgency and danger of its task, the organization had not been seen as a likely winner. In the days leading up to the award, much attention was focused on individual candidates, including Malala Yousafzai, the 16-year-old Pakistani who risked her life to campaign for girls’ education and would have been the youngest recipient ever. Advertisement Continue reading the main story In its citation , the committee said the organization and the treaty under which it was founded in 1997 “have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law.” “Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons,” the citation said.

Photo A Favorite Didn't Win a Nobel A chemical weapons watchdog won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, although one favorite had been a young Pakistani advocate for the education of girls like these near Islamabad. Credit Zohra Bensemra/Reuters It was the second successive year that the panel, based in Oslo, had chosen an organization. The European Union won the 2012 prize . Inspectors from the 189-member organization began arriving in Syria early this month after a chemical weapons attack killed hundreds of people on the outskirts of Damascus, the Syrian capital, on Aug. 21. Under a deal brokered by Russia and the United States, Syria agreed to join the treaty banning chemical weapons and become the 190th member of the organization. The attack initially drew an American threat of military reprisal before Moscow and Washington reached a compromise arrangement to destroy Syria’s chemical weapons stocks under international supervision. Mikhail S. Gorbachev, the former Soviet leader and the winner of the 1990 Nobel Peace Prize, hailed the award. “O.P.C.W. has worked tirelessly to rid the world of chemical weapons, and the organization is a deserved winner of the Nobel Peace Prize,” Mr.

Gorbachev said in a statement issued by Green Cross International, an advocacy group based in Geneva that he founded, which has collaborated closely with the chemical weapons watchdog. Photo Ahmet Uzumcu, the director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, arrived on Friday at a news conference in The Hague. Credit Michael Kooren/Reuters Angela Kane, the top United Nations disarmament official, who worked with the watchdog organization to lead an investigation into the Aug. 21 attack and other suspected uses of chemical weapons in Syria, said in a statement, “If he were alive today, Alfred Nobel would be gratified indeed that his committee has once again recognized disarmament for its great benefit to humanity.” Thorbjorn Jagland, the former Norwegian prime minister who is chairman of the Nobel committee, said chemical weapons had been used by Hitler’s armies in their campaign of mass extermination and on many other occasions by states and terrorists. Mr. Jagland denied suggestions that the award represented a European-centered shift after last year’s award to the European Union. “It’s global,” he said.

Advertisement Continue reading the main story The organization’s mission is to act as a watchdog in carrying out the Chemical Weapons Convention, which came into force in 1997 with four aims: to destroy all chemical weapons under international verification, to prevent the creation of new chemical weapons, to help countries protect themselves against chemical attack, and to foster international cooperation in the peaceful use of chemistry. Since its creation, the organization has sent experts to carry out 5,000 inspections in 86 countries, working discreetly, almost shunning publicity, with the small number of signatory countries that acknowledge possessing chemical weapons. By far the biggest of these are Russia and the United States. Four countries besides Syria have not yet signed or ratified the treaty: Angola, Egypt, North Korea and South Sudan. Israel and Myanmar have signed the treaty, but their governments have not ratified it. Photo The winner of the 2013 Peace Prize was announced in Oslo on Friday. Credit Heiko Junge/Agence France-Presse — Getty Images The Syria operation is unparalleled in its urgency and its hazards. The United Nations Security Council has set extremely tight deadlines for the mission, calling for the destruction of Syria’s arsenal of dangerous toxic substances by mid-2014.

Mr. Jagland said the award would remind nations still holding major stocks of chemical weapons to destroy them, “especially because they are demanding that others do the same, like Syria.” “We now have the opportunity to get rid of an entire category of weapons of mass destruction,” he said. “That would be a great event in history if we could achieve that.” The official Syrian state news agency offered no immediate comment on the award. But the reaction from many Syrians and others following the Syrian conflict was anger because they consider the chemical weapons issue a sideshow. Antigovernment protesters in Kafranbel, a town in northern Syria, created a drawing of bombs falling, smoke rising and corpses lying in blood, surrounding a blue-helmeted United Nations worker triumphantly holding a wrench over a dismantled chemical warhead. Photo Chemical weapons experts, in Damascus last week, are tasked with destroying stockpiles. Credit Khaled Al-Hariri/Reuters In Moscow, Foreign Minister Sergey V. Lavrov of Russia, the Syrian government’s main backer, insisted that the transfer of Syria’s chemical weapons to international control take place according to schedule.

He also suggested that adversaries of Syria’s president, Bashar al-Assad, both at home and abroad, might try to subvert the initiative. Ryan C. Crocker, a former United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, now dean and executive professor at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, said he was puzzled by the award. “The O.P.C.W., wherever it goes in the chemical weapons effort in Syria, is not going to bring peace to Syria because chemical weapons are simply not a major factor in Assad’s ability to wage war, which in my view is why he’s willing to cooperate,” he said. Advertisement “Getting rid of chemical weapons anywhere is a good thing,” he said, “but to make this worthy of the Nobel Peace Prize, I just don’t get it.” Correction: October 11, 2013 An earlier version of this article misstated the date that the Nobel Peace Prize will be presented. The award will be presented on Dec. 10, the anniversary of the death of Alfred Nobel. It was not presented on Friday. It also misstated the given name of the director general of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.

He is Ahmet Uzumcu, not Ahemt. Correction: October 11, 2013 An earlier version of this article misstated the name of the school where Ryan C. Crocker, a former United States ambassador to Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria, is now dean and executive professor. It is the George Bush School of Government & Public Service, not the George Bush School of Public Policy. The article also misidentified the school’s parent university. It is Texas A&M University, not the University of Texas. Reporting was contributed by Nick Cumming-Bruce from Geneva; Anne Barnard from Beirut, Lebanon; Andrew Roth from Moscow; Andrew Higgins from Brussels; and Rick Gladstone from New York. A version of this article appears in print on October 12, 2013, on Page A6 of the New York edition with the headline: Chemical Weapons Watchdog Wins Nobel Peace Prize. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Trump: Someone nominated him for Nobel Peace Prize - CNNPolitics.com 1 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The 2016 Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos for his efforts to end Colombia's long-running civil war.

Hide Caption 2 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its "decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in the country in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011." From left to right: the Secretary General of the Tunisian General Labour Union Houcine Abbassi, the President of the National Order of Tunisian Lawyers Fadhel Mahfoudh, the Tunisian Human Rights League Abdessatar Ben Moussa and the President of the Tunisian employers union Wided Bouchamaoui.

Hide Caption 3 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its "decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in the country in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011." Members of the quartet are seen here in this 2013 photo, left to right, The President of the Tunisian employers union (UTICA), Wided Bouchamaoui, Secretary General of the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT) Houcine Abbassi (L) , President of the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH), Abdessattar ben Moussa and the president of the National Bar Association, Mohamed Fadhel Mahfoudh. Hide Caption 4 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai split the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with India's Kailash Satyarthi for their struggles against the suppression of children and for young people's rights.

Yousafzai came to global attention after she was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for her efforts to promote education for girls in Pakistan. Hide Caption 5 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Ahmet Uzumcu, director-general of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons , speaks after his chemical watchdog group was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. The Hague, Netherlands-based organization received the prize for helping to eliminate the Syrian army's stockpiles of poison gas as well as for its longtime efforts to eliminate chemical weapons. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The European Union won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. Hide Caption 7 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee, from left, Tawakkol Karman of Yemen and Liberian President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2010. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners U.S. President Barack Obama won the 2009 Nobel Peace Prize.

Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Martti Ahtisaari won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2008. Hide Caption 11 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former Vice President Al Gore and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2007. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Muhammed Yunus and Grameen Bank won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Mohamed ElBaradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2005. Hide Caption 14 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Wangari Muta Maathai, founder of the Green Belt Movement, Kenya, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2004. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Iranian lawyer and human rights activist Shirin Ebadi won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2003. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former President Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002.

Hide Caption 17 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former United Nations Secretary General Koffi Annan, center, with French Forces commander Gen. Alain Pellegrini, right, review UNIFIL soldiers upon Annan's arrival to the U.N. peacekeeping base in the southern Lebanese town of Naqura, on August 29, 2006. Annan and the United Nations won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former South Korean President Kim Dae-jung won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2000. Hide Caption 19 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners A flag bearing the logo of Medecins sans Frontieres (also known as Doctors Without Borders) stands in the middle of a makeshift clinic at Kenya's Dadaab refuge on October 16, 2011. Medicins sans Frontieres won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1999.

Hide Caption 20 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners David Trimble, left, and John Hume hold up their diplomas and medals after receiving their Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 1998. Trimble and Hume won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1998. Hide Caption 21 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Jody Williams sits in front of donated shoes symbolizing landmine victims during Ban Landmines Week on March 8, 2001, on Capitol Hill in Washington. Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1997. Hide Caption 22 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Bishop Carlos Filipe Ximenes Belo, left, and Jose Ramos-Horta shake hands at the Norwegian Nobel Institute in Oslo on December 9,1996, prior to the awarding ceremony. Belo and Ramos-Horta won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1996.

Hide Caption 23 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Joseph Rotblat and the Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1995. Hide Caption 24 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat, from left, Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres and Israeli Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin hold up their awards after winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994. Hide Caption 25 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners South African National Congress President Nelson Mandela, left, and South African President F.W. de Klerk shake hands in Oslo, Norway, on December 10, 1993, after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Hide Caption 26 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Rigoberta Menchu campaigns in the Alameda neighborhood of Guatemala City, Guatemala, on November 4, 2011. Menchu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1992. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Tibetan spiritual leader the Dalai Lama won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1989. Hide Caption 29 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners U.N. soldiers unload their gear from a C-130 cargo plane as the U.N. observer team policing the Iran-Iraq ceasefire arrives in Baghdad. The United Nations Peacekeeping Forces won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1988. Hide Caption 30 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Costa Rican President-elect Oscar Arias waves to supporters after receiving the ceremonial sash at the National Stadium in San Jose on May 8, 2006. Arias won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1987. Hide Caption 31 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Holocaust survivor Elie Wiesel appears at a press conference at the United Nations on October 27, 2004 in New York. Wiesel won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986.

Hide Caption 32 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Members of the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War clasp hands on October 11, 1985, at the group's Boston headquarters after the organization was awarded the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize. The doctors are, from left, Eric Chivian, co-founder; John Pastore, secretary; Sidney Alexander, president of the U.S. affiliate group; and James Muller, co founder. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Archbishop Desmond Tutu won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1984. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Former Polish President Lech Walesa won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1983. Hide Caption 35 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Alva Myrdal, right, and Alfonso Garcia Robles won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1982, having played a central role in the United Nations' disarmament negotiations. Hide Caption 36 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Refugees are registered in Somalia in November 1981.

The Nobel Peace Prize that year was awarded to the United Nations' refugee agency, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Hide Caption 37 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Adolfo Perez Esquivel, who has devoted his life to the struggle for human rights, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1980. Hide Caption 38 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Mother Teresa, founder of the Missionaries of Charity order, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1979. Hide Caption 39 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners President Jimmy Carter, center, Egyptian President Anwar Sadat, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin join hands after signing the Camp David Accords. Sadat and Begin won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1978. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Amnesty International won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1977.

Hide Caption 41 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan, co-founders of the Community for Peace People, share a joke while leading a peace rally of Catholic and Protestant woman in the Protestant Shankill Road, in Belfast, on August 28, 1976. Williams and Corrigan won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Soviet dissident Andrei Sakharov won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1975. Hide Caption 43 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Japanese Prime Minister Eisaku Sato, left, and Irish official Sean MacBride shared the Nobel Peace Prize in 1974. Hide Caption 44 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Hanoi's delegate Le Duc Tho cheers to the crowd while leaving the International Conference Center in Paris on January 23, 1973, after meeting with presidential adviser Henry Kissinger, center. Le Duc Tho and Kissinger won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1973.

Hide Caption 45 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners German Chancellor Willy Brandt poses after being awarded the Nobel Peace Prize n Oslo on December 10, 1971. Hide Caption 46 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Dr. Norman Borlaug holds up stalks of his specifically crossbred wheat, designed to be more disease-resistant. Borlaug won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970. Hide Caption 47 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The International Labour Organization won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1969. David Morse was the director general of the organization from 1948-70. Hide Caption 48 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Rene Cassin, the French jurist and a deputy chairman of the NATO committee for human rights, holds up a telegram after being notified of winning the Nobel Peace Prize in 1968. Hide Caption 49 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Children drink milk handed out by UNICEF workers in Moundou, Chad, on October 26, 1965.

UNICEF won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1965. Hide Caption 50 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. displays his Nobel Peace Prize medal in December 1964 in Oslo, Norway. Then 35, King was the youngest man to have received the prize. The U.S. civil rights leader was slain in 1968. Hide Caption 51 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners A group of Red Cross rescue workers hold a capsule used to supply food and beverages to three trapped miners at an iron ore mine near Lengede, Germany, on October 28, 1963. The League of Red Cross Societies won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1963. Hide Caption 52 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners American chemist Linus Pauling won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1962 for his campaigning for a nuclear test ban treaty. Pauling also won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 1954. Hide Caption 53 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Dag Hammarskjold, Swedish politician and the second U.N.

secretary general, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1961. Hide Caption 54 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners King Olav V of Norway, left, shakes hands with Albert Lutuli, president-general of the African National Congress, after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1960 in Oslo. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners British politician Philip Noel-Baker was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1959. Hide Caption 56 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Georges Pire, right, receives the Nobel Peace Prize in 1958 for his efforts to help European refugees leave their camps and return to a life of freedom and dignity. Hide Caption 57 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Canadian politician Lester Bowles Pearson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1957 for his active role in attempting to prevent war. Hide Caption 58 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners North Korean refugees cross the Naktong River in South Korea on August 6, 1950, just a short time before the beginning of the conflict between North and South Korea. The U.N.

forces in Korea had set a time limit of 15 hours for crossing the river. In 1954, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the UNHCR, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Gen. George Catlett Marshall of the U.S. Army won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Dr. Albert Schweitzer -- a physician, philosopher and theologian -- won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1952. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Leon Jouhaux, a French union activist, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1951. Hide Caption 62 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Ralph Bunche won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950 for his "unremitting campaign to develop man's ability to live in peace, harmony and mutual understanding with his fellows," according to the Nobel Committee. Hide Caption 63 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Lord John Boyd Orr, a British nutritionist and health campaigner, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1949.

Hide Caption 64 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners A family begins to assimilate in a new community on August 4, 1941, after being rehabilitated by the American Quakers and the Unitarian service committee, after fleeing with thousands of others from war-torn Lorraine, France, to begin a new life. The Friends Service Council (The Quakers) and the American Friends Service Committee won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1947. Hide Caption 65 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners John Raleigh Mott, left, and Emily Greene Balch won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1946. Mott won for his contributions to the creation of a peace-promoting religious brotherhood across national boundaries. Balch won for unrelenting efforts to fight for peace. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners U.S. Secretary of State Cordell Hull won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1945. Hide Caption 67 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners American Red Cross workers check packages for troops fighting in Leyte, Philippines, on November 20,1944.

The International Committee of the Red Cross won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1944. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Nansen International Office for Refugees won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1938. Hide Caption 69 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Viscount Cecil of Chelwood won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1937 for promoting peace at a time of war. Hide Caption 70 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Carlos Saavedra Lamas won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1936 for his personal contribution to the cause of peace in Latin America. Hide Caption 71 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Carl Von Ossietzky, seen here in a concentration camp uniform, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1935. Hide Caption 72 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Arthur Henderson, Britain's foreign secretary, arrives at 10 Downing Street in London on August 17, 1931. Henderson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1934.

Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Sir Norman Angell won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1933 for promoting international peace. Hide Caption 74 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Swedish Bishop Nathan Söderblom won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1930. Söderblom was the first clergyman to receive the Nobel Peace Prize. Hide Caption 75 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Frank Billings Kellogg, an American diplomat, speaks after receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in a ceremony at the Nobel Institute in Oslo, Norway. The award commemorates his origination of the Kellogg Peace Pact, which was signed by European nations and the United States in Paris. Kellogg won the Peace Prize in 1929. Hide Caption 76 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners French educator Ferdinand Buisson was jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1927 with Ludwig Quidde, right, who founded the League for Human Rights.

Hide Caption 77 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners German politician and industrialist Gustav Stresemann, left, and French politician Aristide Briand received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1926. Hide Caption 78 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners British statesman and Secretary of State for the Colonies Joseph Chamberlain, left, and American statesman and financier Charles Gates Dawes won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1925. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Norwegian Arctic explorer and statesman Fridtjof Nansen won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1922. Hide Caption 80 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Christian Lous Lange, left, and Karl Hjalmar Branting won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1921 for promoting global peace. Hide Caption 81 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners French socialist statesman Leon Victor Auguste Bourgeois, founder of the League of Nations, won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1920. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners President Woodrow Wilson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1919.

Hide Caption 83 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Belgian diplomat Henri La Fontaine, who served as president of the Permanent International Peace Bureau, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1913. Hide Caption 84 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners American jurist and statesman Elihu Root, who served as U.S. Secretary of War from 1899-1904, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1912 for his promotion of international arbitration. Hide Caption 85 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Tobias Michael Carel Asser, left, and Alfred Hermann Fried won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911 for their efforts in promoting peace among nations. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The International Peace Bureau won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1910. Hide Caption 87 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners French diplomat Paul Henri Benjamin Balluet d'Estournelles de Constant, Baron de Constant de Rebecque, left, and Belgian Prime Minister Auguste Marie Francois Beernaert won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1909.

Hide Caption 88 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Danish writer and politician Fredrik Bajer, left, and Swedish author and politician Klas Pontus Arnoldson won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1908. Hide Caption 89 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Nobel Peace Prize in 1907 was awarded jointly to Italian journalist Ernesto Teodoro Moneta, left, and French industrialist Louis Renault. Hide Caption Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Nobel Peace Prize in 1906 was awarded to U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. Hide Caption 91 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Austrian author Baroness Bertha Sophie Felicita von Suttner became the first woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 1905. Hide Caption 92 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Members of the Red Cross Motor Corps, all wearing masks to protect against the further spread of the influenza epidemic, carry a patient on a stretcher into an ambulance in St. Louis in October 1918. The International Committee of the Red Cross won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1917.

Hide Caption 93 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners The Institute of International Law won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1904 for promoting peace around the world. Hide Caption 94 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners English politician, pacifist and trade unionist Sir William Randal Cremer won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1903. Hide Caption 95 of 97 Photos: Nobel Peace Prize winners Swiss activist Elie Ducommun and Swiss lawyer Charles Albert Gobat won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1902. Hide Caption A Brief History Of Organizations Winning The Nobel Peace Prize A Brief History Of Organizations Winning The Nobel Peace Prize CREDIT: SHUTTERSTOCK By Hayes Brown The Nobel Committee announced on Friday morning that it had awarded the Organisation for the Prevention of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize, edging out Pakistani activist Malala Yousseff in doing so. Granting the award to an organization, rather than individual, may seem like a rarity, but in the 112 year history of the award, the prize has been given to or shared by 25 different groups for their work.

Here’s a look at some of them. 2012: European Union The most recent example of a body winning the award comes from just last year, when the prize was given to the European Union. “The union and its forerunners have for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe,” the committee explained when announcing its choice. “The work of the EU represents ‘fraternity between nations’, and amounts to a form of the ‘peace congresses’ to which Alfred Nobel refers as criteria for the Peace Prize in his 1895 will.” The award wasn’t without controversy , however, as it came in the middle of uncertainty about the future of the supranational body, rampant unemployment among its members, and sputtering economic growth. 2007: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Shared with former Vice-President Al Gore, the IPCC took the prize in 2007 for its work in highlighting the dangers of climate change.

“By awarding the Nobel Peace Prize for 2007 to the IPCC and Al Gore, the Norwegian Nobel Committee is seeking to contribute to a sharper focus on the processes and decisions that appear to be necessary to protect the worlds future climate, and thereby to reduce the threat to the security of mankind,” the Oslo-based Nobel Committee’s press release said. 2006: The Grameen Bank Founder Muhammed Yunus shared the 2006 prize with his creation, the Grameen Bank. Started in Bangladesh in 1976, the Bank revolutionized the idea of offering small loans, or microloans, to individuals seeking to start or improve their own small business. Microloans have become a cottage industry in their own right since then, with the Grameen Bank alone providing capital for an estimated 6 million people since it launched and boasting a recovery rate of over 90 percent. Since the prize’s awarding, however, Yunus has warned against steps the Bangladeshi government has taken to limit the bank’s independence. 2001: The United Nations After various organs of the body had won previously — including UNICEF in 1965, U.N.

Peacekeepers in 1988, and the U.N. High Commission on Refugees twice in 1954 and 1981 — the United Nations itself finally took the prize in 2001. The award was issued on the hundredth anniversary of the prize’s first being offered and, though not offiically noted in the decision, U.N. officials at the time speculated that the impact of the 9/11 attacks “must have been on jurors’ minds.” In announcing their decision, the committee noted that “the end of the cold war has at last made it possible for the U.N. to perform more fully the part it was originally intended to play.” 1963: International Committee for the Red Cross The far and away the recipient of the most Nobel Prizes is the Red Cross, which has been awarded the honor three times in the last hundred years. Twice the organization was recognized for its efforts during the largest wars humanity had ever seen: in 1917 during World War I and in 1944 in the midst of WWII.

Its most recent award was in 1963, on the 100th anniversary of Henri Dunant — himself the first Nobel Peace Prize laureate — founding the organization. In particular, the Nobel Committee highlighted the ICRC’s work during conflicts in Hungary, Algeria, the Congo and Tibet. 1904: Institute of International Law Lest one think that the awarding of the Peace Prize to groups is a new phenomenon, the fourth award ever handed out went to the Institut de Droit International in 1904. “In 1904, the Institute of International Law won special praise for promoting international arbitration and for persuading states to accept the rules of law in wartime,” according to the Nobel Prize’s website . “The Institute was among other things given the credit for the provisions on arbitration which were adopted by the Hague Congress in 1899.” Nobel bailout?

European Union wins 2012 Peace Prize — RT News Tags EU , Crisis , Protest , Politics The 27-nation organization was awarded the prize for its role in “uniting the continent,” and its contributions “to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.” The unanimous decision was made by a five-person panel chaired by Thorbjoern Jagland, the Council of Europe’s Secretary-General and a strong advocate of the EU in Norway. “The EU helped transform Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace,” Jagland said. The EU will receive a $1.2 million award on December 10 by the Nobel Committee. The news came 60 years after the creation of the EU’s predecessor organization, the European Coal and Steel Community, which helped rebuild a continent decimated by two World Wars. "The European Union is in the middle of one of its worst crises, but perhaps it is precisely now the peace and stabilization project deserves a hand from the 'no' country Norway?" Norwegian public broadcaster NRK said. Norway, the Nobel Peace Prize’s host nation, refused membership in the EU in 1972 and again in 1994.

The last organization to be granted a Nobel Peace Prize was French charity Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors Without Borders), 13 years ago. German Chancellor Angela Merkel gives a statement regarding the Nobel Peace Prize for the European Union at the chancellery in Berlin, Germany on October 12, 2012 (AFP Photo / Odd Andersen) Storm of debate erupts over EU peace prize win The EU enthusiastically welcomed the announcement, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel calling the decision “wonderful,” and vowing to press for closer integration in the EU. "The fact that the Nobel Committee has honored this idea is both a spur and an obligation, also for me in a very personal way," she told reporters. Martin Schulz, president of the EU Parliament said he was “deeply touched and honored” by the prize. “The EU is a unique project that replaced war with peace, hate with solidarity.” “Overwhelming emotion for awarding of Nobel Prize to EU,” he wrote on his twitter account. The news also sparked debate and criticism in the EU and elsewhere. Nigel Farage, head of Britain's euro-skeptic UK Independence Party said the move was “an absolute disgrace.

I think it brings the Nobel Prize into total disrepute,” the AP reported. The leader of Norway’s main anti-EU organization, Heming Olaussen, described the prize as “absurd” in an interview with NRK. RT’s Max Keiser expressed outrage , describing the Nobel Peace Prize as being given to “a technocratic monstrosity.” “This is like giving the prize to Frankenstein for being the best monster created during the past 12 months,” Keiser said. “Who are they going to give it to next? They are going to give it to a genetically modified seed in India where farmers are killing themselves by the thousands because of companies like Monsanto. Give it to Monsanto next year, Nobel Committee!” International investor and author James Rogers told RT that the EU may have gotten the prize for bringing nations together, but could still fall apart. “I assure you, next week or next month, when people are out rioting in the streets again in parts of Europe, they are not going to care about the Nobel Peace Prize,” Rogers said. “Europe has been spending money they don’t have.

That’s going to have to stop, and it’s going to cause more riots in the streets, more social unrest, more governments failing and perhaps even countries failing, and perhaps even people pulling out of the euro.” Several Russian officials and human rights activists also expressed confusion over the decision. In 2009, the Nobel Committee raised eyebrows and sparked similar debate for awarding the Peace Prize to newly inaugurated US President Barack Obama. President Obama had only been in office for two weeks, but was awarded the prize “for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples.” This is not to mention controversial 1973 Peace Prize for Henry Kissinger, US Secretary of State and US National Security Advisor, who was implicated in war crimes in Latin America and Southeastern Asia. A With the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize being awarded to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, it marks the 25th time an organization has been recognized for its work. The International Committee of the Red Cross has won three times and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been awarded twice, reducing our list of organizations to 22.

We decided to take a look at them and dig up a few interesting facts for your 'peace' of mind... American Friends Service Committee/Friends Service Council (The Quakers) Year of win: 1947 Fact: Their original mission began from the need to provide conscientious objectors with a practical alternative to US military service, which is certainly an issue worth fighting for. Amnesty International Year of win: 1977 Fact: Their motto ‘It is better to light a candle than to curse the darkness’ was first used by American politician Adlai Stevenson II in a 1962 UN assembly speech - it is not an ancient Chinese proverb. European Union Year of win: 2012 Fact: The EU Parliament employs 6,166 employees, with the 2012 budget totaling 2.3 billion US dollars - this equates to about USD 217 million per star on the Euro flag. Grameen Bank Year of win: 2006 Fact: The scheme has lifted more than 50 million Bangladeshis out of acute poverty and an incredible 97% of the borrowers are female, suggesting that more women really are in charge of household finances.

Institute of International Law Year of win: 1904 Fact: Gustave Moynier was not only one of the founders of this institute but was also one of the founding members of the International Committee of the Red Cross. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Year of win: 2007 Fact: Even though the IPCC includes hundreds of climate scientists, the organization doesn’t undertake any research itself, which is a bit like Wikipedia. International Atomic Energy Agency Year of win: 2005 Fact: Currently, 159 member states are members, with North Korea and Cambodia the only ones to ever withdraw from the IAEA - there must be a 'splitting from the atom' joke somewhere there. International Campaign to Ban Landmines Year of win: 1997 Fact: 70-85 percent of antipersonnel landmine victims are civilians and most of the countries where casualties are reported are at peace. Furthermore, with 35 countries yet to sign the Ottawa Treaty there is still a long way to go.

International Committee of the Red Cross Years of wins: 1917, 1944, 1963 Fact: The roots of the ICRC date back to 1859 when Henry Dunant witnessed the bloody aftermath of the Battle of Solferino. It goes to show that one man really can make a difference. International Labour Organization Year of win: 1969 Fact: Their fight to end child labor is the largest program of its kind globally and the biggest single operational program headed by the ILO, reminding us that the issue is sadly far from child's play. International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War Year of win: 1985 Fact: They once gave humanity a stark warning: ‘Nuclear war would be the final epidemic; that there would be no cure and no meaningful medical response.’ There's no second opinion on this one. League of Red Cross Societies Year of win: 1963 Fact: The league’s first relief assistance mission was in 1919, bringing aid to the victims of a famine in Poland and the ensuing typhus epidemic.

Médecins Sans Frontières Year of win: 1999 Fact: Their ‘running person’ logo conveys their essence of being a ‘medical and humanitarian organization working in situations of crisis’, reminding us all of what it means to be truly selfless. Nansen International Office for Refugees Year of win: 1938 Fact: The office actually closed after becoming a Nobel Laureate but its remit was thankfully continued by the newly-formed Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees, which later won two Peace Prizes itself. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Years of wins: 1954, 1981 Fact: At the turn of 2012, the estimated number of refugees falling under the UNHCR mandate was 10.4 million, which was a decrease on the previous year. Let's hope their job is obsolete by the end of the 21st century. Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons Year of win: 2013 Fact: Almost 82 percent of the world’s declared stockpile of 71,196 metric tons of chemical agents has been verifiably destroyed.

It is the continuing search for the unverified that earns them our respect. Permanent International Peace Bureau Year of win: 1910 Fact: Founded in 1891, they are the world’s oldest international peace federation and have counted 11 Nobel Peace Prize laureates among its members. Who would be on your Laureate XI Dream Team? Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs Year of win: 1995 Fact: Following the Peace Prize win, the town of Pugwash, Nova Scotia, changed its slogan on a welcoming roadside sign to ‘World Famous for Peace’. However, it isn't something they like to shout about. United Nations Year of win: 2001 Fact: The map of the world on the UN emblem represents an ‘azimuthal equidistant projection centered on the North Pole'. Simply, it means that all points are at proportionately correct distances from the center point. United Nations Children's Fund Year of win: 1965 Fact: FC Barcelona actually pay UNICEF to use their logo, which is the first time a football club has sponsored an organization rather than the other way around. Let's hope the idea catches on.

United Nations Peacekeeping Forces Year of win: 1988 Fact: As of 2013, 114 countries contribute a total of 91,216 personnel, with Pakistan supplying the highest number (8,230), closely followed by Bangladesh (7,986) and India (7,878). Interestingly, if you melted all the blue helmets you'd be left with a lot of unprotected Peacekeepers. Nobel Peace Prize Awarded to European Union - The New York Times The New York Times World |Nobel Committee Gives Peace Prize to European Union Search Continue reading the main story Photo Thorbjorn Jagland, the chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, announced the winner of the peace prize on Friday in Oslo. Credit Heiko Junge/European Pressphoto Agency PARIS — By naming the European Union the recipient of the 2012 peace prize on Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee made an unconventional choice that celebrated the bloc’s postwar integration even as a financial crisis and political infighting threaten to tear it apart. Members of the Nobel committee lauded six decades of reconciliation among enemies who fought Europe’s bloodiest wars while simultaneously warning against the hazards of the present.

The decision sounded at times like a plea to support the endangered institution at a difficult hour. “We see already now an increase of extremism and nationalistic attitudes,” said Thorbjorn Jagland, the former Norwegian prime minister who is chairman of the panel awarding the prize, in an interview after announcing the award. “There is a real danger that Europe will start disintegrating. Therefore, we should focus again on the fundamental aims of the organization.” Yet on the very day that the award was announced in Oslo, leading European policy makers again publicly bickered over how to deal with Greece’s bailout. Germany’s finance minister, Wolfgang Schäuble, rejected calls from the French head of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, to give Greece more time to make additional spending cuts to rein in deficits. Continue reading the main story The intractable debt troubles in Greece have been at the heart of the financial crisis that has gone on for years and has taken a tremendous toll on Europe’s economy, breeding ill will between the suffering periphery and officials in Germany, who have called for painful austerity as the price of continued German support for the rising debt. Advertisement Continue reading the main story “The leader of the E.U.

is Germany, which is in an economic war with southern Europe,” said Stavros Polychronopoulos, 60, a retired lawyer in Athens. “I consider this war equal to a real war. They don’t help peace.” Mr. Polychronopoulos stood Friday in the central Syntagma Square in Athens, where residue from tear gas fired by the police during demonstrations on Tuesday to protest a visit by the German chancellor, Angela Merkel, still clung to the sidewalks. In light of the recent upheaval, the Nobel announcement was greeted with surprise, perplexity and, from some corners, even mockery. “The Nobel committee is a little late for an April Fool’s joke,” said Martin Callanan, a British member of the European Parliament and the leader of the European Conservatives and Reformists Group. “The E.U.’s policies have exacerbated the fallout of the financial crisis and led to social unrest that we haven’t seen for a generation.” Before making its choice, the Norwegian panel — located, as it happens, in an oil-rich kingdom whose population of five million people has steadfastly resisted membership of the 27-nation European Union — weighed 231 nominations.

One committee member, a Socialist critical of the union, had a stroke recently and was replaced by a more Europe-friendly moderate, ensuring the committee’s tradition of unanimous decisions. The peace prize is associated with diplomats or heads of state who have ended wars, or individuals like Mother Teresa and Archbishop Desmond M. Tutu fighting poverty or injustice. Last year’s peace prize was shared by President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia; a Liberian antiwar activist, Leymah Gbowee; and Tawakkol Karman, a democracy activist in Yemen. The 2010 peace prize winner was Liu Xiaobo, a Chinese human rights campaigner. But as it has in the past, notably in bestowing the 2009 peace prize on President Obama less than one year after he took office, the selection by the highly politicized committee sometimes reflects hope as much as achievement, seeking to bolster good intentions with a prestigious accolade that provides an unparalleled, if often contentious, global imprimatur. Photo The European Union flag atop the Reichstag building in Berlin. The peace prize recognizes the union’s postwar efforts. Credit Tobias Schwarz/Reuters Ms.

Merkel called the award “an inducement and an obligation at the same time.” The announcement was taken by the European Union elite in Brussels — and by its surviving founders — as a moment of profound vindication. José Manuel Barroso, president of the European Commission, said the award proved that the European body was “something very precious.” “It is justified recognition for a unique project that works for the benefit of its citizens and also for the benefit of the world,” he said. “The award today by the Nobel committee shows that even in these difficult times, the European Union remains an inspiration for countries and people all over the world and that the international community needs a strong European Union.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story For all the talk of unity, however, a variety of signals suggested the opposite. European officials immediately raised the question of who would accept the peace prize on behalf of the bloc’s often bickering members, divided by tensions between its more affluent north and its struggling south. They are also frequently at odds over personality differences and critical questions, like whether Turkey should be admitted and whether the euro zone should include more countries than its current 17. Please verify you're not a robot by clicking the box. Invalid email address.

Please re-enter. You must select a newsletter to subscribe to. Sign Up Privacy Policy At its headquarters in Brussels, several figureheads compete for prominence, including Mr. Barroso, the president of the European Commission, which enforces European treaties, and Herman Van Rompuy, the president of the European Council, which represents heads of European Union governments. Additionally, the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, said in a statement that his institution expected to be part of the award ceremony. The rivalries recalled a remark ascribed to Henry A. Kissinger, the former United States secretary of state: “Who do I call if I want to call Europe?” The differences extend beyond the Continent’s many languages to broader questions of commitment to the European integration project. Some Europeans asked whether the bloc’s dismal track record in dealing with the Balkan wars of the 1990s and its performance in the current economic crisis justified a prize for spreading peace. At the news conference in Oslo to announce the award, Mr. Jagland said the committee had “no ambitions” that the $1.2 million prize would solve the multibillion-euro crisis. “The stabilizing part played by the E.U.

has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace,” he said. “The union and its forerunners have for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe.” He added: “The dreadful suffering in World War II demonstrated the need for a new Europe. Over a 70-year period, Germany and France had fought three wars. Today, war between Germany and France is unthinkable.” He also cited the admission of Greece, Spain and Portugal in the 1980s after they emerged from dictatorships, with democracy as a condition for membership, as well as the ending of the divisions between east and west after the fall of the Berlin Wall , as successes for the European Union. “The admission of Croatia as a member next year, the opening of membership negotiations with Montenegro, and the granting of candidate status to Serbia all strengthen the process of reconciliation in the Balkans,” he said.

Maurice Faure, the last living French signatory to the 1957 Treaty of Rome, which established the European Economic Community, a precursor to the modern union, called the prize “the finest reward, the official recognition of what we developed, notably peace.” Advertisement Continue reading the main story “The European Union remains a work in progress,” he said. Alan Cowell reported from Paris, and Nicholas Kulish from Berlin. Reporting was contributed by Walter Gibbs from Oslo, Stephen Castle from London, James Kanter from Brussels, Rachel Donadio from Athens, Victor Homola from Berlin, and Scott Sayare and Maïa de la Baume from Paris. A version of this article appears in print on October 13, 2012, on Page A9 of the New York edition with the headline: Nobel Committee Gives Peace Prize to European Union. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe

Question: What organization won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize?
Answer: The European Union