Statement on the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize

7 October 2011

As the international Secretary General of the world’s oldest women's peace organization, I am delighted to hear that the Norwegian Nobel Committee this year finally gives the prestigious Peace Prize to three real peace activists: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karmann. Their reasons for giving them the prize take its starting point in the UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security and women's role in international peace building and security.

This year the Nobel Committee highlights what WILPF has been saying ever since1915: that we cannot achieve democracy and sustainable peace in the world unless women have the same opportunities as men to influence all levels of society. In their Peace Price motivation, the Nobel Committee states that it is the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s hope that the prize to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karmann will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent.

Nobel Committee makes clear that women's democratic rights is a prerequisite for peace and security. They also make visible that women still suffer from the lack of basic human rights all over the world, and that women's security is essential for sustainable peace. Let's hope we do not have to continue to hear comments about "peace first, women's rights second" from now on, when both the Security Council and the Nobel Committee clearly state that this is an impossible equation.

Madeleine Rees, WILPF Secretary General

The .pdf version of this statement can be found here.