Nobel Prize Winner: Barrack Obama
Number of Drone Strikes: 563
Civilian Fatalities: 384 – 807
Nobel Prize Winner: Aung San Suu Kyi
Accusation: Aiding and abetting nation’s military in their assault with genocidal intent against the Rohingya Muslims
Key Figures: 6700 killed in the first month of the crisis alone, over 1.1million displaced, among the dead children below the age of five, MSF says more than 59% were reportedly shot, 15% burnt to death, 7% beaten to death and 2% killed by landmine blasts.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-42348214
Nobel Prize Winner: Abiy Ahmed (2019)
Accusation: Leading a military offensive against the regional forces of the Tigray region which targeted rebel forces and civilians. Reports of war crimes are rife with genocide being suggested.
Civilian Fatalities: No accurate figures yet but reports of deaths in the thousands caused by both sides of the conflict.
Source: https://www.bbc.com/news/amp/world-africa-55825560
Question: What is it about the Nobel Peace Prize that somehow incites its winners to go on a blood rampage after winning it?
The real answer is that there is nothing wrong with the award. It has been given to many individuals and groups who genuinely deserved it and who used the award as inspiration to do more.
People like Juan Manuel Santos, Shimon Peres and a host of others have won the award for their good works and did not engage in any vice afterwards.
The problem is the expectation we have of people when they win the award. We immediately forget they are humans and start to have high standards of them.
The same Abiy Ahmed that brokered peace between Ethiopia and Eritrea (for which he won the peace prize) suddenly became belligerent when he was dealing with Egypt and other countries on the Nile valley now that Ethiopia has a dam nor was he in a diplomatic mood when the regional leaders of the Tigray region decided to attack government military bases.
The same can also be said of Aung San Suu Kyi. A beacon of freedom and democracy for decades. She went as far as paying for it with her freedom and a winner of numerous awards due to her defense of democracy also lost her voice when the military in her country decided to wipe the Rohingya Muslims out of the country.
She went to the International Criminal Court and on International television to defend the actions of the military.
A Nobel Peace Prize Winner.
Barrack Obama rather curiously, won the Prize for what he promised to do and not what he had done already.
Well, it turned out to be mostly rhetoric, ISIS rose while he was in office, the Afghanistan and Iraq wars did not end and civilians lost their lives as a result of drone strikes that he favoured.
Like I said, several people have won the award and gone on to do even more good. The people under the spotlight here also fully deserved the award. Their words and actions brought peace and ensured stability.
The Nobel Committee did no wrong in giving them these awards. The issue lies in the sudden expectation we place on them.
People change and our responses to different situations will always be unpredictable. Also, people respond to events based on other factors surrounding that event.
Do I blame any of these individuals for their actions post the award? It is not my place to judge. History and posterity will do that. It is however disappointing to watch people we hold in high regards do things that go against what we assumed their values are.
I hope the future winners of this hallowed prize will know that it is just not a medal, some money and a speech in Sweden. It is a responsibility that they must take seriously for the rest of their lives.
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