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Oslo (AFP)
The World Health Organization is the bookmaker’s favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, although experts say Greta Thunberg or press freedom groups are also strong contenders.
The peace prize, the highlight of the Nobel season and the only one of the six Nobel prizes awarded in Oslo, always triggers wild guessing games, especially complicated by the fact that the list of nominees is kept secret during at least 50 years.
Only their number is known: There are 318 nominees this year, including 211 individuals and 107 organizations, according to the Nobel Institute.
That leaves a lot to the imagination of the experts.
“In the absence of a very clear favorite … I think we could and should see an award for an umbrella organization for journalists or for individual journalists working in the field,” suggested Henrik Urdal, director of Peace Research. Oslo Institute.
“During conflicts, it is extremely important that journalists contribute to providing information about what is happening, both to hold the parties to the conflict accountable for their actions and to provide information to the outside world that allows governments the opportunity to assess the situation. and possible measures., “he explained.
Both Reporters Without Borders, known by its French acronym RSF, and the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists have been mentioned as possibilities.
Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg is also a name on the lips of experts, whether alone or with other activists.
She was the favorite to win the award last year, when it went to Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed for helping end a 20-year post-war stalemate with Eritrea.
Nobel historian Asle Sveen said that while RSF was his first choice, Greta, as she is simply known, was “a possible candidate, absolutely.”
Greta would be the second-youngest winner in the nearly 120-year history of the Nobel prizes, after Pakistani advocate for girls’ education Malala Yousafzai.
“Even if you have this pandemic right now, climate change is much more serious in the long term,” Sveen noted.
– There is no Nobel for Trump –
Meanwhile, the new coronavirus pandemic has pushed the World Health Organization (WHO) to the top of online gambling sites, just ahead of Greta.
That would be one way for the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee to honor the UN agency’s multilateral approach to the virus.
But the WHO has also come under fire for its slow response, while Donald Trump has accused it of yielding to Chinese influence.
It is also not known whether the WHO was nominated on time. The new coronavirus was defined as a pandemic on March 11, while the deadline for peace prize nominations was January 31, and members of the Nobel committee can only add their own suggestions at their first meeting of the year in February.
Other names circulating in Oslo include the German non-governmental organization Transparency International, the World Food Program (WFP), the UN and its Secretary General Antonio Guterres, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Afghan politician and women’s rights activist. women Fawzia Koofi.
Those eligible to nominate candidates for the award can also reveal their choice.
As a result, those believed to be on the list include the people of Hong Kong, NATO, Brazilian indigenous leader and environmentalist Raoni Metuktire, the whistleblower trio of Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and Chelsea Manning, as well as former Prime Minister of Greece Alexis. Tsipras and his Macedonian counterpart Zoran Zaev.
Whoever wins, Covid-19 will impact the award this year.
Depending on the crown restrictions in effect at the time, it will be awarded on December 10 in person at a reduced ceremony in Oslo or remotely at an online ceremony.
While Trump has been nominated by two Scandinavian MPs, it is not known if he is a candidate this year.
Trump seems to delight in the idea of being a Nobel laureate, given the number of tweets he has written about the possibility.
But experts do not believe that will happen.
“Trump is more likely to get the Nobel Prize in literature for his tweets than the Nobel Peace Prize,” Urdal said.
“And that’s not because he’s Donald Trump, it’s because he hasn’t done anything worthy of the award.”
© 2020 AFP
