Page 10 - ARUBA TODAY

A10 WORLD NEWS
Saturday 6 OctOber 2018
Nobel Peace laureates demand end to sexual violence in war

By JIM HEINTZ Mukwege! Looking forward
MARK LEWIS to visiting Panzi Hospital
Associated Press and seeing firsthand your
OSLO, Norway (AP) — An remarkable work against
Iraqi woman who became sexual violence and in sup-
a global advocate for vic- port of survivors."
tims after being raped and Supreme Court Justice Ruth
tortured by Islamic State Bader Ginsburg, mean-
militants and a Congolese while, tweeted a link to
surgeon who has treated the Nobel announcement,
countless rape victims in commenting that "the tim-
his war-torn nation won the ing of this topic is extraor-
Nobel Peace Prize on Fri- dinary as we fight for the
day for fighting to end the end of #ViolenceAgainst-
use of sexual violence as a Women."
weapon of war. Last year's Peace Prize win-
Dr. Denis Mukwege was in ner was the International
surgery — his second op- Campaign to Abolish Nu-
eration of the day — at the clear Weapons.
hospital that he founded in In other Nobel prizes this
1999 in Congo's eastern Bu- The combo of file photos shows Doctor Denis Mukwege, from the Democratic Republic of Congo year, the medicine prize
kavu region when the an- and Yazidi woman from Iraq, Nadia Murad on Dec. 13, 2016 as they both address the European went Monday to James Al-
parliament in Strasbourg, France.
nouncement came Friday Associated Press lison of the University of Tex-
that he and Nadia Murad as M.D. Anderson Cancer
had won the prestigious and in society — that has men tried to kill him in 2012, Girl," tells of her captivity, Center and Tasuku Honjo
prize. He learned of it be- been highlighted by the forcing him to temporarily the loss of her family and of Kyoto University, whose
cause he heard colleagues "#MeToo" movement. leave the country. her eventual escape. discoveries helped cancer
and patients crying at the "We want to send a mes- "This particular type of war The Yazidis are an ancient doctors fight advanced-
news. sage that women who con- crime has been more invis- religious minority, falsely stage tumors.
The 63-year-old gynecolog- stitute half the population ible, because the victims branded as devil-wor- Scientists from the Unit-
ical surgeon said for nearly in those communities actu- have such a stigma and no shippers by Sunni Muslim ed States, Canada and
20 years he has witnessed ally are used as weapons one is willing to speak up extremists. IS, adopting a France shared the physics
war crimes "against wom- and that they need protec- on their behalf," Reiss-An- radical interpretation of prize Tuesday for revolu-
en, teenage girls, small girls, tion, and that the perpetra- dersen told The Associated ancient Islamic texts, de- tionizing the use of lasers
babies." tors have to be prosecuted Press. clared that Yazidi women in research while three re-
"Dear survivors around the and held responsible," said Both honorees are the first and even young girls could searchers who "harnessed
world, I want to tell you that Berit Reiss-Andersen, chair- from their countries to re- be taken as sex slaves. the power of evolution"
through this prize the world woman of the Norwegian ceive a Nobel Prize and Iraqi President Bahram to produce enzymes and
is listening to you and re- Nobel Committee. will split the award, which is Saleh praised the award antibodies won the Nobel
fuses indifference," he said. "#MeToo and war crimes is worth 9 million Swedish kro- for Murad, saying on Twitter Chemistry Prize on Wednes-
"We hope that the world not quite the same thing, nor ($1.01 million). that it was an "honor for all day.
will no longer delay taking but they do, however, After the announcement, Iraqis who fought terrorism Donna Strickland of the
action in your favor, with have in common that it is mobile phone footage and bigotry." University of Waterloo in
force and determination, important to see the suffer- showed a smiling Mukwe- Congo's government con- Canada became only the
because the survival of hu- ing of women," she said. ge jostled by dancing, ulu- gratulated Mukwege while third woman to win a phys-
manity depends on you. It's Rights advocates were lating medical colleagues acknowledging that their ics Nobel, while Frances
you women who carry hu- thrilled with the choice of in scrubs in the hospital's relations with him have Arnold was only the fifth
manity." this year's winners. courtyard. been strained. Govern- woman to win a chemistry
Murad was one of an es- "Dr. Mukwege brings smiles Eastern Congo has seen ment spokesman Lambert Nobel since the prizes were
timated 3,000 Yazidi girls and helps repair women more than two decades Mende told The Associated first handed out in 1901.
and women kidnapped in from the barbaric acts of of conflict among armed Press that Mukwege did "re- The winner of the Nobel
2014 by IS militants in Iraq men in Congo," said Sol- groups that either sought markable" work, though he Memorial Prize in Economic
and sold into sex slavery. At ange Furaha Lwashiga, a to unseat presidents or sim- claimed the laureate tend- Sciences will be revealed
19, she was raped, beaten Congolese women's activ- ply grab control of some ed to politicize it. on Monday.
and tortured before man- ist. the central African nation's "(Still) we salute that a col- No Nobel literature prize will
aging to escape after "We're talking (about) two vast mineral wealth. league is recognized," he be awarded this year due
three months. After getting ordinary citizens, at one lev- "The importance of Dr. said. to a sex abuse scandal at
treatment in Germany, she el, who show that ordinary Mukwege's enduring, dedi- "I am proud to be Congo- the Swedish Academy,
chose to speak to the world people can do extraordi- cated and selfless efforts in lese," said the country's which chooses the winner.
about the horrors faced by nary things. And they've this field cannot be over- top opposition leader, Fe- The academy plans to an-
Yazidi women, regardless shown a kind of political will stated. He has repeatedly lix Tshisekedi, in a Twitter nounce both the 2018 and
of the stigma in her culture that we're not seeing in our condemned impunity for post. "Good done for oth- the 2019 winner next year
surrounding rape. political leaders right now mass rape and criticized ers always ends up being — but the head of the No-
At 23, she was named the to make a difference," said the Congolese govern- rewarded." bel Foundation has said the
U.N.'s first Goodwill Ambas- Kumi Naidoo, head of Am- ment and other countries In the United States, Presi- body must fix its tarnished
sador for the Dignity of Sur- nesty International. for not doing enough to dent Donald Trump didn't reputation first.
vivors of Human Trafficking. Many of the women treat- stop the use of sexual vio- comment on the Peace The man at the center of
This year's peace prize an- ed by Mukwege were vic- lence against women as Prize but his new ambassa- the Swedish Academy
nouncement comes amid tims of gang rape in the a strategy and weapon of dor to Congo did. scandal, Jean-Claude Ar-
a heightened attention to central African nation that war," the Nobel committee U.S. Ambassador Mike Ham- nault, was sentenced Mon-
the sexual abuse of women has been wracked by con- said. mer said in a Twitter post: day to two years in prison
— in war, in the workplace flict for decades. Armed Murad's book, "The Last "Congratulations Dr. Denis for rape.q