The Nobel Prize Organization has unveiled nominations for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, and making the list are two young African women; Somalian social rights activist Ilwad Elman and Libyan law student Hajer Sharief.
The two are hailed as catalysts for peacebuilding in their respective countries, having been part of former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan’s Extremely Together initiative, which comprises young leaders active in preventing and countering violent extremism in their communities and beyond.
Elman and her mother left a war-torn Somalia in the 90s to seek asylum in Canada. However, in 2010, the 19-year-old returned to Mogadishu where she initiated social programs focusing on female victims of war and broader women’s rights in Somalia. She founded the country’s first rape crisis center for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.
On her part, Sharief has since 2011 been working to restore peace and stability to a Libya still reeling with the scourge of civil war. She started “Together We Build It,” an organization working for peaceful democratic transition in Libya through youth and women empowerment. She also co-founded the “1325 Network,” a group of organizations and activists working to raise awareness of women’s role in building safe societies.
Also in the list is Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed.
The Nobel Peace Prize, first awarded in 1901, confers honour and recognition on persons “who shall have done the most or the best work for the fraternity between the nations and the abolition or reduction of standing armies and the formation and spreading of peace congresses.”
