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Two Nobel Peace Prizes to combat sexual violence as a weapon of war

(B2) The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize to two personalities: Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad. A prize awarded to the fight against the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war. Two personalities well known to the European public for having won the Sakharov Prize.

Ill. Niklas Elmehad. © Nobel Media

Denis Mukwege, gynecologist, is better known as the man who fixes women. This 63-year-old Congolese doctor has dedicated his life to defending victims of sexual violence in times of war and with his team saved thousands of patients victims of such assaults particularly in DR Congo. Criticizing the role of the Rwandan and DR Congo governments, as well as the inertia and cynicism of the international community, he had received the Sakharov Prize of the European Parliament in 2014. He is often referred to as The man who mends women, title of an eponymous book by Colette Braeckman (read: the inhuman story of women in eastern Congo).

For her part, Nadia Murad, a young woman of 25, is " the witness who recounts the abuses perpetrated against her and others. She showed rare courage in recounting her own suffering and speaking out on behalf of other victims “, explains the Nobel Committee. In February 2016, she testified before the European Parliament, at just 21 years old: “ I am one of the thousands of Yezidi who have been kidnapped. I became the object of Daesh's rapes and tortures… When Daesh's men attacked Sinjar, they gave us two options: convert or die ". She also received the Sakharov Prize in 2016. And his poignant testimony before the European Parliament moved MEPs (read: The testimony of Nadia Murad Basee Taha, survivor of Daesh).

(Aurélie Pugnet, st.)

Download the communicated of the Nobel Prize

Nicolas Gros Verheyde

Chief editor of the B2 site. Graduated in European law from the University of Paris I Pantheon Sorbonne and listener to the 65th session of the IHEDN (Institut des Hautes Etudes de la Défense Nationale. Journalist since 1989, founded B2 - Bruxelles2 in 2008. EU/NATO correspondent in Brussels for Sud-Ouest (previously West-France and France-Soir).

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