The 2011 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to three women working for democracy, peace and human rights, including an Arab woman. Liberian president Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkul Karman. The Nobel Prize committee said in a statement that the women were chosen “for their peaceful struggle for women rights and for their efforts to realize peace.” Karman is 32-years-old, a mother of three and considered to be godmother of the Yemeni protest movement for change. She is a member in “Journalists without Chains.” For the past 8 months, Karman has been on the frontlines of the Yemeni uprising and her arrest in January is believed to have sparked demonstrations and mobilized thousands against the rule of Yemeni president Ali Abdullah Saleh. Daily, she leads protests in the capital Sanaa and helps organize marches across the country. Upon the announcement, Karman told the press that she dedicates the prize to the “martyrs and to the Arab spring” across the region. Born in central Liberia, Gwobee's life has been one of social justice and peace. She is a trained counselor and worked extensively during the Liberian civil war with former child soldiers of Charles Taylor's army. She has also been instrumental in women's empowerment in the post-war society, being quoted saying that “if any changes were to be made in society it had to be by the mothers.” A mother of six herself, Gwobee helped organize the peace movement that brought to an end the country's second civil war in 2003, which led to the election of fellow Peace Prize laureate Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, the first female African president. With Gwobee's leadership, women forced a meeting with President Taylor and managed to convince him to attend peace talks in Ghana. She was instrumental in the reconciliation and peace process, leading a delegation of Liberian women to Ghana, where they applied pressure on the warring groups, ultimately achieving much success. But it was the silent protest they held outside the Presidential Palace in Accra that was the final catalyst to spur an agreement during the stalled peace talks. Dressed in what has become iconic white t-shirts, the women have been seen as almost single-handedly bringing an end to the second Liberian civil war and paving the road for the reconciliation and peace process that has moved the country forward over the past 8 years. Without Gwobee, the women's movement may not have been successful. The 24th President of Liberia, Sirleaf was an inspirational leader of the women's movement that brought an end to the second civil war in the country in 2003. She is the first and only elected female African leader. While not necessarily a vital part of the peace movement that ended the civil war, Gwobee and other leading activists pushed Sirleaf forward as a viable candidate to lead the transition period in 2005, with her election coming in a run-off against former footballer George Weah. She took office in 2006. The president pushed to give Liberia debt relief accumulated by the civil war, achieving great success and enabling Liberia to get back on track economically. It is likely Sirleaf was awarded the nobel prize for establishing a Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2006 with a mandate to “promote peace, security, unity and reconciliation” by investigating more than 20 years of civil conflict in the country.” In their final report, issued in June 2009, the TRC included Sirleaf in a list of 50 names of people that should be “specifically barred from holding public offices; elected or appointed for a period of thirty (30) years” for “being associated with former warring factions.” The proposed ban stemmed from her financial support of former President Taylor in the initial months of the First Liberian Civil War. She has since publicly apologized for that support to the Liberian people. BM
