OSLO - A Norwegian politician said on Feb 1 that he has nominated the United Nations Palestinian refugee agency UNRWA, embroiled in a controversy over the alleged involvement of employees in the Oct 7 attack on Israel, for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Labour MP Asmund Aukrust told the Dagbladet newspaper he had nominated the UN Relief and Works Agency “for its long-term work to provide vital support to Palestine and the region in general”.
“This work has been crucial for over 70 years, and even more vital in the last three months”, said the politician, who is vice-chairman of Norway’s Parliament’s foreign affairs committee.
More than a dozen countries, including major donors the United States, Germany, Britain and Sweden, have suspended funding to the UN agency over accusations that 12 staff members were involved in the deadliest attack on Israel staged by Hamas on Oct 7.
The attack resulted in the deaths of around 1,140 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official figures.
Militants also seized about 250 hostages. Israel says 132 of them remain in Gaza, including at least 29 people believed to have been killed.
Israel launched a withering air, land and sea offensive that has killed at least 26,900 people in Gaza, most of them women and children, according to the territory’s Hamas-run Health Ministry.
Being nominated for the peace prize does not represent recognition by the Nobel Committee, which receives hundreds of nominations every year.
Thousands of people are eligible to submit nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize, including lawmakers and Cabinet members of all countries, former laureates and some university professors, before the Jan 31 deadline.
In line with Nobel statutes, the identity of the candidates is kept confidential for 50 years, but those who have submitted nominations are free to reveal their pick.
Some other known candidates are also tied to the Israel-Hamas war. The International Court of Justice last week said that Israel must prevent genocide in the war and allow humanitarian aid into Gaza. The Palestinian rights organisation Al-Haq and Israel’s B’Tselem have also been nominated.
Other names reported by media outlets include former US president Donald Trump, who is hoping to return to the White House in 2024, Nato chief Jens Stoltenberg, the UN refugee agency UNHCR, Pope Francis, Colombian president Gustavo Petro and the non-governmental organisation Reporters Without Borders.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee will announce their winner in October.
In 2023, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to imprisoned Iranian woman’s rights activist Narges Mohammadi “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran” AFP
