Pacific Women Vye For Nobel Peace Prize

Nicci Simmonds (right)...one of the co-ordinators working on getting Pacific women nominated for the prestigious award.

More than a century since Alfred Nobel left a bequest that saw the birth of the Nobel Foundation, which recognises achievements in the fields of literature, physics, chemistry, economics, medicine and peace, an ambitious project to ensure Pacific women are included in an international collective bid for the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize in 2005 has begun in earnest.

Fourteen women (in 14 regions) are co-ordinating the 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005 project. The Pacific region which will nominate 30 women, includes Australia, New Zealand and the French territories. Hawaii has been included with the United States, while regional coordinators will attempt to get nominations from West Papua.

Last year's Nobel Peace Prize winner was Shirin Ebadi, Iran's first female judge. She got the award as a result of her efforts for democracy and human rights.

Nobel Peace Prize winners have included United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, Yasser Arafat, Mother Teresa and Nelson Mandela, former president of South Africa.

The Pacific team of New Zealander Nicci Simmonds, Koila Costello-Olsson and Sandra Fong are an enthusiastic bunch whose impending deadline has only created a more determined approach to ensure the region is ready by February when Simmonds is scheduled to submit names of the first batch of candidates. By June, coordinators would by then know the names of women nominated from their region. An international nomination process will then select 1000 women. But how or who exactly will make the final decision is yet to be determined.

Increased participation of women in this annual award is just one of the aims of the project. Another aim is to rid societies of the stereotype of peace as simply the absence of violence. This is apart from the fact that Pacific women's work in peace, justice and human security will be recognised by an international organisation of this calibre with their biographies (and work) academically documented.

The selection process will be a rigorous one. But the good news is that anyone can make a nomination. A nominee, however, must be fully committed without political or personal ambitions in the area of work she's involved in; she must be involved in sustainable and long-term promotion of peace and non-violent responses to conflicts. Her actions must be worth emulating; and transparency is imperative.

Nomination rules dictate that 35 percent of the women nominated must be involved at grassroots level; 25 percent at sub-national level; 20 percent involved at national level, 10 percent at regional level; and 10 percent at international level.

Responses have been trickling in since work began a few months ago, Costello-Olsson confirms. For obvious reasons, names cannot be released, for now at least.

Simmonds admits the project will rely on existing non-government organisation network. Asked about the open secret of non-government organisation politics, Simmonds says all nominations would be cross-checked to ensure eligibility.

"Besides, nominations will not be restricted to NGOs or companies, anyone can make a nomination,'' Simmonds says.

The Pacific Team faces an uphill battle in terms of finances. Although the Association for 1000 Women for the Nobel Peace Prize 2005, headed by president Ruth-Gaby Vermot-Mangold, managed to secure initial funding from the Swiss Foreign Affairs, each region has to fend for itself.

"We will be grateful for any assistance. If you can voluntarily translate information to ensure dissemination in all languages, that will be a huge help,'' Simmonds says.

Apart from electronic mail and media-based awareness, approaches will be as simple as invitations for nominations on church and school notice boards. Media personnel are encouraged to consider documenting the lives (and work naturally) of those nominated. Whether documentation of a nominee is a video or a pictorial publication, international exposure is the reward when they will be displayed at the 2005 awards.

The association will conduct a secret ballot to identify three women who will actually receive the prize if they win. The Foundation decision in 1968 specifies the prizes cannot be shared between more than three people. All 1000 women will sign an agreement that if and when they receive the prize, they will always be mindful that they represent the struggle by all women who although are usually victims of war, are always the first to bounce back in reconstruction and peace building.