Nobel Peace Prize gets 287 nominees

OSLO, Norway (AFP) — The Norwegian Nobel Institute on Thursday announced that 287 nominations had been submitted for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

The list comprised 208 individuals and 79 organizations, it said, without identifying them.

While fewer than the record 376 registered in 2016, the institute said the number remained “consistently high.”

“In an increasingly conflictual world, there is no lack of candidates whose principled commitment and innovative action points towards a brighter future,” the institute said in a statement.

In line with Nobel statutes, the identity of the nominees is kept confidential for 50 years.

But those eligible to nominate — including former laureates, lawmakers and cabinet ministers from any country in the world, and some university professors — are free to reveal the name of the person or organization they have proposed.

Some of the names disclosed for this year’s prize, to be announced on 9 October, are Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Swedish climate activist Greta Thunberg and international institutions like the International Criminal Court.

Several people have also stated that they have nominated United States President Donald Trump, who had campaigned hard to win last year’s peace prize for what he said were his efforts to stop eight wars.

Trump was not shy about venting his frustration about being passed over, as the prize committee instead chose to honor Venezuelan opposition leader Maria Corina Machado.

But Machado did dedicate her award to Trump, and in an unusual move gave him her prize medal in January.

The Nobel Peace Prize committee however stressed that the medal itself was not the prize, and the honor is inseparable from the person who won it.

Nominations have to be submitted by 31 January each year, but committee members can add names to the list of candidates during their first meeting after the deadline, which was held on 26 February, the institute said.