2024 Nobel Peace Prize, A Plea in Favour of World Order?

AFP/APP

Oslo:  With wars raging around the world, the Nobel Peace Prize to be awarded Friday could honour ardent defenders of world order, such as the International Court of Justice, UNRWA, or UN chief Antonio Guterres.

The climax of the Nobel season, the Peace Prize will be announced at 11:00 am (0900 GMT) at the Nobel Institute in Oslo.

Some experts see that as a reason to not award a Nobel Peace Prize this year — as has happened 19 times since it was first awarded in 1901. But the Norwegian Nobel Committee has insisted that on the contrary, rewarding peace efforts is “perhaps more important than ever.”

“It’s hard to be an optimist when you look around in the world today, and forces of peace do not seem to be on the offensive,” the secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Olav Njolstad, told AFP. “But… there are definitely people and organisations who are doing a great job,” he added.