Nobel Committee Says It Has a Short List of Peace Prize Nominees but Won’t Say If Trump Is on the List

The secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee says there are 287 individuals and groups on the list of nominees to be named this year’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate and President Trump is believed to be among them. The committee has taken all nominations received by the January 31 deadline for submissions and prepared a short list of those being considered for the prize. The committee does not confirm any nominees but several people have said they had submitted Mr. Trump’s name for consideration. Among them is Pakistan, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif announced.Mr. Trump has expressed a desire to win the prize and Jay Nordlinger, who has written a book on the history of the prize, says that is understandable since it is considered the world’s most famous prize.“A great many people regard the peace prize as important,” Mr. Nordlinger said.There are a sizable number of people who are eligible to nominate someone. They include members of legislatures and governments. Members of certain fields, former winners, and even members of the committee itself can make nominations. One rule is that no one can nominate themselves for the peace prize.The committee that selects the prize winner is composed of five members appointed by the Storting — the Norwegian parliament. “And so the Norwegian Nobel Committee reflects the various strengths of the different parties in Norway,” Mr. Nordlinger said. “And so you could say that the Nobel Peace Prize is a reflection of Norwegian political culture.”There are three criteria for the peace prize that are spelled out in Alfred Nobel’s will. The first, and by far the most important, is who has done the most for fraternity between nations, Mr. Nordlinger says.The second criterion is, someone who had brought about a reduction in standing armies. “In modern terms, it can be interpreted as disarmament,” Mr. Nordlinger says.Finally there is a mention of the holding of peace congresses. Mr. Nordlinger says it is looked at simply as working for peace.“Sometimes the Nobel committee is very strict about following Nobel’s criteria, and sometimes they’re loosey-goosey, or flexible,” Mr. Nordlinger said. “For example, they’ve given the prize for work in the environmental field, just for example, construing it as related to peace somehow.”As for Mr. Trump’s chances of winning, Mr. Nordlinger is not sure, especially with the war against Iran.“Does he have a shot? I mean, you never know,” he said. “I myself don’t quite see it.”The public won’t know if Mr. Trump made the list until decades from now. The Nobel Foundation restricts disclosure of information about the nominations, whether publicly or privately, for 50 years.Whomever is selected could invite controversy, Mr. Nordlinger said, “because everyone has a different idea of what peace is and who merits the designation peacemaker.” He says even Mother Teresa brought controversy because of her anti-abortion views.President Obama is cited as another controversial pick. He may have won simply for not being his predecessor, President Bush.“Peace and peacemaking involve politics, and politics is controversial,” Mr. Nordlinger said. “When we talk about the prize, we’re really talking about our own conceptions of peace and what peacemaking is,” he added.The winner can experience a big impact after being named a winner. Desmond Tutu of South Africa said that after he won, he was treated as an oracle and people hung on to his every word. He said, however, that he was saying the same things he said before winning.The former Solidarity leader, Lech Wałęsa said that if he had not won the prize, Poland’s solidarity movement could not have succeeded in overcoming the military dictatorship and the Soviet Union.“Before the Nobel Peace Prize, there was no wind in our sail. And this prize put wind in our sail,” Mr. Wałęsa once told Mr. Nordlinger.Mr. Nordlinger suggests that the prize can afford winners a measure of protection against tyrants but “it’s not guaranteed.” He says the Soviets may have killed the dissident Andrei Sakharov if he had not won the award.Other winners facing harsh treatment from regimes have not, however, found protection. The Nobel committee gave the 2010 prize to Chinese human rights activist Liu Xiaobo for his “long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights” in his homeland. “They killed him anyway, you know, while he was in prison,” Mr. Nordlinger said.Narges Mohammadi, was awarded the 2023 prize “for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all.”Ms. Mohammadi, 53, has spent much of the past two decades in Iran’s notorious Evin prison on charges related to her continued human rights activism.She has faced “life-threatening” abuse in detention, including beatings with wooden sticks and batons and being dragged across the floor by her hair. The Nobel Committee’s chairman, Jørgen Watne Frydnes, said in February that he feared for Ms. Mohammadi’s life due to her brutal treatment.Now that the committee has prepared a short list of this year’s nominees, a review process will take place until August. The members will then select a prize winner by a majority vote. The decision is final and can not be appealed.The Nobel Peace Prize is typically announced at Oslo, Norway on the second Friday in October. The award ceremony will take place on December 10, where the laureate receives their prize medal, diploma, and a document confirming the prize amount. Last year’s prize money was about $1.2 million.

Nobel Committee Says It Has a Short List of Peace Prize Nominees but Won’t Say If Trump Is on the List

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