New Delhi: The Norwegian Nobel Committee has awarded the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace.
2021 peace laureates Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov have been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and Russia.
They are representatives of all journalists who stand up for this ideal in a world in which democracy and freedom of the press face increasingly adverse conditions, the Nobel Prize Organisation said.
Maria Ressa uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence, and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines.
Dmitry Muratov has for decades defended freedom of speech in Russia under increasingly challenging conditions.
Elaborating on Maria Ressa’s work, a tweet on the organisation's official Twitter handle read: “Nobel Prize laureate Maria Ressa uses freedom of expression to expose abuse of power, use of violence, and growing authoritarianism in her native country, the Philippines. In 2012, she co-founded Rappler, a digital media company for investigative journalism”.
“As a journalist and the Rappler’s CEO, Nobel Peace Prize laureate Maria Ressa, has shown herself to be a fearless defender of freedom of expression. Rappler has focused critical attention on the Duterte regime’s controversial, murderous anti-drug campaign,” it added.
“Novaja Gazeta’s fact-based journalism and professional integrity have made it an important source of information on censurable aspects of Russian society rarely mentioned by other media. Since the newspaper’s start, six of its journalists have been killed,” the Nobel Prize Organisation stated.
“Despite the killings and threats, Novaja Gazeta editor-in-chief Dmitry Muratov has refused to abandon the newspaper’s independent policy. He has consistently defended the rights of journalists,” it added.
About Nobel Peace Prize
Between 1901 and 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded 101 times to 135 laureates — 107 individuals and 28 organisations.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has got the Nobel Peace Prize three times — in 1917, 1944 and 1963 — and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been awarded the prize two times (1954 and 1981).
In 2020, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the World Food Programme (WFP) “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict”.
In the history of the Nobel Prize, no Peace Nobel was given 19 times.
The Nobel Peace Prize came to India in 1979 when Mother Teresa was awarded “for her work for bringing help to suffering humanity”.
In 2014, India’s Kailash Satyarthi and Pakistani-born Malala Yousafzai were jointly given the award “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education”.