{"id":23590,"date":"2012-12-03T12:00:56","date_gmt":"2012-12-03T12:00:56","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=23590"},"modified":"2012-12-10T11:09:40","modified_gmt":"2012-12-10T11:09:40","slug":"the-2012-peace-prize-is-unlawful-and-cannot-be-paid-to-the-eu-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/12\/the-2012-peace-prize-is-unlawful-and-cannot-be-paid-to-the-eu-2\/","title":{"rendered":"The 2012 Peace Prize is Unlawful and Cannot Be Paid to the EU"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nobel laureates demand 2012. Contact signatories:<\/em>
\nPeter Kolbe,\u00a069120 Heidelberg, Germany<\/em>
\np.kolbe@nobelforpeace-summits.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

TO: The Nobel Foundation, P.O. Box 5232, SE-102 45 Stockholm, Sweden
\nCC: The Foundations Authority, Stockholm County (L\u00e4nsstyrelsen)<\/em><\/p>\n

30 Nov 2012<\/em><\/p>\n

The European Union, announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee as the winner of the peace prize for 2012, clearly is not one of \u201cthe champions of peace\u201d\u00a0Alfred Nobel had in mind when he described the purpose in his will. We ask the Board of the Foundation to clarify that it cannot and will not pay the prize from its funds.<\/p>\n

We would like to remind you of the decision of the Swedish Foundations Authority (L\u00e4nsstyrelsen) on March 21, 2012, requesting the Board to examine the purpose Nobel described in his will, underlining that all prizes must comply, and clarifying that the Swedish Foundations Act places the supreme authority and responsibility also for the Norwegian decisions in the Board of the Nobel Foundation.<\/p>\n

Unauthorized transformation of Nobel\u2019s purpose<\/strong><\/p>\n

Instead of an unspecified\u00a0prize for \u201cpeace,\u201d Alfred Nobel in his 1895 testament\u00a0explained in precise terms the\u00a0champions of peace\u00a0<\/em>(\u201cfredsf\u00f6rf\u00e4ktare\u201d) whose work\u00a0he wished to benefit. Nobel intended to support the political work for a\u00a0demilitarized global peace order\u00a0<\/em>(a\u00a0\u201cfolkens f\u00f6rbr\u00f6drande\u201d),\u00a0based on co-operation, law and disarmament.<\/p>\n

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has redefined and reshaped the prize in a way that is not in accordance with the law. The choice of the EU for the 2012 prize fails on at least two counts:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. the EU is not seeking to realize Nobel\u2019s demilitarized global peace order,<\/li>\n
  2. the EU and member states condone security based on military force and waging wars rather than insisting on the need for an alternative approach.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The purpose of the peace prize is clarified by recent research. In 2008 Fredrik S. Heffermehl, a Norwegian lawyer and author and a former IPB Vice President, published the first known legal study of the prize and its purpose. In 2010 he published\u00a0The\u00a0Nobel Peace Prize. What Nobel Really Wanted\u00a0<\/em>(Praeger, 2010) with later updates in Chinese, Finnish, Swedish (Leopard, 2011).<\/p>\n

    The case for declaring the 2012 prize unlawful further rests on facts widely known and mentioned in comments following the announcement and we implore the Foundation to act in defense of the Nobel Peace Prize and its creator Alfred Nobel.<\/p>\n

    Loyal promotion of Nobel \u2018s global peace order is the committee\u2019s main obligation. Even accepting some flexibility with technical rules, the 2012 prize for the EU is particularly\u00a0problematic in relation to Nobel language on \u201cthe last expired year\u201d and\u00a0that the winner\u00a0should be a \u201cperson.\u201d<\/p>\n

    We would appreciate an urgent clarification from the Foundation.<\/p>\n

    Sincerely,<\/p>\n

    Mairead Maguire, Nobel laureate, Northern Ireland<\/p>\n

    Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Nobel laureate, South Africa<\/p>\n

    Adolfo Perez Esquivel, Nobel laureate, Argentina<\/p>\n

    Co-signed by the following in their personal capacities (organizational affiliation only for identification and relevance)<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

    Bruce Kent, former president of the International Peace Bureau, IPB (UK)<\/p>\n

    Robert Hinde, professor, Movement for the Abolition of War (UK)<\/p>\n

    Peter Kolbe, Board Member, UNA Branch of Baden W\u00fcrttemberg (Germany)<\/p>\n

    David Swanson, author, warisacrime.org (USA)<\/p>\n

    Tomas Magnusson, Co-president, International Peace Bureau (Sweden)<\/p>\n

    St\u00e5le Eskeland, professor of law, University of Oslo, Norway<\/p>\n

    Fredrik S. Heffermehl, lawyer and author (The\u00a0Nobel Peace Prize<\/em>),\u00a0Norway<\/p>\n

    ____________________<\/p>\n

    Mairead Corrigan Maguire is a member of the TRANSCEND Network for Peace, Development and Environment. She won the 1976 Nobel Peace Prize for her work for peace in Northern Ireland. Her book <\/em>The Vision of Peace (edited by John Dear, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu and a preface by the Dalai Lama) is available from www.wipfandstock.com<\/a>. She lives in Belfast, Northern Ireland. See: www.peacepeople.com<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

    Fredrik S. Heffermehl, cand. jur, LLM NYU, is a member of the TRANSCEND Network and ex-Vice President of the International Peace Bureau. He is the author of <\/em>The Nobel Peace Prize, What Nobel Really Wanted<\/em> (Praeger, 2010) fredpax@online.no<\/a> –\u00a0 http:\/\/www.nobelwill.org<\/a>.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    The European Union, announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee as the winner of the peace prize for 2012, clearly is not one of \u201cthe champions of peace\u201d Alfred Nobel had in mind when he described the purpose in his will. We ask the Board of the Foundation to clarify that it cannot and will not pay the prize from its funds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[105,51],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-nobel-laureates","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23590\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}