Who can get the Nobel Peace Prize this year?

Norway’s Nobel Committee said it had received 305 nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize this year, the lowest number in four years. These nominations include 212 individuals and 93 organizations.

In a statement issued by the committee, it is stated that in 2022, the committee in Oslo considered 343 applications. “The number of candidates has crossed 300 for the last eight consecutive years. In 2016, the number of candidates reached a record high of 376.”

It is standard practice not to officially release names for 50 years after nominations. However, those who are eligible to nominate for the Nobel Peace Prize, such as former laureates, legislators and some university professors, are free to name the person or organization they nominate.

Many of the names made public so far this year are of people or organizations involved in the Ukraine war or who oppose Russian President Vladimir Putin. Putin nominated himself in 2021.

This year’s nominees for the Nobel Peace Prize include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and a Ukrainian group trying to establish international war crimes.

Others reported to be nominated include jailed anti-Putin activist Alexei Navalny, journalist and political activist Kara Mirza and the pro-democracy youth movement Vesna.

Iranian women’s rights pioneer Masih Alinejad and her anti-hijab movement ‘My Stealthy Freedom’ have also been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.

Others who have been named are also believed to include Chinese and Hong Kong pro-democracy activists such as Chao Heng Ting, Peng Lifa and the Uyghur Tribunal Group. Kyaw Moi Tin, Myanmar’s ambassador to the United Nations, and Myanmar’s anti-military coalition NUCC are also reported to have been nominated.

Maggie Gobran, an activist who helps the poor in the slums of Cairo, is also reportedly among the candidates for the Nobel Peace Prize. Environmental activists Greta Thunberg of Sweden and Vanesankate of Uganda have also been nominated for the Nobel Prize this year.

The winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced in October. The prize will be awarded on December 10 on the anniversary of Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite and the founder of the Nobel Prizes. Last year, the prize was awarded to the Russian human rights group Memorial, Ukraine’s Center for Civil Liberties and jailed Belarusian human rights activist Iles Byatsky. These three have been criticizing the Ukraine war.