Restoring the Nobel Peace Prize to Its Peace-Promotion Vocation

05.01.2026 09:53

CounterPunch

Photograph Source: User:Piotrus – CC BY 3.0

On 27 November 1897 the multi-millionaire Swedish chemist and industrialist Alfred Nobel signed his last will and testament establishing a foundation to honour, among others “champions of peace”, those “who shall have done the most or the best work for creating the brotherhood of nations, for the abolition of reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”[1].

Alfred Nobel was a pacifist and his goal was to encourage pacifists worldwide to work for demilitarization, disarmament, a change of paradigm. The idea was picked up by the International Peace Bureau[2], was “disarmament for development”[3].

The first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize was the Swiss businessman Henri Dunant (1901), who founded the International Committee of the Red Cross. On his way to get a concession from Emperor Napoleon III Henri passed the battlefield of Solferino in North Italy and was horrified to see young soldiers dying and dead with no one to provide any kind of assistance. Out of this trauma he conceived the idea of banning war, and in the meantime making war less savage, hence the rules to limit the suffering of wounded and dead on the field as well as civilians rules now enshrined in the Geneva Conventions and the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907, and constituting part of customary international law.

In 1905 the NPP went to the German-Austrian activist Bertha von Suttner (1843-1914), author of the famous book Die Waffen Nieder![4] Lay Down your Arms! Alas, the Nobel Peace Prize would soon be hijacked by politicians and misused to honour persons who did not qualify under Nobel’s will.

Alfred Nobel[5], who died in 1896, must have turned in his grave when the NPP was conferred not upon a peace researcher, activist or campaigner, but on a war-mongering imperialist politician guilty of countless aggressions worldwide, US President Theodore Roosevelt (1906). This set a very bad precedent, because, as we know from Nobel’s correspondence with Bertha von Suttner, the award should not be giving to politicians, but to academics and grass-roots activists engaged in rational action to ban war forever.

Perhaps Alfred Nobel’s ideas are best reflected in the 1945 UN Charter, in particular article 2(3) that commits all States parties to settle differences by peaceful means and article 2(4) that prohibits not only the use of force, but also the threat of the use of force. Alfred Nobel did not just want peace in the sense of the absence of war, but also the absence of structural violence, the positive striving for international understanding, mutual respect, and the will to cooperate in building a better world for everyone. This goal entails good faith, endeavouring to listen to others, trying to get at the root causes of problems, addressing grievances in a timely fashion, and – perhaps most importantly – refraining from artificially creating enemies, deploying the art of diplomacy, preventing strife by avoiding misunderstandings, and, above all, not provoking others by expanding military alliances that are hardly coalitions for “defence” and “collective security” but rather aggressive unions meant to coerce others by military and economic bullying.

NPP procedures

The deadline for nominating candidates for the 2026 award is 31 January 2026. Nominations should be sent by letter addressed to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee, Henrik Ibsens gate 51, 0255 Oslo, Norway. Nominations can also be submitted online or be forwarded by email to postmaster@nobel.no.

Among those with standing to submit nominations are:

+ Parliamentarians, members of national assemblies and national governments (cabinet members/ministers) as well as current heads of state;

+ Judges of the International Court of Justice and of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague;

+ Members of the Institut de Droit International;

+ University Professors, also emeriti and associate professors of history, social sciences, law, philosophy;

+ Laureates of the NPP, e.g. Adolfo Pérez Esqivel, Oscar Arias, Rigoberta Menchú;

+ Members of the board of organizations that have been awarded the NPP, e.g. the International Peace Bureau, the United Nations.

A valid nomination will be normally confirmed by the Nobel Peace Prize Committee by April.

The best book on the subject is by the late Fredrik Stang Heffermehl (1938-2023)[6], a Norwegian jurist, first secretary-general of the Norwegian Humanist Association, peace activist and expert on the Last Will and Testament of Alfred Nobel. The Real Nobel Peace Prize [7], published in Oslo in 2023 gives the best overview of all laureates and meticulously documents in 405 pages how Alfred Nobel’s intentions have been egregiously violated and the NPP weaponized to support political narratives and even give legitimacy to imperialist attempts at enforced regime change. Heffermehl also established a non-governmental organization called Nobel Peace Prize Watch [8], and a Swedish association called Lay Down Your Arms, which fights against war and armaments, and annually honours a champion for peace.

Good and bad Laureates

Since 1901 the NPP has had a mixed history. Like all human institutions, the Nobel Peace Prize Committee has made good and bad decisions, some very bad.

Among the good choices we can mention

In 1922, the Committee honoured Fridtjof Nansen “for his leading role in the repatriation of prisoners of war, in international relief work and as the League of Nations’ High Commissioner for Refugees.”

In 1931, the prize was conferred on Jane Addams and Nicholas Butler “for their assiduous effort to revive the ideal of peace and to rekindle the spirit of peace in their own nation and in the whole of mankind.”

In 1947, the NPP was awarded to the Quakers, represented by the American Friends Service Committee, “for their pioneering work in the international peace movement compassionate effort to relieve human suffering, thereby promoting the fraternity between nations.”

In 1952, it was given to Albert Schweitzer “for his altruism, reverence for life, and tireless humanitarian work which has helped making the idea of brotherhood between men and nations a living one.”

In 1976, it was given to Betty Williams and Mairead Corrigan “for the courageous efforts in founding a movement to put an end to the violent conflict in Northern Ireland.” Mairead Corrigan receiving the Nobel Peace Prize in 1976.

In 1980, it was given to Adolfo Pérez Esquivel “for being a source of inspiration to repressed people, especially in Latin America.” In 1987, it was given to Óscar Arias “for his work for lasting peace in Central America.”

In 1990, it was given to Mikhail Gorbachev “for the leading role he played in the radical changes in East-West relations.”

In 1997, the NPP went to Jody Williams and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines “for their work for the banning and clearing of anti-personnel mines.”

In 2024, the prize went to Nihon Hidankyo (the Japan Confederation of A- and H Bomb Sufferers Organizations) “for its efforts to achieve a world free of nuclear weapons and for demonstrating through witness testimony that nuclear weapons must never be used again.”

Unfortunately, the prize has also been instrumentalized to support political agendas that are incompatible with peace and reconciliation, and contrary to the letter and spirit of the Will of Alfred Nobel. I call this development an aggressive takeover and hijacking of the NPP by hawks and warmongers, a cognitive dissonant destruction of the object and purpose of the prize.

Among the many embarrassing and politically motivated Nobel Peace Prize laureates are Henry Kissinger (1973), Menachem Begin (1978), Barack Obama (2009), Abiy Ahmed (2019), Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov (2021), and Ales Bialiatski (2022).

In 2025, we watched President Donald Trump [9] brazenly campaign for the prize. The Committee did not grant him the coveted honour, but it conferred the 2025 prize to a notorious warmonger, Maria Corina Machado, who campaigns for an illegal military intervention in her own country, Venezuela, so that she can become president and replace Nicolás Maduro.

To achieve this kind of undemocratic regime change, Machado additionally demanded that the US impose more sanctions against her own people, although she knows and it is public record, documented in numerous United Nations reports[10], that these illegal unilateral coercive measures (UCMs) have killed tens of thousands of people. Already in 2019 Professor Jeffrey Sachs and Marc Weisbrot, Director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington D.C., published a study describing the adverse human rights impacts of UCMs as a form of collective punishment[11], contrary to the UN Charter, customary international law and articles 3, 19 and 20 of the Charter of the Organisation of American States. It is estimated that in the year 2018 alone, 40,000 additional deaths of Venezuelans could be attributed to the UCMs, which affected the most vulnerable in the country, deaths resulting from malnutrition and lack of medicines and medical equipment, scanners, dialysis machines, etc. It is not difficult to understand that if you are diabetic and do not get your insulin on time, you may die. I documented this in my 2018 report to the Human Rights Council[12].

In 2025 the medical journal The Lancet[13] published a study according to which US and EU unilateral coercive measures (wrongly called “sanctions” – the only legal sanctions being those imposed by the UN Security Council, everything else being the “use of force” prohibited in Art. 2(4) of the UN Charter) were causing yearly half a million deaths worldwide. Indeed, UCMs kill[14].

The incompatibility of the political pronouncements of Maria Corina Machado with everything that Alfred Nobel stood for is too glaring to ignore, although the hyper-politicized Nobel Peace Prize Committee tried to justify its choice by praising Machado “for her tireless work promoting democratic rights for the people of Venezuela and for her struggle to achieve a just and peaceful transition from dictatorship to democracy.” Yes, as Orwell suggested in his dystopian novel1984, “War is Peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength”.

Who would qualify for the 2026 Nobel Peace Prize?

Personally, in my capacity as university professor, I have twice nominated the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom. This year I am again nominating WILPF, and would like to see a worthy laureate in 2026. If not an organization, maybe a tireless human rights defender should be chosen. I strongly endorse Professor Francesca Albanese, the current Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in the Occupied Palestine Territories and an eloquent advocate for peace and self-determination. Indeed, the timely realization of the right of self-determination is an effective conflict-prevention strategy. The Palestinian People – and the world – would have been spared much suffering if the UN had ensured that a Palestine State would emerge at the same time that Israel was accepted into UN membership. We should have both States in the UN, not only Israel. Alas, the UN is also guilty of applying double-standards, and this has negatively impacted its authority and credibility, as I document in my human rights trilogy.[15]

I encourage CounterPunch readers to submit their nominations of deserving candidates before 31 January 2026. Among my own proposals would be the Geneva International Peace Research Institue[16], the International Human Rights Association of American Minorities[17] IHRAAM, the AEDIDH[18]— Spanish Society for International Human Rights Law, a pro-active peace campaigner and author of numerous peace studies and of the Declaración de Santiago de Compostela[19]. I have had the honour to serve in the boards of these organizations for many years. I would also propose UNESCO; the Fundación Cultura de Paz[20], Madrid…

What individuals would merit the honour in 2026, in 2027, in 2028? Surely Navi Pillay, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Amy Goodman (Democracy Now), Prof. Richard Falk, Prof. Jeffrey Sachs, Prof. John Mearsheimer, Prof. Noam Chomsky, Prof. Glenn Diesen, Prof. Karl Albrecht Schachtschneider, Prof. Georgios Katrougalos, Jan Öberg, Denis Halliday, Hans-Christof von Sponeck, Julian Assange. One of the persons I truly admire is the brilliant pianist and conductor Daniel Barenboim, who set an immense humanistic example by using music for reconciliation, notably by founding the West Eastern Divan Orchestra[21], made up of Israeli and Arab musicians.

Conclusion

There is no doubt that the NPP has been instrumentalized in a manner contrary to the last will and testament of Alfred Nobel. Not without merit is the complaint brought by Julian Assange before Swedish courts in December 2025[22].

It is a fact that intelligence services have penetrated all fields of human activity and that institutions created to defend our rights have been put in the service of political interests. In my book The Human Rights Industry I document how the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Human Rights Council, the International Criminal Court, the International Atomic Energy Agency, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons have all been politicized and weaponized. Again, we must ask Juvenal’s question Quis custodiet Ipsos custodes – who will guard over the guardians? (6^th satire, verses 347-48) What can we do when the institutions that should protect us actually serve interests other than those laid down in their terms of reference. Only WE can be the guardians[23].

Therefore, let us write to the Nobel Peace Prize Committee and demand that the NPP be awarded only and exclusively to those who truly work for peace and reconciliation in the sense of the UN Charter and the UNESCO Constitution[24] which reminds us that “since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defences of peace must be constructed.”

Notes.

[1] https://www.nobelprize.org/ceremonies/streams-during-nobel-week-2025/

[2] https://ipb.org/

[3] https://news.un.org/en/story/2014/09/477072

[4] https://suttneruni.at/de/universitaet/bertha-von-suttner/die-waffen-nieder

[5] https://www.biography.com/inventors/a45977855/alfred-nobel

[6] https://ipb.org/honoring-the-legacy-of-fredrik-s-heffermehl-a-voice-for-peace-and-a-final-masterpiece/