EU RECEIVES 2012 NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

October 12, 2012

Congratulations to the European Union (EU) for having been awarded the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize! The achievements of the Union are so often taken for granted, that it is encouraging to see that its tireless efforts to bring peace and cooperation amongst the peoples of Europe have been recognised by the Nobel Committee.

The Nobel Peace prize has been going since 1909 and has been awarded 93 times since then, often being omitted during times of international conflict (when one would think it would be needed most). In all, it missed 19 years: 1914-1916, 1918, 1923, 1924, 1928, 1932, 1939-1943, 1948, 1955, 1956, 1966, 1967 and 1972. On several occasions the prize has been shared between two or more people, such as the 2011 award that went to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkol Karman.

The EU is not the first organisation to win the prize. In all 21 organisations received it and two of those received it more than once: three times to the International Committee of the Red Cross and two to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Here's the full list of organisational recipients:

1904: Institut de droit international (Institute of International Law)
1910: Bureau international permanent de la Paix (Permanent International Peace Bureau)
1917: Comité international de la Croix Rouge (International Committee of the Red Cross)
1938: Office international Nansen pour les Réfugiés (Nansen International Office for Refugees)
1944: Comité international de la Croix Rouge (International Committee of the Red Cross)
1947: 1)Friends Service Council (The Quakers),
         2) American Friends Service Committee (The Quakers)
1954: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
1963: 1)Comité international de la Croix Rouge, (International Committee of the Red Cross),
         2)Ligue des Sociétés de la Croix-Rouge (League of Red Cross Societies)
1965: United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF)
1969: International Labour Organization (I.L.O.)
1977: Amnesty International
1981: Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
1985: International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War
1988: United Nations Peacekeeping Forces
1995: Joseph Rotblat, Pugwash Conferences on Science and World Affairs
1997: International Campaign to Ban Landmines (ICBL), (+Jody Williams)
1999: Médecins Sans Frontières
2001: United Nations (U.N.), (+Kofi Annan)
2005: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) (+Mohamed ElBaradei)
2006: Grameen Bank (Muhammad Yunus)
2007: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), (+Al Gore Jr.)
2012: European Union (EU)