Nobel Peace Prize honours women's rights activists

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Three women including Africa's first female president have been awarded with the Nobel Peace Prize for their fight for women's rights.

Liberia's President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was honoured alongside compatriot Leymah Gbowee and Yemeni human rights activist Tawakkul Karman, with Nobel Peace Prize committee leader Thorbjorn Jagland praising their "non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work".

Johnson-Sirleaf and Gbowee are the second and third African women respectively to receive the Nobel Peace Prize, following in the footsteps of Kenya's Wangari Maathai, who died last month. The two women along with Karman will share the £1m prize money.

Jagland said,

"We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society."

Johnson-Sirleaf, who is a Harvard-trained economist, has been President of Liberia since 2005. The 72-year-old was Africa's first democratically elected female President and has helped rebuild Liberia after the devastation it suffered from the civil wars from 1989 till 2003.

Fellow Liberian Leymah Gbowee is the founder of the Women, Peace and Security Network Africa (WIPSEN-A) and has worked tirelessly to organise women across ethnic and religious dividing lines to bring an end to the long war in Liberia and to ensure women participated in elections.

Tawakkul Karman was honoured for playing a leading role in the struggle for women's rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen. She said the honour was "a victory for the entire Yemeni revolution" and expressed hope that it would bring "more international support" to Yemeni protesters, who have faced a brutal crackdown that has left many dead.

Karman said,

"The Yemeni revolution should not be ignored and the prize will only have value if the revolution in Yemen prevails."

Shanade Johnson

Picture: Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman

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