Tunisia’s Dialogue Quartet awarded Nobel
Peace Prize panel hails group for its pro- democracy efforts
The 2015 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded Friday to Tunisia’s National Dialogue Quartet for its efforts to bring democracy to the country, where political upheaval in 2011 sparked pro- democracy movements throughout the Arab world.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the group “for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.”
“It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war,” the committee said.
The National Dialogue Quartet is made up of four organizations: the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.
The Tunisian revolution, which forced the country’s long- time president to step down, led to uprisings against dictators in other nations, including Egypt, Libya and Syria in what became known as the Arab Spring.
Tunisia is the only country in the region to make genuine progress transitioning to a democracy. Egypt’s military overthrew its first democratically elected president in 2013; Syria is in the midst of a bloody 4year- old civil war that has given rise to the Islamic State; and Libya’s ouster of longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi was followed by years of political chaos and competing militias.
“More than anything, the prize is intended as an encouragement to the Tunisian people, who, despite major challenges, have laid the groundwork for a national fraternity, which the committee hopes will serve as an example to be followed by other countries,” Nobel Peace Prize Committee Chairwoman Kaci Kullmann Five said. Tunisia still faces political problems. Two attacks by Islamic extremists this year killed 60 people and devastated the country’s vital tourism industry. Critics complain that the new government tramples on the civil liberties of its citizens.
“The government has fallen back into the habit of criminalizing poverty and political dissent,” Nadia Marzouki and Fadil Aliriza wrote in September on Open Democracy, an online site.