| A Worthy Prize for Women’s Struggles for Peace |
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The Åland Islands Peace Institute joins the voices celebrating the announcement of “The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011” which was awarded on Friday, October 7th, to three women from Africa & the Arab world in acknowledgment of their nonviolent role in promoting peace, democracy and gender equality. The winners were Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf - Africa’s first elected female president — her compatriot, peace activist Leymah Gbowee and Tawakul Karman - a pro-democracy campaigner from Yemen. This is not just their victory, but also the victory of all the institutions who are struggling for the rights of women, equality, justice, peace & development in the world. The Åland Islands Peace Institute has been steadily promoting gender equality and strengthening their position in the society, on Åland and internationally and increasing women´s participation in all activities in order to ensure the empowerment of women which is a precondition for lasting peace. This year’s Nobel Peace Prize was a victory for women and a very important signal to women all over the world. Most of the recipients in the award’s 110-year history have been men and Friday’s decision seemed designed to give impetus to the cause for women’s rights around the world. The full announcement can be found at: http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2011/
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