On a bright summer day in March in South Africa, Oleksandra Romantsova is at Vilakazi Street in Johannesburg’s sprawling Soweto township. She now has a connection with this historic street that has produced two Nobel Peace Prize laureates – Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.



In 2022, the Center for Civil Liberties, where she is Executive Director in Ukraine, also won the Nobel Peace Prize for its advocacy and work documenting war crimes as a result of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.



Romantsova is wearing blue nail polish and a big smile, as she speaks about education, children, women and peace. The Sakhumzi restaurant where we are is vibrant with chatter, color, and South African culinary specialties, and Romantsova has a full view of the street, from one end to another, marveling at the houses where Tutu and Mandela lived.



She harks back to that emotional moment when she received news, on the phone, of the Nobel Peace Prize win in 2022.



“[When] they called, I was startled. After they told me, all my English left my head,” Romantsova laughs. “I think in the end, I cried.”



Romantsova started working at the Center for Civil Liberties in Kyiv, Ukraine, a decade ago. The human rights activist subsequently became Executive Director and is currently documenting the ongoing war. “I’ve been going to each village, to see how many people have been killed. I have seen torture and damaged schools and hospitals. I have seen the streets and nice places absolutely destroyed. That’s why often, when we speak about justice, nobody reacts normally. Nobody reacts enough to stop them. When you don’t have justice, evil always wins.”



Part of her work is traveling with her colleagues to expound on regional security, children’s rights, and nuclear security. The young democracy of South Africa intrigues her, as she sees how young people have become heavily involved with human rights justice.



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“Because we need a lot that needs to be built, and started earlier,” Romantsova explains. “We need children from school to know about their rights… democracy is not only what you can get, but democracy is also what you’re responsible for.”



The Center for Civil Liberties joins a coalition of Ukrainian human rights organizations whose aim is to bring to justice any and all perpetrators responsible for war crimes in Ukraine, and have reportedly registered more than 33,000 potential violations, including war crimes, crimes against humanity, crimes of aggression and genocide.



Part of Romantsova’s work is to also support women.



She says there are as many as 60,000 women on the frontline in Ukraine. The “Soviet Union tradition” dictated that women could not take up jobs as professional snipers, but could be translators, kitchen staff or medicine workers.



“Now that we have fought to have women [there], we have had to [overhaul] the whole system. For example, now volunteers support women by having [special bulletproof vests] for them because the one for men will not work for women.”



Romantsova sees South Africa’s freedom movement as a template for Ukraine.



“South Africa’s solidarity movement is something that is absolutely impressive,” she says. “It’s not only about the history of the freedom for Africans, but I see a lot of



reflection, and a lot of connection with topics for women’s rights, children’s rights and all our common responsibilities for working and organizing this as a common mechanism to support people. “The solidarity movement of South Africa is a great example for us and we really want to collaborate with this true human spirit, which is exactly what I feel during all my trips to South Africa.”

IMG_1431

The Road To the Nobel Peace Prize: From Kyiv To South Africa’s Vilakazi Street

<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-topline">TOPLINE</h2>



The woman who won the Nobel Peace Prize for her gender advocacy in Iran has started a hunger strike in prison,&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-mohammadi-nobel-laureate-hunger-strike-d34da0d7bbe473c21cdf6ae930487cac" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">multiple outlets</a>&nbsp;<a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/nobel-prize-laureate-narges-mohammadi-goes-on-hunger-strike-in-iran-prison-101699269185351.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>&nbsp;Monday, after she and other female inmates were blocked from receiving medical care over their refusal to wear a headscarf.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



Narges Mohammadi was refused a transfer from Evin prison last week after a doctor diagnosed her with two severe vein blockages and high lung pressure, and ordered she undergo an off-site coronary angiogram and lung scan, the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67299512" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">BBC reported</a>..



The prison&#8217;s warden refused to send her out of the prison without a headscarf, her family told the BBC, and Mohammadi said she would not wear the &#8220;forced hijab&#8221; even for medical treatment.



Mohammadi&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-mohammadi-nobel-laureate-hunger-strike-d34da0d7bbe473c21cdf6ae930487cac" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">began a hunger strike</a>&nbsp;on Monday to protest the restriction and that of jailed attorney and activist Nasrin Sotoudeh, among other women who refuse to wear a headscarf under Iranian law.



PROMOTED



Inmates protested in the prison yard for two days and nights to send Mohammadi to the heart hospital, her family told the BBC, but were told the transfer would not happen unless Mohammadi agreed to wear the hijab.



Mohammadi’s daughter&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jailed-iranian-womens-activist-smuggles-out-letter-thanks-nobel-peace-prize-2023-10-31/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">last week</a>&nbsp;read a message her mother had smuggled out of jail, the first official reaction to her winning of the Nobel Peace Prize on October 6, in which she called the laws forcing women to wear a hijab &#8220;a means of control and repression&#8221; by the &#8220;authoritarian religious regime&#8221; of Iran, French newspaper&nbsp;Le Monde&nbsp;<a href="https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/11/01/peace-prize-winner-narges-mohammadi-s-message-from-behind-bars_6219457_4.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



The Nobel Foundation last month&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2023/press-release/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">awarded</a>&nbsp;the Nobel Peace Prize to Mohammadi, who is serving several prison sentences totalling 31 years in jail, and she also faces 154 lashes of a whip. Mohammadi has been an advocate for equality and women&#8217;s rights since her days as a student in the 1990s and has been involved with the Defenders of Human Rights Center in Tehran, founded by a fellow Nobel Peace Prize laureate, since 2003. She has been arrested more than a dozen times in the last decade for her women&#8217;s advocacy work and has continued her work as an inmate, which has been met with harsh conditions like a ban on phone calls and visitors, the foundation&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/peace/2023/press-release/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>. Mohammadi has spoken against the forced wearing of headscarves in Iran, use of the death penalty, the use of torture and sexual violence against political prisoners and the government&#8217;s policies of discrimination targeting women. Mohammadi’s advocacy has kept her from seeing her husband for 15 years and her children (twin daughters who are 16) for seven years, according to&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jailed-iranian-womens-activist-smuggles-out-letter-thanks-nobel-peace-prize-2023-10-31/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Reuters</a>. They&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/06/world/who-is-narges-mohammadi-nobel-peace.html#:~:text=Victory%20is%20near.%E2%80%9D-,Ms.,her%20children%20in%20eight%20years." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">live in exile</a>&nbsp;in France.



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<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-crucial-quote">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h2>



&#8220;Woman, Life, Freedom.”&nbsp;<a href="https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/jailed-iranian-womens-activist-smuggles-out-letter-thanks-nobel-peace-prize-2023-10-31/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Mohammadi said</a>&nbsp;news of her winning the Nobel was met with cheers from her cell mates of her movement’s three-word slogan.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-tangent">TANGENT</h2>



Cries against Iran&#8217;s strict Islamic dress code that, sets out several rules to punish women who do not wear the hijab properly, have intensified in the last month following the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/10/22/iranian-teenager-armita-geravand-is-brain-dead-after-alleged-assault-by-police-over-hijab/?sh=6a0f2091679a">apparent beating</a>&nbsp;of a 16-year-old girl. Armita Geravand fell into a coma after she was reportedly beaten by government &#8220;morality&#8221; agents in Iran on October 1 for not wearing a headscarf on the subway. Iranian state media weeks ago reported she was&nbsp;<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/maryroeloffs/2023/10/22/iranian-teenager-armita-geravand-is-brain-dead-after-alleged-assault-by-police-over-hijab/?sh=6a0f2091679a">pronounced brain dead</a>&nbsp;a month after the incident.&nbsp;<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67188151" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">CCTV footage shows</a>&nbsp;Geravand entering a train with her hair uncovered and being carried off moments later while unconscious, but no footage from inside the train has been released. Hengaw, an activist group, said Gerevand instead suffered a “severe physical assault” by government agents in Tehran but authorities<a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-67188151" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">&nbsp;have insisted</a>&nbsp;she fainted and said her death was due to pre-existing medical conditions. Sotoudeh, the jailed lawyer who was denied medical treatment alongside Mohammadi, was arrested for attending Geravand’s funeral while not wearing a hijab, the Associated Press&nbsp;<a href="https://apnews.com/article/iran-mohammadi-nobel-laureate-hunger-strike-d34da0d7bbe473c21cdf6ae930487cac" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">reported</a>.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



Wearing a hijab has been required by women in public spaces in Iran since shortly after the 1979 Islamic revolution. <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/21/middleeast/iran-hijab-law-parliament-jail-intl-hnk/index.html#:~:text=Those%20who%20collude%20with%20foreign,two%20years%2C%20the%20bill%20says." target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">A new law</a> was passed by parliament in September dubbed the “hijab bill,” which punishes women who do not wear the hijab properly and men who wear &#8220;revealing clothing.&#8221; Women in Iran can face up to 10 years in prison for &#8220;inappropriate dress.&#8221;

Narges Mohammadi, Human Rights Activist

A Nobel Peace Prize Winner Was Refused Medical Care In Prison Because She Wouldn’t Wear A Headscarf. Now, She’s On A Hunger Strike.

TOPLINE American scientists David Julius and Ardem Patapoutian were awarded the 2021 Nobel Prize in Medicine for their “discoveries of receptors for temperature and touch,” a breakthrough that, according to the Nobel Assembly, identified “critical missing links” in medical science’s understanding of the interaction between our senses and the environment.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-facts">KEY FACTS</h2>



In its&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/medicine/2021/summary/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">press release</a>, the Nobel Assembly said that Julius and Patapoutian’s discoveries has sparked other research that led to a rapid increase in “our understanding of how our nervous system senses heat, cold, and mechanical stimuli.”



David Julius used capsaicin, the chemical compound in chili peppers that gives off a burning sensation, to identify a sensor in the nerve endings of skin that reacts to heat.



Patapoutian discovered separate pressure-sensitive sensors in cells that respond to mechanical stimulation in the skin and internal organs.



The Nobel in medicine is the first of six prizes that are set to be announced this month, marking exceptional achievements in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-surprising-fact">SURPRISING FACT</h2>



The winners of the 2021 Nobel Prizes will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/about/the-nobel-prize-amounts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">receive</a>&nbsp;a gold medal and 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.14 million). The prize money comes from an endowment left behind by the prize’s creator, Swedish inventor Alfred Nobel, who died in 1895.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-key-background">KEY BACKGROUND</h2>



Last year the prize was awarded to American researchers Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British scientist Michael Houghton for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus. In 1944, Joseph Erlanger and Herbert Gasser received the Nobel Prize in Medicine for discovering different types of sensory nerve fibers that react to distinct stimuli, like for example, responses to painful and non-painful touch. The Nobel Assembly noted that prior to Julius and Patapoutian’s discoveries, it was fundamentally unknown as to how temperature and mechanical stimuli are converted into electrical impulses in the nervous system.



<h2 class="wp-block-heading" id="h-further-reading">FURTHER READING</h2>



<a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2021/10/04/health/nobel-prize-medicine-physiology-temperature-touch.html" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nobel Prize Awarded to Scientists for Research About Temperature and Touch</a>&nbsp;(New York Times)



<a href="https://apnews.com/article/science-europe-health-stockholm-nobel-prizes-513a145b63f1ec2167bec8798094a472" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Nobel Prize honors discovery of temperature, touch receptors</a> (Associated Press)



By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff

SWEDEN-NOBEL-MEDICINE

2021 Nobel Prize In Medicine Awarded To Scientists Who Discovered Temperature And Touch Receptors

“I’m a fighter. I’m the kind of person that for better or worse runs towards a problem and tries to solve it even if it’s in a burning house.”



These powerful words come from 31-year-old Somalian-Canadian activist, Ilwad Elman, who spoke at the 6th FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit on March 8. The 2021 Nobel Peace Prize nominee spoke about her natural instinct to invoke change.



The daughter of entrepreneur and peace activist Elman Ali Ahmed and social activist Fartuun Adan, Elaman says once the Somalian war broke in the 1990s, her parents had to make the difficult decision to split up. Adan took Elman and her sisters to Canada where they were refugees, and Ahmed stayed in Somalia fighting for peace.



“My father was killed in pursuit of peace,” Elman said. “But his slogan ‘drop the gun, pick up the pen’ can still be seen marked on the streets of Mogadishu 25 years after his death.”



And this has inspired Elman all her life.



At the age of 20, she co-founded Somalia’s first rape crisis center. Since then, she has become a champion for peace and security giving all those impacted by conflict — particularly women and girls — a seat at the table. Through her organization, the Elman Peace Centre in Mogadishu, Elman has created a methodology for community-based peace-building in contexts of ongoing conflict that is now being exported to conflicts across Africa.



“So if you want to change the world, you need to first know and search within yourself with deep humility, zero egos, and profound clarity,” Elman said.



Also proposed this year as a Nobel Peace Prize nominee is Hajer Sharief, a Libyan peace and human rights activist. She co-leads the work of the Together We Build It&nbsp;(TWBI)&nbsp;organization in Libya. In 2011, and at the age of 19, she co-founded TWBI to build peace in Libya and promote human rights. One of UN Women&#8217;s 12 Champions on Women, Peace and Security and Human Rights, she is a member of the Extremely Together young leaders, an initiative by Kofi Annan and the Kofi Annan Foundation, and in 2020, was named by FORBES AFRICA as one Africa’s 50 Most Powerful Women along with Elman.



– Watch the full video of Ilwad Elman’s talk at the 2021 FORBES WOMAN AFRICA Leading Women Summit here



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Ilwad

Changing The World According to Ilwad Elman

The United Nations’ World Food Programme has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work to combat hunger around the world, beating favorites Greta Thunberg and the World Health Organization.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



The Norwegian Nobel Committee said it was awarding the prize to the UN body “for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict.”



Announcing the award, chair of the Norwegian Nobel committee Berit Reiss-Andersen said it was an obligation of states around the world to “ensure that people are not starving” and called on the international community to not underfund the World Food Programme.



The committee praised the organization’s ongoing work around the world during the Covid-19 pandemic, which has hit food supply chains hard, especially in areas already struggling.&nbsp;&nbsp;



The WFP&nbsp;<a href="https://twitter.com/WFP/status/1314500332702101504?s=20" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;it is “deeply humbled to receive” the award “in recognition of the work of WFP staff who put their lives on the line every day to bring food and assistance to more than 100 million hungry children, women and men across the world.”&nbsp;



It is the 101st time the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded.



The Nobel Peace Prize is the fifth of six awarded this year — on Monday the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences will be awarded.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



<div class="wp-block-image is-style-default"><figure class="aligncenter size-large"><img loading="lazy" decoding="async" width="1024" height="681" src="https://www.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1228973226-1024x681.jpg" alt="" class="wp-image-48294" srcset="https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1228973226-1024x681.jpg 1024w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1228973226-300x200.jpg 300w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1228973226-768x511.jpg 768w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1228973226-1536x1022.jpg 1536w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1228973226-2048x1363.jpg 2048w, https://cms.forbesafrica.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/GettyImages-1228973226-600x399.jpg 600w" sizes="auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" /><figcaption>(Photo by ALBERTO PIZZOLI/AFP via Getty Images)</figcaption></figure></div>



The World Food Programme is the world’s leading humanitarian organization fighting hunger and promoting food security. Founded in 1961, the UN branch&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wfp.org/overview" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">aided</a>&nbsp;97 million people around the world in 2019. It leads the charge in realizing one of the UN’s sustainable development goals — ending hunger and achieving food security by 2030. In June, the organization&nbsp;<a href="https://www.wfp.org/news/world-food-programme-assist-largest-number-hungry-people-ever-coronavirus-devastates-poor" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">said</a>&nbsp;it was seeing a “massive rise” in hunger around the world as the coronavirus pandemic threatened food security. “The frontline in the battle against the coronavirus is shifting from the rich world to the poor world,” said David Beasley, WFP’s executive director.&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">CRUCIAL QUOTE</h4>



When revealing the winner, Berit Reiss-Andersen, who chairs the Norwegian Nobel committee took time to address the impact the ongoing coronavirus pandemic has had on food and hunger. &#8220;The coronavirus pandemic has contributed to a strong upsurge in the number of victims of hunger in the world,&#8221; she said. &#8220;In the face of the pandemic, the World Food Programme has demonstrated an impressive ability to intensify its efforts.”



&#8220;As the organization itself has stated: until the day we have a vaccine, food is the best vaccine against chaos.&#8221;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">SURPRISING FACT&nbsp;</h4>



Alfred Nobel, who left the endowment and instructions to fund the prizes that now bear his name, does not have as peaceful a legacy as one might expect. In his lifetime, he was well known as an&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nationalgeographic.com/history/magazine/2017/07-08/Alfred_Nobel_Founder_Prize/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">inventor of weapons</a>, the most noteworthy of these being dynamite. After reading his own obituary — which followed a case of mistaken identity by a french journalist — that described him as “the merchant of death,” he reflected on the kind of legacy he wanted to leave. The Nobel Prizes are the result of that.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING&nbsp;</h4>



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/10/07/french-and-us-scientists-win-nobel-in-chemistry-for-work-in-genome-editing/#1a7b923118e0">French And U.S. Scientists Win Nobel In Chemistry For Work In Genome Editing</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/10/06/scientists-who-made-landmark-discoveries-about-black-holes-win-nobel-prize-in-physics/#5fd06e5e3e11">Scientists Who Made Landmark Discoveries About Black Holes Win Nobel Prize In Physics</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/10/05/nobel-prize-in-medicine-awarded-to-trio-of-scientists-who-discovered-hepatitis-c-virus/#7d5015be2362">Nobel Prize In Medicine Awarded To Trio Of Scientists Who Discovered Hepatitis C Virus</a>&nbsp;(Forbes)



<a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/siladityaray/2020/10/08/us-poet-louise-gluck-wins-nobel-prize-in-literature/#4097547214e5">U.S. Poet Louise Glück Wins Nobel Prize In Literature</a> (Forbes)



-By Robert Hart,Forbes Staff

YEMEN-CONFLICT-AID

World Food Programme Wins The Nobel Peace Prize

American researchers Harvey J. Alter and Charles M. Rice and British scientist Michael Houghton were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for the discovery of the Hepatitis C virus, a breakthrough which “made possible blood tests and new medicines that have saved millions of lives,” the Nobel Assembly <a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nobelprize.org/uploads/2020/10/press-medicine2020.pdf" target="_blank">said</a> on Monday.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY FACTS</h4>



In its press release, the Nobel Assembly praised the scientists’ for their “seminal discoveries that led to the identification of a novel virus, Hepatitis C” noting that prior to this, most blood-borne hepatitis cases remained unexplained.



The blood-borne disease may cause liver inflammation and cancer and the World Health Organisation estimates that there are 70 million cases of hepatitis worldwide, leading to 400,000 deaths each year.



In 1976, American scientist Baruch Blumberg won the Nobel prize for discovering Hepatitis B, the first blood-borne hepatitis.



The Nobel in medicine is the first of six prizes that are set to be announced this month, marking exceptional achievements in the fields of physics, chemistry, literature, peace and economics.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">KEY BACKGROUND</h4>



The winners of the 2020 Nobel prizes will&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nobelprize.org/prizes/about/the-nobel-prize-amounts/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">receive</a>&nbsp;a gold medal and prize money of 10 million Swedish Kronor ($1.12 million). While working at the U.S. National Institutes of Health (NIH), Alter was the first to discover that patients receiving blood transfusions were getting infected by a new form of chronic viral hepatitis that was distinct from Hepatitis A and B. Houghton, working for pharmaceutical firm Chiron, then helped genetically sequence the then-unknown pathogen and discovered it was a novel RNA virus belonging to the Flavivirus family and named it Hepatitis C. Rice, a researcher at Washington University in St. Louis, through his work on the virus’ genome, found proof that the Hepatitis C virus alone could cause unexplained cases of transfusion-mediated hepatitis.



<h4 class="wp-block-heading">FURTHER READING</h4>



<a rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/10/07/health/nobel-prize-medicine.html" target="_blank">Nobel Prize in Medicine Awarded for Research on How Cells Manage Oxygen</a> (New York Times)



-By Siladitya Ray, Forbes Staff

Nobel Prize In Medicine Awarded To Trio Of Scientists Who Discovered Hepatitis C Virus

Ellen Johnson Sirleaf has an iconic status in Africa and the world. As the first elected female head of state in Africa, she served as the leader of Liberia for two elected terms.
Those terms saw Liberia’s slow and steady march from what was considered a pariah state to a country with what the Mo Ibrahim Foundation calls a “trajectory of progress” that has helped transform its economy, survive the shock of Ebola, and restructure public institutions to respond to the needs of the people.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/politics/2018/03/02/the-peoples-president/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: The People’s President</a>
It is only fitting that FORBES WOMAN AFRICA gets to meet the Nobel Peace Prize winner in Rwanda, a country known for its high representation of women in Parliament, and where Sirleaf is awarded the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership at a special ceremony.
Q. Please share your thoughts on the African Union (AU) self-funding reform goal, the Kaberuka Proposal. 
The dependency of the AU on external sources has been the subject of debate for many years, and the thinking of our leaders is that it is better to finance our operations by ourselves and alleviate pressure and dictation from these external sources. On the other hand, we know that to have financial autonomy, every country must be able to contribute consistently. So, the crux of the reform is to change the payment formula and make sure everyone knows they have to pay their part.
When it comes to the Kaberuka suggestion, it meets our objective of financing our organization ourselves. However, it does place a burden on the poorer states&#8230; So, our position with the Kaberuka plan is to study it some more so when we commit, we do not fall into arrears. We want to see the reform implemented, and for it to include cost-reduction in structural aspects such as travel and positions etc., thus reducing the burden on poorer countries.
Q: Will Africa really be able to tackle illicit financial flows? And with women being conspicuously absent from financial decision-making, yet being the greatest losers on such issues, how do we tackle these discrepancies? 
We have to become more accountable and pass stringent mandates in institutions, as well as instill practical capacity to understand the complexities of these financial transactions. Also, we must implement a legal system that will enforce against such flow violations.
Access for women is difficult even in the case of legitimate flows. Even with a growing manufacturing sector and agri-industrial activities usually manned by women, access is still limited, for rural women particularly.
There is a big effort being put in by different regional institutions; in Liberia’s case, GIABA, the Intergovernmental Action Group Against Money Laundering in West Africa, has been analyzing the flows and determining what is illicit. 
But it is up to women to stand up and put other women in leadership roles, because the record is clear: women are more credit-worthy when it comes to financial transactions, and this suggests the more women there are heading these institutions, the more we can be assured that regulatory laws will be more effective.
<a href="http://www.forbesafrica.com/woman/2018/06/08/womens-leadership-is-under-attack-globally/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">READ MORE: &#8216;Women’s Leadership Is Under Attack Globally’</a>
Q: What are your plans? How would you encourage young women to follow in your footsteps, or even create their own path? 
We are establishing the Ellen Johnson Sirleaf Presidential Center for Women and Development. The activities will center around five themes that will promote women in business; women in leadership; women in fragile states; women in migration; and education for women and girls. We will use the life experiences of women who have excelled in these areas. For the young women, I say to all, be self-confident and pursue your goals&#8230;Let us be bold as women.
&#8211; Interviewed by Laura Rwiliriza

UN-GENERAL ASSEMBLY-LIBERIA

First African Elected Female Head of State Urges Women to Be Bold

Ten years ago, Victor Ochen, was a cobbler, fish monger and charcoal burner. This year, the 33-year-old is the first Ugandan and youngest African to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Ochen spent most of his early childhood at an internally displaced persons (IDP) camp in Abia at the height of a bloody war perpetuated by Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in northern Uganda. He is now the director of the African Youth Initiative Network (AYINET), offering medical and psychological rehabilitation to the thousands of victims of the conflict.
Ochen, who was nominated with AYINET, says he can’t believe he will be competing with global personalities like Pope Francis; Edward Snowden, who leaked details of American electronic surveillance; and Novaya Gazeta, a Russian investigative newspaper critical of President Vladimir Putin.
“I was born in war, raised in war, a life no child should live. I can’t believe the work I did for the good of my people, a local struggle, has taken me to the international level,” he says.
Ochen has seen the horrors of war. He watched his mother die in 1996 because the conflict barred the way to malaria drugs.
“We tried to carry my mother on a stretcher from Abia to Lira (about 20 kilometers away) but the rebels had set up so many traps around the area. After carrying her for some time, she told us to take her back home and instead take care of ourselves.”
Later, Ochen’s mother died, which led to his father wanting to commit suicide. With his brother, Ochen managed to convince his remaining parent to live.
Before their mother died, Ochen and his brother vowed to never shoot a gun.
“Up to now, I don’t know how to fire a bullet,” he says.
After relocating to an IDP camp, life became rough. Ochen would dig other people’s gardens and burn charcoal to earn money for food.
Around 1995, at the age of 13, Ochen formed a youth peace club that was against the recruitment of child soldiers.
“I remember being called by some elders and asked how I could talk about peace yet I had never lived a peaceful life. They also told me I would be killed by the army if they got to know I was preaching against war,” says Ochen.
Living with war has left Ochen with an aversion to violence.
“I don’t celebrate when I see a rebel being killed. I believe there are conditions that forced these people to fight. But again committing crimes against humanity with impunity cannot go on.”
Ochen believes that former LRA commander, Dominic Ongwen, currently at The Hague facing war crimes, should be punished.
“He was such a vicious commander who oversaw the abduction, rape and murder of tens of thousands of children and women. He should answer for his sins. Let him at least tell us where some of the women and children are. We know they must be somewhere.”
Ochen witnessed an operation led by Ongwen in 1999 when he was burning charcoal to try and earn money to register for national examinations.
“We watched them open our charcoal and spoil it. They only crazy thing I have done in my life was throwing stones at the 100-plus gun-wielding rebels to try and stop them from spoiling my charcoal. I cried silently, cursed Ongwen and ran back to
the camp.”
Whereas other children go to school to get jobs, Ochen’s story was different as “I have always done all kinds of jobs so that I can go to school.”
The year he joined secondary school, Ongwen worked as a fish monger to raise money to buy a box and pay fees. Throughout his life, Ochen never put on shoes until he was chased out of a senior two lesson for wearing lugabile (sandals made from old car tyres).
“I remember becoming a cobbler in school and raising 8,000 Ugandan shillings to buy my first shoes. However, I did not put on these shoes as they were stolen the same night I bought them. I never saw them again and up to now I’m still looking for my first pair of shoes,” says Ochen with a smile.
He was able to finish Senior Four and went on to work as a cleaner, receptionist and radio presenter. Ochen was voted the best radio presenter in Lira.
His first attempt to join university in 2003 was thwarted by a lack of school fees. His family relied on him for income.
“I was later lucky to get a job with Straight Talk Foundation where I got some money and studied a bachelor’s degree in Leadership and Development Studies from the little-known World University of Leadership (the university has since stopped operations in Uganda),” he says.
While at Straight Talk, Ochen decided to form his own organization. He wrote several proposals that have now helped him to run a budget of $1 million.
Top on the list of activities is helping victims of the LRA war. Those whose lips were chopped off, those who were amputated and the returnees who need to be helped back into the community.
His greatest belief is that his story represents the African youth who has suffered at the hands of what he calls greedy
war mongers.
“The youth are being used as tools of injustice yet they should be used as tools of justice. It is good we have helped strengthen the understanding of foundations for justice such as the International Criminal Court.”
Ochen says the trial of Ongwen should be a wake-up call for all those involved in war crimes.
This year’s winner of the Nobel Peace Prize will be announced on October 9, the day Uganda celebrates its independence.
“My prayer is that as we celebrate Independence Day, my effort will be rewarded so that the African youth living in IDPs can see a bright future ahead of him.”

Tag: Nobel Peace Prize

FORBES AFRICA SOCIAL MEDIA