Dec 15, 2015 A Tunisian pro-democracy group accepted the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo.
The National Dialogue Quartet, which won the Peace Prize for helping build democracy in Tunisia, was presented with the award at a ceremony in the Norwegian capital.
Speaking at the ceremony, Kaci Kullman Five, head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee praised the quartet for providing an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war.
“The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Revolution of 2011. This year’s prize is truly a prize for peace, awarded against a backdrop of unrest and war. In the summer of 2013, Tunisia was on the brink of civil war. The Quartet’s resolute intervention helped to halt the spiralling violence and put developments on a peaceful track. Tunisia was spared the horrors of civil war and instead established a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, regardless of gender, conviction or religious belief.”
While reieveing the Peace Prize, union chief Hussein Abassi paid tribute to all those who had put aside their differences for the good of the country.
“This honour is extended not just to us, but to all political actors in Tunisia who have chosen the path of consensus and have succeeded in giving priority to the best interests of their country and their people over the narrow interests of their parties. And it honours Tunisian women and the Tunisian youth who rose up against discrimination and exclusion and insisted on the defence of their civil rights and their right to freedom and dignity and a decent life,”
With a new constitution, free elections and a compromise arrangement between Islamist and secular leaders, Tunisia has been held up as a model of how to make the transition to a democracy from dictatorship.