Nobel peace prize 2015 goes to Tunisian civil society groups

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is to be awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011.

A photo from September 2013 showing members of the Tunisian national dialogue quartet. Photograph: Fethi Belaid/AFP/Getty Images

First reaction from one of the winners, via Associated Press:

A Tunisian union leader who played a key role in democracy-building that won the Nobel Peace Prize says he’s “overwhelmed” by the gesture.

Houcine Abassi, secretary general of the UGTT union, told the Associated Press on Friday, “It’s a prize that crowns more than two years of efforts deployed by the quartet when the country was in danger on all fronts.”

“I am happy,” he said, adding that the quartet members weren’t expecting the prize.


He described how the UGTT, a human rights group, a trade group and a lawyers group joined together to try to “bring the country out of crisis”.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is to be awarded to the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet for its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011. The Quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 when the democratization process was in danger of collapsing as a result of political assassinations and widespread social unrest. It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. It was thus instrumental in enabling Tunisia, in the space of a few years, to establish a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief.

The National Dialogue Quartet has comprised four key organizations in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union (UGTT, Union Générale Tunisienne du Travail), the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts (UTICA, Union Tunisienne de l'Industrie, du Commerce et de l'Artisanat), the Tunisian Human Rights League (LTDH, La Ligue Tunisienne pour la Défense des Droits de l'Homme), and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers (Ordre National des Avocats de Tunisie). These organizations represent different sectors and values in Tunisian society: working life and welfare, principles of the rule of law and human rights. On this basis, the Quartet exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority. The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is awarded to this Quartet, not to the four individual organizations as such.