OSLO - Kenyan Professor Wangari Mathaai today received the Nobel Peace Prize 2004 for her “contribution to sustainable development, democracy and peace.”

The prize, worth $1.5 million, has international prestige and is awarded to individuals or organizations whose efforts contribute to lasting peace among people and nations.

Planting Trees

In 1977 Ms. Mathaai founded the Green Belt Movement to plant trees. A tree represents one of African women’s most important resources, firewood. Planting a tree also supports reforestation and the environment.

In a press conference Ms. Mathaai told that planting trees was important, both as a symbol and because trees improve living conditions. But without democracy there will be no development. She said that peace is a question of distribution of resources, and explained that reforestation in the mountains of Kenya will give firewood, water and crops, thereby supporting peace.

She was put into Kenyan prison for defending forests against a luxury housing project, backed by President Arap Moi. With a new leadership she now serves as deputy minister of environment in her country.

Supporters And Critics

Norwegian politicians in general approve of the choice of the Committee. Prime Minister Kjell Magne Bondevik said to Norwegian State Television that there is a new dimension in the connection between the work for ecological sustainability and the work for peace.

However, skeptics find it strange to award the prize to an environmentalist when there is so little peace in the world today. Amongst them is Carl I. Hagen, leading politician in the Norwegian Parliament. According to national broadcast he would prefer US senators Nunn and Lugar as winners.

The Norwegian peace studies professor Galtung, internationally known, said in the news that the award is close to a scandal and that the committee “could resign” because it is so far away from its mandate as outlined in Alfred Nobel’s last will.

Alfred Nobel’s Last Will

The prize is based on the huge fortune left behind by Alfred Nobel, a fortune mainly earned from his invention of dynamite to be used for construction and other peaceful purposes.

The first prize was awarded in 1901. Earlier laureates include, as one put it, more “safe” choices like Kofi Annan and Jimmy Carter. There are also controversial winners like Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, or John Hume and David Trimble in Northern Ireland.

The winner is chosen from among nominations made by members of national assemblies and governments, members of international courts of law, professors of various disciplines, earlier laureates and others.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee, although nominated by the Norwegian Parliament, makes completely independent decisions. Absolutely no information from the committee’s discussions is made public.

Other Norwegian Prize To Chinese Prisoner Of Conscience

Rebiya Kadeer, a prominent symbol of the Uighurs’ struggle for basic human rights, recently won the smaller and less well-known Rafto Memorial Prize 2004.

Through this award, the Rafto Foundation “directs a strong appeal to the Chinese government to respect and protect the civil, economic and cultural rights of the Uighurs as well as other minorities in China”.

This prize is important beyond its modest size. Rafto Foundation has in the past set precedents for the Nobel Committee. Several Rafto winners have later been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, including Shirin Embadi of Iran, Kim Dae Jung of South Korea, Jose Ramos Horta of East Timor and Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar (Burma).

Systematic Persecution In China

China today is commonly known as the world’s largest violator of human rights. The communist party persecutes independent spiritual and religious practitioners, who are ill-treated and even tortured to give up their belief.

Amnesty International has recently reported about an increasing number of human rights activists in China. “They meet an extremely hostile environment and their destiny is often unknown, says Egenæs of Amnesty in Norway.

In a statement, The Rafto Foundation expressed worry about Kadeer’s health and asks for her immediate release.