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Nobel Laureates: 'Women will lead the world toward peace'


December 9, 2011
By The IRC

President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf of Liberia is one of three recipients of the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize. In 2006, President Johnson Sirleaf received the International Rescue Committee's Freedom Award for extraordinary contributions to the cause of refugees and human freedom.

Photo: Center for Global Development

Tomorrow, three women who have worked tirelessly for women's empowerment will be presented with the 2011 Nobel Peace Prize at a ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

The prize is being awarded jointly to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and Leymah Gbowee of Liberia and Tawakul Karman of Yemen "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work."
 
Johnson Sirleaf,  who became Africa's first democratically elected female president in 2006, won re-election in October. Speaking in Oslo today, she dedicated the award to the women of Africa, and in particular, Liberia, which is recovering from 15 years of brutal civil war.
 
"They have carried the burden of those conflicts, subjected to rape, to sex slavery, being the ones who have to continue to have to provide for their children even as their men are out in war," Johnson Sirleaf said.
 
Read International Rescue Committee vice president Anne C. Richard's account of meeting future Nobel Peace Prize laureate Leymah Gbowee and speaking with her about President Johnson Sirleaf.
 
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1 comment

Comments

Am so happy that ellen

Submitted by Eliza m. Higgins (not verified) on February 27, 2012 - 3:29pm.

Am so happy that ellen johnson sirleaf is still the president of Liberia. And she is keeping the nation free from war.

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