INTERNATIONAL: Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov are expected to receive their 2021 Nobel Peace Prizes during an in-person ceremony at the Oslo City Hall on Friday, 10 December.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2021 to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov for their efforts to safeguard freedom of expression, which is a precondition for democracy and lasting peace. Miss Ressa and Mr Muratov are receiving the Peace Prize for their courageous fight for freedom of expression in the Philippines and in Russia. And Nobel Peace Prize is not awarded post-mortem.
Rappler CEO and Nobel Peace Prize winner, Maria Ressa says, "It's never been as hard to be a journalist as it is today. This is my 35th year as a journalist and imagine if the Philippine government filed 10 arrest warrants against me in less than two years, I've never lived through anything like that. And I guess there's justice. There's an end to the darkness."
Muratov and Ressa, who both braved the wrath of the leaders of Russia and the Philippines to expose corruption and misrule, won the Nobel Peace Prize on 8 October, in an endorsement of free speech under fire worldwide. The two were awarded "for their courageous fight for freedom of expression" in their countries, according to Norwegian Nobel Committee Chairwoman, Berit Reiss-Andersen.
Muratov has dedicated his award to six contributors to his Novaya Gazeta newspaper who had been murdered for their work exposing human rights violations and corruption."Igor Domnikov, Yuri Shchekochikhin, Anna Politkovskaya, Stas Markelov, Anastasia Baburova, Natasha Estemirova - these are the people who have today won the Nobel Prize," Muratov has said in October, referring to the names of slain reporters and activists whose portraits hang in the newspaper's Moscow headquarters.
Ressa, who has faced years of legal cases in the Philippines over the work of her Rappler website, has shared the prize would help her organisation's mission. "We're going through a dark time, a difficult time, but I think that we hold the line," she said. "We realize that what we do today is going to determine what our tomorrow is going to be."
The chairman of Norwegian Nobel Committee Berit Reiss-AndersenReiss has said the committee intended the award to send a message about the importance of rigourous journalism at a time when technology has made it easier than ever to spread falsehoods.
The Nobel Peace Prize laureates will be able collect their awards in Oslo this year, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has informed, unlike in Stockholm where the other Nobel ceremonies have been cancelled due to the pandemic for the second year running. All but one of the Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm. The Peace Prize is the only one awarded in Oslo. Last year, no physical ceremony took place in Oslo due to the pandemic.
