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Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet receives 2015 Nobel Peace Prize

Xinhua, December 10, 2015 Adjust font size:

Leaders of the four main organizations in the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet received the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday at an awarding ceremony in Oslo, Norway.

At the ceremony held at the Oslo City Hall, Kaci Kullmann Five, chairperson of the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee, said this year's peace prize fits "to the core" Alfred Nobel's will and his vision of fraternity, disarmament and peace-building forums.

The Quartet's work "has led to a better platform for peace and non-violent resolution of conflicts," Five said. "This is a story about building strong institutions to ensure justice and stability and demonstrating the will to engage in dialogue and cooperation."

Five urged countries to follow the Tunisian example to address the refugee issue, saying the causes of the refugee crisis are numerous and complex and there are no simple solutions.

"If every country had done as Tunisia has done and paved the way for dialogue, tolerance, democracy and equal rights, far fewer people would have been forced to flee," she said.

This year's award was collected by Hassine Abassi, secretary general of the Tunisian General Labour Union, Mohamed Fadhel Mahfoudh, president of the Tunisian Order of Lawyers, Abdessattar Ben Moussa, president of the Tunisian Human Rights League, and Ouided Bouchamaoui, president of the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee announced in October that the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet won the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize for "its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia."

Five said in her announcement that the Quartet, formed in 2013, "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," she said.

The National Dialogue Quartet comprises four key organizations in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union, the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts, the Tunisian Human Rights League and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.

The Quartet "exercised its role as a mediator and driving force to advance peaceful democratic development in Tunisia with great moral authority," Five said, adding that prize "is awarded to this Quartet, not to the four individual organizations as such." Enditem