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Tunisian Nobel Peace Prize laureates call for unity against terrorism

Xinhua, December 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Leaders of the four main organizations in the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, who received the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize on Thursday, called for a global cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

"Today we are in a great need for the dialogue between civilizations and to peaceful coexistence within diversity and difference," Hassine Abassi, secretary general of the Tunisian General Labour Union, one member of the Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet, said at an awards ceremony here.

"Today we are most in need to make the fight against terrorism an absolute priority, which means perseverance on the coordination and cooperation between all nations," he said at the ceremony held at the Oslo City Hall.

This year's award was collected by Abassi, 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 laureates also called for a resolution of the Palestinian issue, saying "we need to accelerate the elimination of hot spots all over the world, particularly the resolution of the Palestinian issue and enable the Palestinian people the right to self-determination on their land and build their independent state."

Kaci Kullmann Five, chairperson of the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee, said at the ceremony that 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.

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." Enditem