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10 People Who Might Win A Nobel Peace Prize

Updated on 7 July, 2016 at 7:04 pm By

It is not easy to predict who’ll win the Nobel Peace Prize. For one thing, the list of contenders that are nominated is kept secret and even the contenders don’t know that they have been nominated. And when Barack Obama and the European Union can win this award, it gets really hard to predict who will be chosen. 2013 has also seen a record number of nominations coming to a total of 259 nominations. Although the nominees are not disclosed, already people have started speculating that the Malala Yousafzai has a great chance to win the Nobel Peace Prize this year. Some people are claiming that Julian Assange, Bradley Manning or Edward Snowden should win the award. But here’s a more serious speculation not just about who’ll win this year but about who can win the award sometime in the future. So here are the top 10 current public figures who might win a future Nobel Peace Prize.

10. Alyn Ware:

Alyn Ware is a peace activist from New Zealand. He’s active in the areas of peace, non violence, nuclear disarmament, women’s rights, children’s rights, environment protection and international law. He’s the Global Coordinator for the group Parliamentarians for Nuclear Nonproliferation and Disarmament. He’s received various peace awards and is a strong contender to win the Nobel someday.

Alyn Ware



9. Lawrence S. Wittner:

Lawrence S. Wittner is an American historian and author. He’s written many books on peace movements and foreign policy. He’s also been an active political activist in the racial equality and labor movements. His books, articles and speeches have won various awards and he’s given many lectures all around the world on the topic of world peace. He could win the Nobel Peace Prize one day.

Lawrence S. Wittner


8. Widad Akrawi:

Widad Akrawi is a Danish citizen of Kurdish ancestry who has advocated for human rights and peace movements for many years now. She is a health expert, author, lecturer, lobbyist and the president of Defend International. She protested against torture of Kurds by the Iraqis and formed a secret group that tried to record evidence of torture being carried out by the Iraqis. On moving to Denmark she began working with Amnesty International in 1994.

Widad Akrawi

7. Alfred Maurice de Zayas:

Alfred de Zayas is an American lawyer, writer and historian. He’s been working in the field of human rights and international law for many years. He’s a retired UN official and was appointed as the United Nations Independent Expert on the Promotion of a Democratic and Equitable International Order by the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2012.

Alfred Maurice de Zayas


6. Mel Duncan:


Mel Duncan is an American peace activist who helped form the Nonviolent Peaceforce (NP), which is a civilian peacekeeping organization based in Brussels. NP is based on Gandhi’s concept of Shanti Sena and uses trained, unarmed civilian peacekeepers to create space for nonviolent conflict resolution. NP has conducted civilian peacekeeping operations in Sri Lanka, Philippines, Sudan and Guatemala. He was nominated one of the “50 visionaries who are changing your world” by Utne Reader, an American political magazine.

Mel Duncan


5. Malala Yousafzai:

Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani education activist who was shot in the head in an assassination attempt by the Taliban in 2012, is the clear public favorite to win the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013. Her courage in protesting against the Taliban, before and after being shot, and her commitment towards peace definitely make her a good candidate to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Malala Yousafzai


4. Daniel Ellsberg:

Daniel Ellsberg is a former United States military analyst who released confidential Pentagon papers in 1971 to The New York Times which discussed the U.S. government’s decision making in relation to the Vietnam War. Since then he’s been an active political and anti war activist. He’s won the Gandhi Peace Award in 1978 and the Right Livelihood Award (also known as the Alternative Nobel Prize) in 2006.

Daniel Ellsberg


3. Kathy Kelly:

Kathy Kelly is an American peace activist. She’s a pacifist and an author and the founding member of Voices in the Wilderness. Currently she is the co-coordinator of Voices for Creative Nonviolence. She’s protested against both Iraq wars and has been arrested more than 60 times for her protests. She was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 but didn’t win. She could win one in the future.

Kathy Kelly


2. Mordechai Vanunu:

Mordechai Vanunu also know as John Crossman, is a former Israeli nuclear technician who revealed the details of Israel’s secret nuclear weapons program to British media in 1986. He did this to show his opposition to weapons of mass destruction. He was kidnapped and brought back to Israel where he was tried and sentenced to 18 years in prison. He’s spent 11 years in solitary confinement and even after his release he’s been detained many times for parole violation. He’s not allowed to take to any foreigners or use a cell phone or leave Israel. He’s been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, every year since 1987. He also won the Right Livelihood Award in 1987.

Mordechai Vanunu


1. Gene Sharp:


Gene Sharp is an American political activist and writer. He’s the founder of The Albert Einstein Institution which is dedicated to the study of nonviolent action. His writings on nonviolent struggle have influenced several anti-government resistance movements around the world. He’s been nominated for the Nobel three times, including this year for the 2013 prize. He won the Right Livelihood Award in 2012.

Gene Sharp

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