Zelensky was nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize

President Vladimir Zelensky has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2024. He is one of the favorites among 286 candidates. Reuters reported this on Thursday, October 3.

Also among the favorites are the UN Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA), the International Court of Justice and the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres. Pope Francis has also been nominated for the award.

However, the Norwegian Nobel Committee has the ability to make a surprise and not award the prize to anyone at all at the October 11 ceremony.

Meanwhile, bookmakers consider Russian politician Alexei Navalny, who died in a prison colony in February, as the favourite. But he cannot receive the prize after death, so it is impossible.

Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky is also a favorite among bookmakers. However, as Reuters writes, his chances of winning are not great, because he is the head of a country at war.

“Instead, in 2024 marked by war between Israel and Hamas, conflict in Ukraine now in its third year, and bloodshed in Sudan that has displaced more than 10 million people, the committee may want to focus on humanitarian organizations that help to alleviate the suffering of the civilian population,” the material said.

UNRWA could be one such candidate. Henrik Urdahl, director of the Oslo Peace Research Institute, said the organization was doing “very important work for Palestinian civilians who are suffering in the war in Gaza.”

He said that awarding UNRWA would be controversial because of Israeli accusations that some of the organization’s employees participated in the Hamas attack in the south of the country on October 7, 2023.

The five-member award committee, appointed by the Norwegian Parliament, may also want to focus on the need to strengthen the international order after World War II and its crowning glory, the United Nations.

According to Nobel Peace Prize historian Asle Sveen, this could mean awarding the prize to UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, with or without the highest court, the International Court of Justice.

But the committee may decide that no one will receive the Nobel Peace Prize. This has happened 19 times, the last incident was in 1972.

Let’s remember that Israel recently declared UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres persona non grata. The country’s Foreign Ministry said it failed to condemn the massacre and sexual atrocities committed by Hamas killers on October 7, 2023, and did not lead any efforts to denounce them as a terrorist organization.