The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN), António Guterres, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) are among the favorites for the Nobel Peace Prize, according to the Reuters agency. The winner will be announced on October 11th.
If the Norwegian committee decides to award the former Portuguese prime minister, the decision could be due to the jury’s desire to reinforce the international order built after the Second World War, with the UN as its central institution. “Guterres is the ultimate symbol of the UN”, explained Asle Sveen, historian of the Nobel Peace Prize.
With reasons similar to Guterres’ favoritism comes the ICJ, whose “most important duty is to ensure that international humanitarian law is applied globally”. This year the court took important decisions regarding the two conflicts that have marked the international panorama: the war in Ukraine and the conflict in the Middle East. The Court condemned the Russian invasion of Ukrainelike this ordered Israel to suspend the attack on Rafahh, in southern Gaza, due to the risk of committing genocide.
Also “UNRWA could be one of those candidates. They are doing extremely important work for Palestinian civilians suffering from the war in Gaza,” said Henrik Urdal, director of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo.
Awarding the prize to this institution would be controversial, considering the Israeli allegations that some UNRWA officials participated in the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7, 2023. Many countries have suspended donations following these accusations.
Bookmakers have Alexei Navalny, leader of the Russian opposition who died in February this yearhowever it is not possible to receive the award posthumously. Another favorite is Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
