Rigoberta Menchu, winner of the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize
Credit: © Micheline Pelletier Decaux, Getty Images

People in the United States observe National Hispanic Heritage Month each year from September 15 to October 15. During this period, Latin American countries celebrate their independence. These countries include Cuba, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico, and Nicaragua.

Rigoberta Menchu, a Guatemalan K’iche’ (previously spelled Quiche) Indigenous woman, won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work to gain respect for the rights of Guatemala’s Native American peoples. The Ki’che’ are descendants of the Mayan Indigenous people.

Menchu was born on Jan. 9, 1959, into a poor family in Chimel, northeast of Santa Cruz del Quiche. She became an agricultural laborer as a small child. In 1977, her father, Vicente Menchu, helped organize the Peasant Unity Committee, a group seeking rights for agricultural workers and land for peasants.

Rigoberta Menchú is a Guatemalan human rights activist. Menchú won the 1992 Nobel Peace Prize for her work in support of American Indians’ rights in Guatemala.
Credit: © Robert Pitts, Landov

Since about 1960, Guatemala’s government had been fighting a civil war with leftist groups. It objected to the Menchu family‘s political activities. By 1981, Menchu’s parents and one of her brothers had been killed by the Guatemalan army. That year, Menchu fled Guatemala.

Her autobiography, I, Rigoberta Menchu: An Indian Woman in Guatemala, was published in 1983. The book called attention to injustices suffered by Indians in Guatemala and to the human rights abuses of the Guatemalan military. A study published in 1998 charged that certain parts of Menchu’s book were inaccurate. Menchu responded that she had mixed other Native Americans’ experiences into her book, and that it represented the story of the Guatemalan people rather than of one individual.

In 2004, Guatemalan President Oscar Berger offered Menchu a position in Guatemala’s national government. She agreed to help oversee the implementation of the 1996 peace accords that ended the civil war. In September 2007, she ran for the presidency of Guatemala but was not elected.

October 12, 2016

Last Friday, the Norwegian Nobel Committee announced that it had chosen Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos as the recipient of the 2016 Nobel Peace Prize. The committee cited Santos’s “resolute efforts to bring the country’s more than 50-year-long civil war to an end, a war that has cost the lives of at least 220,000 Colombians and displaced close to six million people.” Since 1964, Colombia’s government had been engaged in a conflict with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC), a left-wing guerrilla group with Communist ideals. Santos initiated negotiations between the government and the FARC that yielded a historic peace agreement. However, Colombians narrowly rejected the agreement in a plebiscite (public vote) held on Oct. 2, 2016.

Nobel Prize medal (Credit: Nobel Foundation)

Santos’s government began peace talks with the FARC in 2012 in Havana, Cuba, and negotiations had continued off-and-on ever since. The latest round of talks focused on six main topics: agrarian reform; political participation by the FARC; drug trafficking, which financed the group; justice for civil war victims; disarmament, demobilization, and social reintegration of FARC guerrillas; and implementation of the agreement.

In August 2016, Santos and Rodrigo Londoño, lead negotiator for the FARC, announced they had reached a final peace agreement, which they signed in late September. The agreement was subject to public approval, and a celebratory mood and polls leading up to the plebiscite suggested Colombians were hungry for peace and would accept the deal. Santos had emphasized the deal’s importance by stating that there was no “Plan B” if it failed. The nation was left reeling and international observers were shocked after a slim majority of 50.2 percent rejected the deal. Opponents of the deal, led by former President Álvaro Uribe (a long-time hardliner opposed to any negotiations with the FARC), viewed the terms of peace as too lenient. For example, guerrillas who confessed to their crimes would not go to prison but would instead perform such acts of reparation as clearing land mines. The deal also would guarantee the FARC 10 seats in Colombia’s Congress from 2018 to 2026.

Following the vote, both Santos and Londoño expressed intentions to continue working toward peace. Santos also sought to create a dialogue with Uribe and the deal’s opponents. A cease-fire between the FARC and the government remained in place. After awarding the Peace Prize to Santos, the Nobel Committee expressed its wish “to encourage all those who are striving to achieve peace, reconciliation and justice in Colombia.” The committee also stated the belief that “much of the groundwork has been laid for…disarmament of the FARC guerrillas and a historic process of national fraternity and reconciliation.” Santos dedicated the Nobel Prize to all Colombians who have suffered from the civil war, and he donated the monetary prize of 8 million Swedish kronor (about $925,000) to the war’s many victims.

October 10, 2014

Malala Yousafzai, a teenaged Pakistani activist who survived an assassination attempt by militant Sunni Islamists, is one of two advocates for the rights of children named as winners of the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize. Also honored was Kailash Satyarthi of India, founder of Bachpan Bachao Andolan (Save the Children Mission), which works to end child labor and child trafficking (the selling and buying of children for financial gain). In announcing this year’s Peace Prize winners, the Nobel Committee praised the two activists “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.”

Malala Yousafzai, 17, is the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize. (Claude Truong-Ngoc/Wikimedia Commons)

At 17, Yousafzai is the youngest winner of the Peace Prize. She became an international advocate for the education of girls and women while recovering from a nearly fatal gunshot wound to the head in 2012. Yousafzai became a target of the Taliban, a miltant political group, in 2009, after she began writing a blog (web log) for the Urdu-language website of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). In the blog, she reported on the repressive activity of the Taliban in the Swat district, an area of northwestern Pakistan, which had come under the control of the group. The Taliban had banned girls in Swat from attending school and forced many schools to close. In mid-2009, the Pakistani military launched a campaign that drove the Taliban from power in Swat. After that, some schools reopened. However, the Taliban remained active in the region. On October 9, 2012, two Taliban gunmen boarded Yousafzai’s school bus and opened fire on her. Two other schoolgirls were also wounded in the attack. Yousafzai was flown to the United Kingdom for medical treatment and has remained in that country. Despite the international outcry against the Taliban’s attack on Yousafzai, the group vowed to continue their attempts on her life.

Kailash Satyarthi, 60, won praise from the Nobel Committe for “showing great personal courage” in heading “various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain.” In an interview with Nobel officials, Satyarthi said, “First of all, everyone must acknowledge and feel that child slavery still exists in the world, in its ugliest face and form. And this is an evil … which is unacceptable and which must go. That sense of recognition must be developed first of all. And secondly there is a need … of higher amount of corporate engagement, and the engagement of the public towards it. So, everybody has a responsibility to save and protect the children on this planet.” To call more attention to the problem of child labor, Satyarthi’s organization is planning the first annual End Child Slavery Week, which will be held from November 19 to November 25. According to the Nobel Committee, there are an estimated 168 million child laborers in the world today.

Additional World Book articles:

• Nobel Peace Prizes (table)
• Schooling
• Women’s movement

October 11, 2013

The 2013 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded today to the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) “for its extensive efforts” to rid the world of such arsenals. “The conventions and the work of the OPCW have defined the use of chemical weapons as a taboo under international law,” declared Norwegian Nobel Committee chairman Thorbjoern Jagland in the announcement. “Recent events in Syria, where chemical weapons have again been put to use, have underlined the need to enhance the efforts to do away with such weapons.”

The OPCW, based in The Hague, Netherlands, was established to enforce the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention, which has contributed to the destruction of nearly 80 percent of the world’s stockpile of chemical weapons. OPCW inspectors are currently overseeing the dismantling of Syria’s chemical weapons–the first time OPCW inspectors have worked in an active war zone.

A United Nations inspector examines dismantled equipment used during the 1980's and 1990's in Iraq's chemical weapons program. (Reuters/Getty Images)

In late September, Syria began reporting details of its chemical weapons stockpile as part of a U.S.-Russia brokered deal. The deal–a framework for a plan to secure and destroy Syria’s chemical weapons by mid-2014–was brokered on September 14 by U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov. It specified that Syria was to submit a “comprehensive listing, including names, types, and quantities of its chemical weapons agents. . . .  .”  Among other provisions, Syria must also give United Nations inspectors, scheduled to be on the ground by November, “immediate and unfettered” access to all chemical weapons storage, production, research, and development sites.

The deal put on hold the threat of a U.S. military strike against Syria for allegedly using chemical agents in an attack on August 21. The attack left more than 1,400 Syrians dead, including hundreds of children. In a nationally televised address, President Barack Obama argued that the United States had a moral obligation to consider a military strike against Syria for the alleged chemical attack. “Our ideals and principles, as well as our national security, are at stake in Syria,” the president declared.

Additional World Book articles:

• Arab Spring
• The Middle East: From Fall to Spring (a special report)
• Syria: The Roots of Rebellion (a special report)
• Syria 2011 (a Back in Time article)
• Syria 2012 (a Back in Time article)

October 12, 2012

The European Union (EU), an economic and political partnership between 27 European countries, won the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize. In a decision that aroused some criticism, the Nobel Committee praised what it said was the EU’s “most important result: the successful struggle for peace and reconciliation and for democracy and human rights.” The committee noted that “The EU is currently undergoing grave economic difficulties and considerable social unrest.” But, the award announcement said, “The stabilizing part played by the EU has helped to transform most of Europe from a continent of war to a continent of peace.” The EU also won praise for its efforts to maintain economic and political stability in former Communist countries in eastern Europe after the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1989.

A conservative British politician and party leader in the European Parliament was quoted by Reuters news agency as calling the decision “out of touch.” “The Nobel committee is a little late for an April fool’s joke,” he said. A Russian human rights activist called the decision “laughable.”

The European Union (EU), which promotes economic and political cooperation among its members, consists of 27 members: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. (World Book map)

The EU was formally created in the early 1990′s. Greater cooperation between the Eurpean states began after World War II (1939-1945) with trade agreements. Over time, expanded cooperation on economic issues led to the creation of the European Community (EC). In 1993, the EC members extended their cooperation into the areas of law enforcement and military and foreign policy. In 1999, 11 EU nations adopted a common currency, the euro. The euro is currently used by 17 of the 27 European Union member nations.

Additional World Book articles:

• Monnet, Jean
• Schuman, Robert
• Europe (1950) (a Back in Time article)
• Europe (1953) (a Back in Time article)
• European Union: The Euro (a Special Report)
• Crisis in the Eurozone (a Special Report)

June 13, 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi left Myanmar today for a 16-day European trip that will include her acceptance of the Nobel Peace Prize that she was awarded in 1991. At the time, Myanmar’s military junta refused to allow her to leave the country to accept the award.

After a violent military coup in Myanmar in 1988, Suu Kyi rose to prominence as the leader of the opposition and co-founder of the National League for Democracy (NLD). In 1990, the NLD won 392 of 492 seats in parliamentary elections. However, the military refused to relinquish power and arrested many of the party’s leaders. Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest and spent much of the next 20 years confined to her home in Yangon. After the government relaxed some of the country’s political and economic restrictions in 2011,  Aung San Suu Kyi in 2012 was elected to Myanmar’s parliament.

Aung San Suu Kyi  (© Candace Scharsu, Archive Photos)

While in Europe, Suu Kyi will address the International Labor Organization, a United Nations agency, at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland; speak before both houses of the British Parliament in London; and be the guest of honor at a concert in Dublin, Ireland.

The trip will conclude in Paris, where she will be the guest of French President Francois Hollande. She is to be honored by France for her “fight for democracy and the rights of man and to reaffirm France’s will to support the political transition in Myanmar.”

Additional World Book articles:

• Myanmar 1988 (a Back in Time article)
• Myanmar 1990 (a Back in Time article)
• Myanmar 1991 (a Back in Time article)
• Myanmar 2000 (a Back in Time article)
• Myanmar 2011 (a Back in Time article)

April 2, 2012

Aung San Suu Kyi‘s National League for Democracy (NLD) took at least 40 of the 45 seats being contested in parliamentary elections in Myanmar (also known as Burma) on April 1. Apart from winning her own seat, Suu Kyi appears to have helped a number of her colleagues to victory. The democracy advocate has for two decades led the opposition to the military dictatorship that has controlled the country since 1962. The NLD, one of 17 opposition parties that took part, was competing in its first elections since 1990, after boycotting the 2010 polls, which it claimed were unfair.  A transitional civilian government took power in Myanmar in 2011 after years of oppressive military rule.

Speaking outside NLD headquarters in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, Aung San Suu Kyi noted, “It is not so much our triumph as a triumph of the people who have decided that they have to be involved in the political process in this country. We hope this is the beginning of a new era.”

Aung San Suu Kyi won a seat in a new parliament in Myanmar, which suffered years of oppressive military rule. (© Candace Scharsu, Archive Photos)

The military junta in Myanmar kept Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest for years after her party won polls in 1990 but was not allowed to take power. Suu Kyi was awarded the 1991 Nobel Peace Prize for her nonviolent efforts to bring democracy to Myanmar.

Additional World Book articles:

• Myanmar 1990 (Back in Time article)
• Myanmar 1991 (Back in Time article)
• Myanmar 2010 (Back in Time article)
• Myanmar 2011 (Back in Time article)

The Nobel Peace Prize  for 2011 has been awarded jointly to three women: Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf; Liberian peace activist Leymah Gbowee; and Yemeni pro-democracy activist Tawakyl Karman. The Peace Prize is given for “the most effective work in the interest of international peace.” The Nobel committee honored the three women’s individual work toward “the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work.”

Johnson Sirleaf is Africa’s first freely elected female leader. She was honored for her efforts to bring peace, stability, and development to Liberia. Her 2005 election followed 14 years of civil war. The fighting left hundreds of thousands of people dead and financially destroyed the nation. Johnson Sirleaf persuaded other nations to cancel billions of dollars that Liberia owed them, She also pledged to battle corruption. She remains a somewhat controversial figure in Liberia, however, and faces strong opposition in this year’s elections.

Liberian activist Leymah Gbowee was awarded the prize for her efforts in uniting the nation’s Christian and Muslim women to work together politically. As the head of the Women for Peace movement, Gbowee encouraged women’s participation in elections. She is also known for leading a 2003 march protesting violence against women by soldiers, a major problem in Africa. Gbowee called the prize “a victory for women’s rights everywhere in the world.”

Tawakyl Karman is the leader of the human rights advocacy group Women Journalists Without Chains. Karman, the first Arab woman to win the prize, has been jailed several times because of her opposition to the regime of President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Her organizing efforts contributed to the widespread protests against Saleh that began in January of 2011. Fellow protesters have referred to her as “The Mother of Revolution.”

This year’s award brings to 15 the total number of women who have been award the Nobel Peace Prize. The last woman to be awarded the prize was Kenyan environmentalist Wangari Muta Maathai, in 2004. Maathai, who died in September 2011, was the first African woman to win.

Additional World Book articles:

• Women’s movement
• Jane Addams
• Mother Teresa
• Aung San Suu Kyi