IPB requests Swedish Foundation Authority to stop the payment of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize
Geneva, November 23, 2012
Request for the Swedish Foundation Authority to
1. stop the payment of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize
2. investigate into the unlawful reinterpretation of Nobel’s will
The International Peace Bureau has today requested the Swedish Foundation Authority to stop the payment of the 2012 Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union, and urgently investigate the unlawful reinterpretation of Alfred Nobel’s will and testament that has taken place over the last few years.
The Swedish Foundation Authority (länsstyrelsen) is the authority tasked to control if foundations are following their statutes and rules. In case of the Nobel Foundation, they control if the will of Alfred Nobel is followed by those organs entitled to select prize winners.
“The European Union, announced by the Norwegian Nobel Committee as the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize 2012, clearly is not one of the “champions for peace” Alfred Nobel had in mind and described in his will as “the person who shall have done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses”, IPB Co-Presidents Ingeborg Breines, Norway, and Tomas Magnusson, Sweden, state.
The European Union has said in a statement that they will transfer the prize amount to child victims of war.
“This is an honorable intention, but much better would have been if the prize winner had not been promoting arms trade and supporting military interventions – in which case there would have been much fewer child victims.”, the two presidents say.
“This is also a clear illustration of the difference between an unspecified prize for peace and good will – which is an unlawful reinterpretation of Nobel’s will made by the Norwegian Nobel Committee – and the precise intention of a peaceful disarmed world, which Nobel wanted to support. It is the obligation of the Foundation Authorities to make sure that the intention and wording in the will is followed.”
The International Peace Bureau is itself a Nobel laureate (1910). As such, IPB is an interested party (sakägare) with legal standing and whose origin is from the same time and ideas that convinced Alfred Nobel to establish a prize for champions for peace. The core idea of the prize is still valid today, as proven by the daily reporting from war and hostilities around the world: Gaza, Congo, Afghanistan etc.