Nobel Peace Prize 2005 was on Saturday presented jointly to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and its director Mohammed ElBaradei (photo), during a ceremony at the Oslo City Hall. (Updated with excerpts from speeches by ElBaradei and Nobel Committee Chairman)
Present at the ceremony were King Harald, Queen Sonja and Crown Prince Haakon, as well as several members of the Government and the Norwegian Parliament (Storting), foreign diplomats and other invited guests.
IAEA og Mohammad ElBaradei share the prize for the work against the further proliferation of nuclear weapons.
The organization has lately been in the news for its attempts at solving the conflict with North Korea and Iran in a peaceful manner.
IAEA has 138 member nations, and its main task is to ensure a secure and peaceful use of nuclear energy and to prevent further spreading of nuclear weapons, In addition it also assists less developed nations in using nuclear technology in agriculture and health programs.
IAEA's headquarters is located in Vienna, and Norway is a member of the 35 member board.
IAEA's Director General Mohammad ElBaradei (63) was born in Egypt. He has held several leading positions at IAEA since 1984, and was appointed Director General in 1997. He has a degree in International Law from the University of New York.
Prior to the ceremony at the City Hall, Mohammed ElBaradai was received in audience at the Royal Palace by King Harald.
On Saturday evening there was a Nobel Banquet at the Grand Hotel.
Presenting the Nobel Peace Prize diploma and medal, the Chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Ole Danbolt Mjoes said among other things:
- The award to the IAEA and to ElBaradei is firmly founded in the history of the Peace Prize, and in Alfred Nobel’s will, in which he mentions the “abolition or reduction of standing armies” as one of the three criteria for the award. Nobel would surely have agreed that in our day the struggle against nuclear arms must be even more urgent than opposition to “standing armies”.
- The atom bombs fell on Hiroshima and Nagasaki 60 years ago. Since then, the world has been united in the wish that nothing like that must ever happen again. Such weapons are so dreadful that they are meaningless in war.
And Danbolt Mjoes concluded:
- Here is how the Norwegian author Nordahl Grieg put it in his poem “To Youth”:
War is contempt for life.
Peace is creative.
At it with all your might:
See death defeated!
We congratulate you, Mohamed ElBaradei, and we congratulate the IAEA, on being awarded this year’s Nobel Peace Prize. We thank you for what you have done, and hope for further advances in work that is so vital to us all.
The Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2005, Mohamed ElBaradei said among other things in his Nobel Lecture:
- Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness, Honourable Members of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen.
- The International Atomic Energy Agency and I are humbled, proud, delighted and above all strengthened in our resolve by this most worthy of honours.
- I am very proud of the 2300 hard working men and women that make up the IAEA staff — the colleagues with whom I share this honour. Some of them are here with me today. We come from over 90 countries. We bring many different perspectives to our work. Our diversity is our strength.
We are limited in our authority. We have a very modest budget. And we have no armies.
But armed with the strength of our convictions, we will continue to speak truth to power. And we will continue to carry out our mandate with independence and objectivity.
The Nobel Peace Prize is a powerful message for us — to endure in our efforts to work for security and development. A durable peace is not a single achievement, but an environment, a process and a commitment.
ElBaradai concluded:
- Your Majesties, Your Royal Highness, Ladies and Gentlemen.
Imagine what would happen if the nations of the world spent as much on development as on building the machines of war. Imagine a world where every human being would live in freedom and dignity. Imagine a world in which we would shed the same tears when a child dies in Darfur or Vancouver. Imagine a world where we would settle our differences through diplomacy and dialogue and not through bombs or bullets. Imagine if the only nuclear weapons remaining were the relics in our museums. Imagine the legacy we could leave to our children.
Imagine that such a world is within our grasp.
(NRK/The Norwegian Nobel Institute)
Rolleiv Solholm
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