An official investigation has been launched against officials for the awarding of the Nobel Prize due to accusations that they deviated from the original criteria for selecting the prize winners when they selected laureates such as President Barack Obama, the Associated Press reported.
The inquiry came about after persistent complaints by a peace prize researcher that its original purpose of reducing the role of military power in international relations had been neglected.
If the Stockholm County Administrative Board determines that Alfred Nobel's will has not been respected, it has the authority to suspend decisions on prize winners for three years - although this is unlikely and has not happened so far, legal expert Mikael Vilman told The Associated Press.
The Nobel Peace Prize went to Obama in 2009, to Chinese dissident Liu Xiaobo in 2010, while last year it was shared by Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, her fellow activist Lejma Gbavi and Yemeni Tawakul Karman.
Russian human rights activist Svetlana Ganyushkina, former Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Tymoshenko and Cuban activists Osvaldo Paja and Ioanni Sanchez are among the candidates for this year's award, having been publicly nominated by proponents. The deadline for 2012 nominations is today.
A reward for peacekeepers?
Frederik Heffermel, a prominent researcher and critic of the selection process, told AP that "Nobel called the prize the prize for the defenders of peace."
Do you consider Obama a promoter of the abolition of the military as one of the tools in international affairs?
"And it is undeniable that he had peace movements in mind, that is, the active development of international law and institutions, a new world order in which nations can safely give up their national weapons," he said, adding that, for example, in 2007, the award was given to activist Al Goro and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and in 2009 the committee honored Obama for his "extraordinary efforts" in strengthening international diplomacy.
"Do you see Obama as a promoter of the abolition of the military as a tool in international affairs?" Heffermel asked.
Sent a letter to the Nobel Foundation
According to Nobel's legacy, the peace prize should be awarded for "the expansion of brotherhood among nations, the reduction or abolition of standing armies, and the holding and promotion of peace congresses."
Gejr Lundestad, the non-voting secretary of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, rejected Heffermel's claims.
"The fight against climate change is definitely closely related to the expansion of brotherhood among nations. It even concerns the survival of some countries," he told AP.
Nevertheless, the competent committee decided to send a letter to the Stockholm-based Nobel Foundation demanding a formal response to the accusations.
"We have no basis to say that the process was not carried out properly, but we want to investigate it," Wiman said.
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