Uganda Climate Activist Vanessa Nakate Among 305 Nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

Vanessa Nakate, a Ugandan climate justice activist, is believed to be among 305 people nominated for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.

AFP reported that a total of 305 nominations were submitted for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Institute said on Wednesday, remaining tight-lipped about the names on the list.

In line with Nobel statutes, the identity of the candidates is kept confidential for 50 years.

The nominations — fewer than the record 376 registered in 2016 — comprise 212 individuals and 93 organisations, the Oslo-based institute said on its website.

According to AFP, those believed to be on the list this year are climate activists Greta Thunberg of Sweden and Vanessa Nakate of Uganda, Iranian women’s activist Masih Alinejad and her anti-hijab movement My Stealthy Freedom, as well as the Salvation Army.

SoftPower News cross-checked with Wikipedia’s potential 2023 candidates and nominations confirmed by various News Agencies.

According to the list, Nakate was nominated “for their collaborative work against climate change and for climate action”.

Inspired by Greta Thunberg to start her own climate movement in Uganda, Nakate began a solitary strike against inaction on the climate crisis in January 2019. For several months she was the lone protester outside of the gates of the Parliament of Uganda.

Eventually, other youth began to respond to her calls on social media for others to help draw attention to the plight of the Congolian rainforests. Nakate founded the Youth for Future Africa and the likewise Africa-based Rise Up Movement.

Other nominees:

Like last year, most of the names publicly disclosed so far are involved in the nearly year-long conflict that has been raging in Ukraine, or opponents of Russian President Vladimir Putin.

They include Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan, NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg and a Ukrainian group working to establish an international war crimes tribunal.

Others known to have been nominated are jailed Putin opponents — anti-corruption activist Alexei Navalny, who was the victim of a poisoning attack, journalist and political activist Vladimir Kara-Murza and the pro-democracy youth movement Vesna.

Chinese and Hong Kong pro-democracy activists are believed to have been nominated (Chow Hang-tung, Peng Lifa, the group Uyghur Tribunal), as well as Myanmar’s ambassador to the UN Kyaw Moe Tun — sacked by the junta but still in his position — and the anti-junta coalition NUCC, and Maggie Gobran, who helps the poor in Cairo’s slums.

Nominations confirmed by the various News Agencies

Nominee	Country/ Headquarters	Motivations	Nominator(s)	Source
Individuals
Masih Alinejad (b. 1976)	Iran  United States	“for her ongoing efforts to fight for freedom of expression, democracy and women’s rights in Iran”	Abid Raja (b. 1975)	[2]
Julian Assange (b. 1971)	Australia	“for his dauntless fight for transparency and accountability, exposing governments’ illegal actions and deceptions in the pursuit for peace”	Marcello Ferrada de Noli (b. 1943)	[3]
Muhammadu Buhari[a] (b. 1942)	Nigeria	“for their efforts in peace, security, and human rights, and for averting civil war on the African continent”	Centre for Social Justice, Equity And Transparency (CESJET)[4]	[5][6]
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan (b. 1954)	Turkey	“for his role and efforts before and during Russo-Ukrainian War“	Sadiq Sanjrani (b. 1978)	[7][8]
Maggie Gobran (b. 1949)	Egypt	“for her locally rooted aid work that builds human dignity, peace and reconciliation in a crucial time for the entire Middle East region”	Dag Inge Ulstein (b. 1980)	[9]
Vladimir Kara-Murza (b. 1981)	Russia	“for having criticized the war in Ukraine, uncovering Russian corruption and authoritarian oppression”	Ingjerd Schou (b. 1955)	[10][11]
Narges Mohammadi (b. 1972)	Iran	“in representation to hundreds of thousands of brave Iranians, women and men, who are willing to risk everything to bring peace and freedom back in Iran”	Rasmus Hansson (b. 1954)	[12]
Vanessa Nakate (b. 1996)	Uganda	“for their collaborative work against climate change and for climate action”	Lan Marie Berg (b. 1987)	[13][14]
Greta Thunberg (b. 2003)	Sweden
Alexei Navalny (b. 1976)	Russia	“for his courageous opposition to the authoritarian regime in Russia despite imprisonment”	Hårek Elvenes (b. 1959)	[15]
Ryan Saadi[b] (b. 1964)	Bangladesh	“[with Tevogen Bio] for their works towards alleviating health inequality”	Curtis Patton (b. 1935)	[16][17]
Jens Stoltenberg (b. 1959)	Norway	“for his outstanding work as NATO‘s secretary general in a demanding time for the alliance”	Christian Tybring-Gjedde (b. 1963)	[18][19]
Kyaw Moe Tun (b. 1969)	Myanmar	“[with NUCC] in recognition for the civil and democratic forces of resistance and opposition in Myanmar”	Ingrid Fiskaa (b. 1977)	[20]
Joshua Wong[c] (b. 1996)	Hong Kong	“in honor of all those in Hong Kong whose bravery and determination in the face of repression for peaceful expression of political opinion”	Marco Rubio (b. 1971) et al.[d] Geremie Barmé (b. 1954) et al.[e]	[21][23][22]
Joseph Zen, S.D.B.[c] (b. 1932)
Organizations
Bloody Sunday families	United Kingdom	“for their commitment to peace and reconciliation during their long fight for truth and justice”	Colum Eastwood (b. 1983)	[24][25]
Florida Rights Restoration Coalition (FRRC) (founded in 2019)	United States	“for their work in building democracies, supporting the human right to representation by government, and working towards a better organized and peaceful world.”	American Friends Service Committee Quaker Peace and Social Witness	[26]
National Council of Churches of Kenya (NCCK) (founded in 1913)	Kenya
European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) (established in 1959)	France	“for their important function in defending democratic principles and controlling the exercise of government in the process of peace and reconciliation between nations”	Even Eriksen (b. 1995)	[27]
International Criminal Court (ICC) (founded in 1998)	Netherlands
International Association of Collaborative Professionals (IACP) (founded in 1999)	United States	“for their efforts in transforming the way families resolve conflict around the world by offering an alternative to litigation, a conflict resolution model called Collaborative Practice, or Collaborative Divorce”		[28][29]
National Unity Consultative Council (NUCC) (founded in 2021)	Myanmar	“[with Tun] in recognition for the civil and democratic forces of resistance and opposition in Myanmar”	Ingrid Fiskaa (b. 1977)	[20]
Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) (founded in 2006)	Netherlands	“for their work against corruption and organized crime by exposing shadow economies and fight misinformation through investigative journalism”	Wolfgang Wagner (b. 1970)	[30]
The Salvation Army (founded in 1865)	United Kingdom	“for their efforts in rendering emergency aid quickly and promoting long-term measures to build society”	Olaug Bollestad (b. 1961)	[31][32]
Vesna (founded in 2013)	Russia	“for standing up against war of aggression contrary to international law by defying Putin’s regime of repression and censorship”	Bjørnar Moxnes (b. 1981)	[33]

Additional Reporting by AFP