PH
The jury cited the group on Friday for “its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011”.
“It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war,” the committee said in its citation.
The prize is a huge victory for small Tunisia, whose young and still shaky democracy suffered two extremist attacks this year that killed 60 people and devastated the tourism industry.
The National Dialogue Quartet is made up of four key organisations in Tunisian civil society: the Tunisian General Labour Union; the Tunisian Confederation of Industry, Trade and Handicrafts; the Tunisian Human Rights League; and the Tunisian Order of Lawyers.
“The Nobel Peace Prize for 2015 is awarded to this Quartet, not to the four individual organisations as such,” the committee said.
There were 273 candidates nominated for the 2015 peace prize, five fewer than in 2014.
Speculation rose that the prize would highlight Europe’s migration crisis, peace talks in Colombia or a US-Iran nuclear deal.
Pope Francis was among the nominees for this year’s award though the committee has been reluctant in the past to consider popes, none has been honored since the first Nobel Prizes in 1901.
