Can a Nobel Peace Prize be revoked, refused or given away?

By Audrey Courty, ABC News Photo: The White House The Nobel Peace Prize may celebrate peace but its story is often shaped by conflict and the changing politics of the world. From a Vietnamese diplomat who refused the prize to the satirical nomination of Adolf Hitler, the world's most famous award for peace has a long and controversial history. Most recently Venezuelan Opposition leader María Corina Machado presented her Nobel Peace Prize medal to US President Donald Trump, raising questions about whether a prize can be shared, transferred or given away. Trump said on his Truth Social media platform it was "such a wonderful gesture of mutual respect". So what exactly is the Nobel Peace Prize, and how much control do winners really have once it's awarded? What is the Nobel Peace Prize? It is often regarded as the most prestigious of all Nobel prizes, which are given to those who have "conferred the greatest benefit to mankind". Each year, the Nobel Prizes recognise individuals and/organisations across six categories: physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, peace and economics. In his will the inventor of dynamite and founder of the Nobel Prizes, Alfred Nobel, specified the peace award should go to: "the person who shall have done the most or best work for fraternity among nations, or the abolition or reduction of standing armies, and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses". Recipients of the Nobel Peace Prize receive an 18-carat gold medal, a diploma and a cheque for 11 million Swedish krona (NZ$2 million). "The Nobel Peace Prize is a bit different [to the other prizes] because good deeds, being a good person, doing the right thing, is what we are looking for," Norwegian Nobel Committee member Asle Toje explained in 2022. "We're not looking for pound-by-pound intelligence." Photo: AFP Is it possible to revoke or share a Nobel Peace Prize? No, on both counts. "Once a Nobel Prize is announced, it cannot be revoked, shared, or transferred to others," the Norweigian Nobel Institute said in a statement last week. "The decision is final and stands for all time." According to the institute's director Olav Njølstad, neither Alfred Nobel's will nor the Statutes of the Nobel Foundation mention any such possibility. He also said in a past statement that none of the prize awarding committees in Stockholm and Oslo had ever considered withdrawing an award once it had been granted. He said that was because the statutes were explicit: "No appeals may be made against the decision of a prize-awarding body with regard to the award of a prize." While a Nobel Prize itself cannot be revoked, a nomination can be withdrawn - and one of the most infamous examples dates back to 1939. Photo: AFP That year Swedish Parliamentarian Erik Brandt nominated German dictator Adolf Hitler for the Nobel Peace Prize. The nomination sparked outrage and a wave of protests in Sweden. "Erik Brandt was claimed to be insane, clumsy and a traitor to the values of the working class," according to the Nobel Prize website. "All his lectures in different associations and clubs were cancelled." Brandt later explained the nomination was intended as satire - an ironic gesture meant to criticise the political climate of the time - and he withdrew it himself. In a letter to an anti-Nazi newspaper after the outbreak of World War II Brandt reportedly wrote that he wanted to: "by the use of irony suggest a Peace Prize to Hitler and by that nail him to the wall of shame as enemy number one of peace in the world". Photo: THOMAS PETER / AFP Can someone refuse a Nobel Peace Prize? Yes, but refusing it does not undo the decision. Only one Nobel Peace laureate has ever rejected the award outright, Vietnamese diplomat Lê Đức Thọ. In 1973, he was jointly awarded the prize with then-US Secretary of State Henry Kissinger for negotiating a ceasefire to end the Vietnam War. According to the Nobel Prize website, Tho declined the prize, arguing that the ceasefire had been violated and the war was still ongoing. Kissinger accepted the award but did not attend the ceremony - and later unsuccessfully attempted to return it. Only one other person has voluntarily refused a Nobel Prize in any category: French writer Jean-Paul Sartre. He declined the 1964 Nobel Prize for Literature saying he did not want to be "institutionalised", consistent with his rejection of all official honours. There have also been cases where winners have been prevented from accepting their prizes. After German pacifist Carl von Ossietzky was awarded the 1935 Nobel Peace Prize, Adolf Hitler banned all Germans from accepting Nobel Prizes. Ossietzky, who was seriously ill, was denied permission to travel to Norway to receive the award. Several other German scientists - Richard Kuhn, Adolf Butenandt and Gerhard Domagk - were also forced to refuse Nobel Prizes in chemistry and medicine under the Nazi regime. Photo: DREW ANGERER / AFP Has...

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