Nobel Peace Prize

The Founder of the Prizes

·         In the 1890’s, Swedish Alfred Nobel donated his large fortune to the Nobel Peace Prize.

·         He dedicated the award to “the person who shall have done the mot or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding promotion of peace congresses.

An example:

·         The United Nations and its Secretary- General Kofi Annan were chosen:

“...for their work for a better organized and more peaceful world...”

The First Peace Prize

·         Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross, shared the first Nobel Peace Prize in 1901 with Frédéric Passy, a leading international pacifist of the time.

·         In addition to humanitarian efforts and peace movements, the Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded for work in a wide range of fields including advocacy of human rights, mediation of international conflicts, and arms control.

Number of Prizes

·         The Nobel Peace Prize has been awarded to 120 Laureates- 97 times to individuals and 23 times to organisations.

The gender allocation

·         Of the 97 individuals awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, only 12 are women.

Organisations can also win the award

2 examples are:

·         The Red Cross

·         Amnesty International

More information can be found at: http://nobelpeaceprize.org 

Australia's Refugee Dilemma

Imagine that your mother or father arrives home from work one day and tells you that the police are about to arrive to arrest the whole family, because of your family’s religious beliefs.  You are told to pack a small backpack and be ready in 2 minutes. A family friend drives you overland to Darwin where you climb aboard a yacht. Your parents hand over thousands of dollars in cash. Six weeks later the yacht leaves you on a Japanese beach.  Police arrive and take you to a detention centre which is prison and home to refugees like yourself from various parts of the world, all speaking different languages. Only a few other people speak English.  The guards, canteen staff, doctor etc. all speak Japanese.  Your parents tell you that they are applying for refugee status in Japan, which means you will be allowed to live in the country, go to school there and eventually get a job. 

1.      What would you pack in your backpack?

·         A water bottle

·         A blanket

·         My bible

·         Photos

2.      What would you miss most if you had to leave your home, your school, Australia?

I would miss all my friends that I had in Australia, all the activities that I participated in and the church I went to. I would miss the feeling of home and freedom.

3.      What would be some of the problems of living in a detention centre in a foreign country?

You wouldn’t be able to communicate with other people because they speak a different language. Everything would be unfamiliar to you and you wouldn’t be able to do the things that you wanted to. You would be stuck and you would have no freedom. You would be constantly forced to do things, living by rules and customs, and your life would turn into a pointless routine.

4.      What would be the biggest challenges for you if you and your family were accepted as refugees?
To keep together and not forget all the things God has given us even in the hardest times. To keep on going even when we feel we could not take anymore because we still have each other and our lives. To accept what has occurred and not forget our old lives but overcome our losses and embrace the future.

5.      Why is this ‘imagine’ story a very unlikely one?

We live in Australia, and here we have freedom of speech and freedom of faith. We are able to live in any way we want and are not persecuted because of our beliefs. Everybody is treated equally.

The United Nations Declaration of Human Rights

Article 1

Everyone is born with freedom, dignity, rights and their own will to do what they want.

Article 4

Everybody has the right to freedom rather than slavery and is able to be released from it.

Article 13

Everybody has the right to move from country to country as well as leaving and returning from their own country.

Article 15

Everyone has the right to their own nationality and the freedom to change it.

Article 17

Everyone has the right to their own property or one shared with others.

Article 18

Everyone has the right to their own beliefs and religion and change it if they please as well as freely expressing it.

Article 19

Everyone has the right to express their own ideas and opinions and explore the ideas in the media.

Article 20

Everyone has the right to join an association or club without being forced to.

Article 23

Everyone has the right to choose their work, have protection against unemployment, have equal pay and work in good conditions.

Article 24

Everyone has the right to rest, leisure, holidays and limited working hours.

Climate Change

What was the issue about?

Climate change is the term for a change in the world’s climate. It is how the earth is heating up and causing the ice to melt and water levels to rise.

What is causing the issue?

Climate change is caused by many different things. Production of greenhouse gases has a large impact on climate change because they increase air and ocean temperature. This is called global warming. The ocean can absorb greenhouse gases, but because there is so much of it, it makes the ocean acidic. Humans generate greenhouse gases through the burning of fossil fuels and using the resultant energy, clearing land and logging, food breakdown and sewerage and some industrial processes. Climate change is also caused by volcanic and meteorite activity as well as the movement of the continents on their tectonic plates.

Who is affected?

Everyone around the world is affected by climate change, but especially people in 3^rd world countries.

What can be done?

·         Cut down on fossil fuels

·         Consider using solar, wind or hydro power

·         Turn off lights and appliances when they are not needed

·         Plant trees in appropriate areas

·         Stop logging

·         Recycle