2018 Nobel Peace Prize winners Dennis Mukwege and Nadia Murad. Portraits by A Journey through NYC religions based on photos by Claude Truong-Ngoc and a screen grab from Activista Nadia Murad rep el 37è Premi per la Pau a Barcelona, Wikimedia Commons, cc-by-sa-3.0.

 

The 2018 Nobel Peace Prize has gone to campaigners against the use of rape in warfare, Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad.

Dr Mukwege is a Congolese gynaecologist who, along with his colleagues, has treated tens of thousands of victims at the Panzi Hospital, which is managed by the Pentecostal Churches in Central African. After escaping ISIS, Ms. Murad became an activist for the protection of the Yazidi people and the elimination of human trafficking and the use of rape as a weapon of war.

The Nobel Prize Committee said, “Denis Mukwege is the foremost, most unifying symbol, both nationally and internationally, of the struggle to end sexual violence in war and armed conflicts. His basic principle is that ‘justice is everyone’s business.'” The judges noted that Ms. Murad’s crucial role has been as “the witness who tells of the abuses perpetrated against herself and others.”

By their award, the Nobel Peace Prize raised up the importance of religious faith in fighting and healing victims of sexual abuse. Around the world, some of the most important #MeToo activists are faith-based. Their deep religious commitments provide the moral courage and compassionate zeal to tackle the huge suffering of sexual cruelty.

Joe Carter of The Gospel Coalition writes that “growing up as the son of a Pentecostal minister, Mukwege traveled with his father around Congo to pray for the sick. His exposure to the broken convinced him that God had given him the ability to do more to help the people of his country.

After graduating from medical school at the University of Burundi, he worked at a rural hospital when he encountered women who, because they had no access to obstetric services, developed serious complications after childbirth. This prompted Mukwege to go to France for specialized training in gynecology.

When he returned, he and his colleagues built Panzi Hospital. Over the past 20 years Panzi has treated more than 85,000 girls and women with complex gynecological injuries, the majority of whom are survivors of sexual violence. Mukwege often spends 18-hour days at the hospital performing 10 surgeries a day.”

BBC notes that “Ms Murad did not just lose her mother in the genocide. She endured three months as a sex slave at the hands of IS militants. She was bought and sold several times and subjected to sexual and physical abuse during her captivity.” ISIS believes that the Yazidis practice a heretical form of Islam. However, the name Izidis simply means “worshipers of god,” which is how Yazidis describe themselves. Their beliefs are not simply another version of Islam but a complex mix of Islam, Christianity, and a religious oral tradition. Several of their beliefs derive from Nestorianism, an ancient form of Christianity that was very common at one time and extended all the way to China. The Yazidi religion is monotheistic pointing one God name Yasdan as the creator of the world. 

While religious movements like ISIS can cause great cruelty, secularists often have little appeal to local people and may not be able to provide the popular motivation to support human rights. The Nobel Committee has pointed to the availability of religious resources that are commonly available around the world for the shaping of better futures for women. 

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