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THE DECISION TO award the Nobel Peace Prize to the European Union last year was highly controversial and met with derision and protests in some quarters.
Officially, the ruling committee honoured the bloc for advancing the causes of peace, reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe, despite the current economic woes and challenges to social cohesion.
With the honour comes a cheque for €930,000, which Taoiseach Enda Kenny and the other Heads of State collected at a prize-giving ceremony in Oslo last December.
As the dignitaries enjoyed their luxurious settings in the Oslo peace centre, protesters camped outside in the snow to demonstrate against austerity and lack of action on chronic unemployment.
Where the money was disseminated to was always going to be a contentious issue so the EU had to choose wisely.
So, what has the EU done with the prize money?
This week, the European Commission said it dedicated the sum to children who are denied the chance of growing up in peace.
Before deciding who the prize would be divided among, the EU more than doubled the amount on offer.
In the end, €2 million was given to four projects that are said to have benefited 28,000 children.
In a statement, the Commission said that of the 75 million children worldwide who do not attend school, about half live in conflict areas. At the same time, humanitarian assistance for education is severely underfunded.
The Children of Peace projects selected for funding focus on providing educational support and are implemented with reputable partners in Iraq, Pakistan, Colombia, Ecuador, Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
To support Somali, Sudanese and Eritrean refugees in Ethiopia, about €500 000 has been spent on the construction of safe learning spaces, the rehabilitation of existing classrooms and the distribution of schoolbags, teachers’ kits and recreation sets.
Young Syrian refugees, aged between five and 15, in Iraq have participated in supervised recreational and therapeutic activities as a result of the bloc’s work with ACTED.
The EU believes its work kept more boys and girls in school and saved them from recruitment as child soldiers.
In Pakistan, UNICEF was the collaborator; UNHCR were the point group in Colombia and Ecuador; while Save the Children and the Norwegian Refugee Council were used in Ethiopia and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
The EU has promised to continue the initiatives in the years to come to ensure there is a “lasting political legacy” of the Nobel Peace Prize.
Next year, €4 million will be allocated to cover both existing and new projects to assist children affected by war.
“Education is much more than just writing or counting – it is the only way to build lasting peace and sustainable development,” Kristalina Georgieva, Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, who is leading the initiative, said this week.
“By providing children with spaces where they can safely develop their talents, by providing them with psychological support to overcome the past traumas and raising their awareness about their rights, we are making one more step towards a conflict-free future – for all of us.”
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I’d kill for a Nobel peace prize
Ah now Sinead, you have to learn the difference between Heads of State and Heads of Government!
Ah now, Frank, you’ll have to learn that while you’re half right, so is Sinéad. There are some Heads of State (e.g. France and Lithuania) who attend these EU events instead of Heads of Government, depending on the particular country’s laws.
So they should be referred to as “heads of state or government”. The Queen of England has never been at an EU summit. Our Head of State is Michael D Higgins and he hasn’t been to one either. My point is about accuracy
I do recall her sitting next to Bertie Ahern at the knees-up following an eu summit.
While their gesture is to be commended their economic policicies in other regions and countries are killing and starving other citizens of the world hypocrisy at it.s best
Name an EU policy that actively kills non-EU citizens?
Cos that would be quite a news story!
Austerity is a killer for many now when you find out find out your own identity I will converse with you not some psyeudnym
I don’t think anybody is starving to death…
Ivory tower comments lives on
Governments spending within their means is murdering people?
Hyperbole at best… in truth just a moronic rant that belongs better on a barstool.
There not spending with in their means their spending everybody elses means to keep them in over inflated wage packets and if nobody is starving why are there soup kitchens popping up all over the place st vincent de paul.innundated with request cappuchin centre over ran with people looking hand outs and as for your hyperbole stick it where the sun dont shine as for bar room rhetoric very seldom frequent them so stick your assumption also where the sun dont shine
How touching. Meanwhile they wage war on their own citizens. Hitting the blind and handicapped through austerity in their own backyard. You would think it was their own money being put to a good use. Oh no they’re far to clever for that they’ve always someone else’s money for good causes.
The EU wage war on the blind?
Finally…. a war the French stand a chance of winning!
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