Pundits tout Polish organisation as a possible Nobel Peace Prize winner

The Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR), a Warsaw-based OSCE organisation, is said to be among the top contenders for this year's Nobel Peace Prize. Such an opinion was voiced by the Peace Research Institute in Oslo (PRIO), which has been accurate in predicting the prize's winners in the past.

1974 Nobel Peace Prize awarded to Eisaku Satō

Awalin / Wikimedia Commons (CC A-S A 4.0 I)

The PRIO’s director, Henrik Urdal, highlighted the importance of election observers like Poland's ODIHR in legitimising election results - as well as the role of elections as a foundation for democracy. He noted that more than half of the world’s population went to the polls this year.

ODIHR works with #OSCE countries to ensure their lawmaking processes are in line with #HumanRights standards, democratic principles, and the #RuleOfLaw.

Find out more in our guidelines on democratic lawmaking, now also in Russian and Ukrainian ➡️ https://t.co/N4CCcm787B pic.twitter.com/OViX9zOLry

— OSCE/ODIHR (@osce_odihr) September 25, 2024

PRIO, which has a track record of successfully predicting the winners of the award, also singled out Sudan's youth-led Emergency Response Rooms this year.

Other candidates singled out by PRIO are the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) and its head Philippe Lazzarini - as well as the International Court of Justice in The Hague.

The OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (@osce_odihr) has been shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize by @PRIOresearch.

Free and fair elections matter. It is an honor to serve as an election observer as a part of this important work. https://t.co/z2pNU9AdfV

— Rasmus Fonnesbæk (@fonnesbaek) February 14, 2024

All in all, 286 candidates were nominated this year - and the Norwegian Nobel Committee will announce the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner on Friday, October 11th.

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Source: PAP, Reuters