The Nobel Peace Prize for 2011 has been jointly awarded to Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman for their roles in advancing the rights of women.
The Norwegian Nobel Committee said this morning it was recognising the women "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women’s rights to full participation in peace-building work".
Liberia's Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf is Africa’s first democratically elected female president. Since her inauguration as president in 2006, Ms Johnson-Sirleaf has been widely praised for her part in promoting economic and social development and to strengthening the position of women on the continent.
However, Ms Johnson-Sirleaf (72), who is running for a second term in an election next Tuesday has also faced criticism for not having done enough to heal the divisions of years of civil war in the country.
Ms Johnson-Sirleaf's compatriot Leymah Gbowee was awarded for her role in mobilising and organising women to bring an end to the long war in Liberia, and to ensure women’s participation in elections.
Tawakkul Karman has been recognised for played a leading part in the struggle for women’s rights and for democracy and peace in Yemen.
Ms Karman said today the award was a victory for Yemen's democracy activists and added they would not give up until they had won full rights in a "democratic, modern Yemen".
"This is a victory for the youth first and foremost. We are here to win our freedom and dignity in their entirety. Our youth revolution wants our complete rights," she told broadcaster Al Jazeera, from "Change Square", centre of the protest movement.
"We cannot achieve democracy and lasting peace in the world unless women obtain the same opportunities as men to influence developments at all levels of society," said the Nobel Committee's chairman Thorbjoern Jagland.
"It is the Norwegian Nobel Committee’s hope that the prize to Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf, Leymah Gbowee and Tawakkul Karman will help to bring an end to the suppression of women that still occurs in many countries, and to realise the great potential for democracy and peace that women can represent," it added.
This is only the second time in the history of the Nobel Peace Prize that it has been shared among three people. Yasser Arafat, Shimon Peres and Yitzhak Rabin were previously awarded the prize in 1994.
Other past winners of the Nobel Peace Prize include Martin Luther King Jr, Lech Walesa, Aung San Suu Kyi, Barack Obama and Mother Teresa.
John Hume and David Trimble were jointly awarded the prize in 1998 for their work on the peace process in Northern Ireland.
The award includes a cash prize of 10 million Swedish kronor (€1.1 million). The prize will be presented to the winners in Oslo on December 10th.
