Nobel Peace Prize winners who have spearheaded change in the last 20 years

2024 — Shigemitsu Tanaka. Tanaka, a member of Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations (Nihon Hidankyo), who survived the 1945 atomic bombing of Nagasaki, was the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner for the work done at Nihon Hidankyo, which uses testimony from those who survived the 1945 Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings to campaign for nuclear disarmament and the abolition of nuclear weapons.

2023 — Narges Mohammadi. Mohammadi, and imprisoned Iranian women's rights campaigner, won the Nobel Peace Prize "for her fight against the oppression of women in Iran and her fight to promote human rights and freedom for all," said Berit Reiss-Andersen, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

2022 — Ales Bialiatski. Bialiatski, a Belarus rights activist who was jailed, won the 2022 Nobel Peace Prize for the Russian group Memorial and the Ukrainian organization Center for Civil Liberties to honor "outstanding champions of human rights, democracy and peaceful coexistence in the neighbor countries Belarus, Russia and Ukraine."

2021 — From left, Journalists Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov. They were the 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winners and were cited for their fight for freedom of expression.

2020 — The World Food Programme. The World Food Programme won the prize "for its efforts to combat hunger, for its contribution to bettering conditions for peace in conflict-affected areas and for acting as a driving force in efforts to prevent the use of hunger as a weapon of war and conflict."

2019 — Ethiopia's Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed Ali. Ali won the prize "for his efforts to achieve peace and international cooperation, and in particular for his decisive initiative to resolve the border conflict with neighboring Eritrea."

2018 — Denis Mukwege and Nadia Murad. Mukwege and Murad were jointly awarded the prize for "their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict." Mukwage is a gynecologist who has treated thousands of women with extreme sexual injuries perpetrated by rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Murad is a Kurdish human rights activist from Iraq. She is one of an estimated 3,000 Yazidi girls and women who were victims of gang rape and other abuses by the Islamic State group.

2017 — International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons. From center, Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow and Executive Director of ICAN Beatrice Fihn accepted the award, which was given to ICAN "for its work to draw attention to the catastrophic humanitarian consequences of any use of nuclear weapons and for its ground-breaking efforts to achieve a treaty-based prohibition of such weapons."

2016 — Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. Santos was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize "for his resolute efforts to bring the country's more than 50-year-long civil war to an end." The Nobel committee said the prize "should also been seen as a tribute to the Colombian people who, despite great hardships and abuses, have not given up hope of a just peace."

2015 — The Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet. They received the Nobel Peace Prize for "its decisive contribution to the building of a pluralistic democracy in Tunisia in the wake of the Jasmine Revolution of 2011."

2014 — Malala Yousafzai. Yousafzai, a Pakistani schoolgirl who stood up to the Taliban and defended her right to an education and Kailash Satyarthi won "for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education."

2013 — Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. The watchdog group that was overseeing the destruction of Syria's chemical arsenal won the Nobel Peace Prize for "its efforts to rid the world of the devastating weapons" and for "its extensive efforts" in banishing the scourge of chemical arms. Director-general Ahmet Uzumcu is pictured here during a press conference.

2012 — The European Union. From left, the President of the European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and the President of the European Parliament Martin Schulz accepted the prize on behalf of the European Union "for over six decades contributed to the advancement of peace and reconciliation, democracy and human rights in Europe."

2011 — From left, former President of Liberia Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, founder and president of the Gbowee Peace Foundation Leymah Gbowee, and Yemini "Arab Spring" activist Tawakkol Karman. The trio won "for their non-violent struggle for the safety of women and for women's rights to full participation in peace-building work."

2010 — Liu Xiaobo. Xiaobo, a Chinese literary critic, writer, professor, and human rights activist won "for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China."

2009 — 44th President of the United States Barack Obama. Obama won "for his extraordinary efforts to strengthen international diplomacy and cooperation between peoples."

2008 — Former President of Finland Martti Ahtisaari. Ahtisaari won "for his important efforts, on several continents and over more than three decades, to resolve international conflicts."

2007 — Former Vice President Al Gore and Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). They jointly won "for their efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change."

2006 — From right, Muhammad Yunus and Grameen Bank. Micro-credit pioneer Yunus of Bangladesh and Grameen Bank, who sent representative Mosammat Taslima Begum to accept the award, won "for their efforts to create economic and social development from below."