Who are the five Nobel Peace Prize judges deciding whether Trump gets it?

Five members of Norway’s Nobel Committee could clasp the cardinal to United States President Donald Trump’s much-desired infinitesimal of glory – being named this year’s victor of the Nobel Peace Prize.

Each year, the Nobel Committee, whose members are elected by Norway’s parliament, grant the prize, established nether the volition of Alfred Nobel, to “the idiosyncratic who shall person done the astir oregon the champion enactment for fraternity betwixt nations, the abolition oregon simplification of lasting armies and for the holding and promotion of bid congresses”.

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Nominations for this year’s grant closed connected January 31, and the enactment of the victor is shrouded successful secrecy.

This year’s victor volition beryllium announced connected Friday astatine 11am section clip (09:00 GMT), astatine the Norwegian Nobel Institute successful Oslo.

Since helium returned to bureau successful January, US President Trump claims helium has single-handedly ended 8 wars astir the world. He has repeatedly suggested that helium deserves to triumph this year’s prize and has claimed it would beryllium a “big insult” to America if helium does not win.

So who are the 5 members of the Nobel Committee making this year’s important decision?

Who are the 5 Nobel Peace Prize judges?

The Nobel Committee was established by the Norwegian Storting (Norway’s Parliament) successful 1897 and is tasked with picking the laureates of the Nobel Peace Prize.

The members of the committee are elected for a play of six years and tin beryllium re-elected.

According to the Nobel Peace Prize’s rules, members of the committee correspond the spot of the antithetic governmental parties successful Norway’s Parliament, but cannot beryllium sitting members of the parliament. Once elected, the committee picks its ain president and lawman chairman, and the manager of the Norwegian Nobel Institute serves arsenic the committee’s secretary.

This year’s Nobel Committee members are:

Jorgen Watne Frydnes

Frydnes is the seat of the Nobel Committee.

At 41, helium is the youngest-ever seat of the committee. He was appointed successful 2021 and volition stay a subordinate until 2026.

Frydnes has spent his vocation moving arsenic a quality rights advocate. He has besides served arsenic secretary-general of PEN Norway, a radical that promotes state of expression.

He has worked with the nongovernment organisation (NGO), Medecins Sans Frontieres (Doctors without Borders, oregon MSF), and is simply a subordinate of the quality rights NGO, Norwegian Helsinki Committee.

While Frydnes is officially nonpolitical, helium is known to beryllium supportive of Norway’s ruling Labour Party. He managed a memorial to the 69 Labour activistic victims of the 2011 Utoeya massacre carried retired by a Norwegian right-wing extremist. Frydnes has played an important relation successful rebuilding the land of Utoeya since then.

The seat of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, Jorgen Watne Frydnes, waits to invited the representatives of the Japanese organisation, Nihon Hidankyo, the 2024 Nobel Peace Prize winner, astatine Oslo airdrome successful Gardermoen, Norway, connected December 8, 2024 [Jonas Been Henriksen/NTB via Reuters]

Asle Toje

Aged 51, Toje is the vice seat of the Nobel Committee. He has been a subordinate since 2018 and was reappointed to the committee for the play of 2024-2029.

He is considered a blimpish and served arsenic probe manager astatine the Norwegian Nobel Institute earlier joining the Nobel Committee. He has besides published a publication called The European Union arsenic a Small Power: After the Post-Cold War.

Representatives of past year’s victor of the Nobel Peace Prize, Toshiyuki Mimaki, Terumi Tanaka and Shigemitsu Tanaka, beryllium earlier the Norwegian Nobel Committee, from left, Gry Larsen, Anne Enger, seat Jorgen Watne Frydnes, Kristin Clemet and Asle Toje, during the signing of the Nobel Committee’s impermanent publication astatine the Nobel Institute successful Oslo, Norway, connected December 9, 2024 [Javad Parsa/NTB via Reuters]

Anne Enger

Enger, 75, has been a subordinate of the committee since 2018 and has besides been reappointed for the play from 2021 to 2026.

She studied nursing and began her vocation teaching the subject. She aboriginal switched to politics, supporting Norway’s Centre Party.

Enger served arsenic main of the Ministry of Culture and lawman to the premier curate of Norway betwixt 1997 and 1999, acting premier curate successful 1998 and became acting main of the Ministry of Petroleum and Energy concisely successful 1999. She has been region politician of the portion of Ostfold since 2004.

Enger has besides headed the secretariat of the People’s Movement against Free Abortion successful Norway.

Kristin Clemet

Clemet, 68, was appointed to the committee successful 2021 and volition beryllium a subordinate till 2026.

She is simply a Norwegian person for Hoyre, Norway’s Conservative Party.

An economist by profession, she was doubly an advisor to Norway’s past premier minister, Kare Willoch of the Conservative Party, and has served arsenic curate of acquisition betwixt 2001 and 2005.

Gry Larsen

Larsen, 49, is simply a erstwhile Labour authorities caput successful the Foreign Ministry and caput of Norwegian humanitarian organisation CARE Norway, which advocates for planetary women’s rights. She has antecedently criticised Trump’s cuts to overseas assistance spending.

She was appointed to the committee for the play of 2024-2029.

How person they voted successful the past?

According to the rules of the Nobel Peace Prize, the Nobel Committee receives nominations from members of governments astir the world, oregon the International Court of Justice successful The Hague and assemblage professors of of history, societal sciences, law, philosophy, theology and religion, among others, by the extremity of January but are not permitted to uncover the names of the nominees until a victor is announced. In March, the committee prepares a short-list of candidates and announces the victor successful October.

The enactment process takes spot successful implicit secrecy. Information connected however idiosyncratic members ballot is besides not revealed.

“We discuss, we argue, determination is simply a precocious temperature,” Frydnes, the president of the Norwegian Nobel Committee, told the BBC, which got entree to the last gathering of the committee this year.

“But also, of course, we are civilised, and we effort to marque a consensus-based determination each year,” helium added.

Since Frydnes became seat of the committee successful the radical has fixed the Nobel Peace Prize to Maria Ressa and Dmitry Muratov successful 2021 for their efforts to safeguard state of expression; Belarusian dissident Ales Bialiatski successful 2022 for protecting cardinal rights, and Iran’s Narges Mohammadi successful 2023 for warring for women’s rights.

Last year, Frydnes and the committee announced Japan’s Nihon Hidankyo, a radical of survivors of the 1945 US bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, arsenic the victor of the Peace Prize.

“I grew up aft the extremity of the Cold War, erstwhile ideology seemed unstoppable and atomic disarmament realistic,” Frydnes said erstwhile helium presented the award.

Have immoderate of the members been progressive successful immoderate controversy?

Toje and Enger were besides connected the committee erstwhile Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed won the Prize successful 2019 for his relation successful ending the 20-year subject stalemate betwixt Ethiopia and Eritrea. After Ahmed’s win, Ethiopia unleashed a caller violative successful Tigray successful 2020.

“There are ever immoderate radical who consciousness that this laureate was the incorrect one,” Toje had said astatine an lawsuit hosted by the International Peace Institute (IPI) that aforesaid year.

“Once the announcement has been made, we realise it lives its ain beingness … if the Nobel Peace Prize didn’t spark outrage and beardown emotions, well, we wouldn’t beryllium surviving up to our reputation,” helium added.

In 2023, Indian media besides reported that Toje had endorsed India’s premier minister, Narendra Modi, for the Nobel Peace Prize. But BOOM, a fact-checking quality organisation successful the country, recovered that it was a false claim and that Toje had ne'er made immoderate specified statement.

Back successful 1994, Enger had voted against Norway’s European Union membership. In her view, joining the EU would effect successful Norway losing its traditions and democracy. Enger has besides championed anti-abortion campaigns but has been unsuccessful successful reversing Norway’s termination rights.

Meanwhile, Larsen has faced disapproval from the Norwegian Israel Centre Against Anti-Semitism (NIS). In 2006, the institute wrote a missive to the erstwhile Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere, accusing Larsen, his governmental advisor astatine the time, of demanding “a afloat boycott of Israel”.

“She was appointed arsenic governmental advisor contempt her being liable for anti-Israel activities,” the missive had said. It is not wide if Larsen responded to this claim.

What bash they deliberation of Trump?

Trump has been hopeless to triumph the prize ever since US President Barack Obama won it successful 2009.

Besides reiterating that helium deserves this year’s prize since helium has resolved astatine slightest “seven wars” (now 8 wars with the Gaza bid woody announced connected Thursday), the US president has besides called Norwegian diplomats, including erstwhile NATO main Jens Stoltenberg, who is the country’s existent concern minister, to lobby them for the Prize.

But Frydnes says the committee doesn’t springiness successful to specified pressure, and a determination is ever made independently.

“Every year, we person thousands of letters, emails, requests, radical saying ‘this is the 1 you should choose’ – truthful to person that campaign, the unit … isn’t truly thing new,” helium told the BBC.

Frydnes did not openly notation to Trump successful the interview, but successful the past, helium has called retired the US president for cracking down connected “democratic nations”.

Anne Enger has remained wholly tight-lipped astir her preferences for the Nobel Peace Prize, portion Larsen has criticised Trump for cutting USAID and besides for however helium talks astir women and quality rights.

Clemet is besides a Trump sceptic. “After conscionable implicit 100 days arsenic president, [Trump] is good underway successful dismantling American democracy, and helium is doing everything helium tin to teardrop down the wide and rules-based satellite order,” she wrote successful May.

Toje, connected the different hand, attended Trump’s statesmanlike inauguration earlier this twelvemonth and called it a “f****** large party”. He has besides said that Western liberals should instrumentality a much “nuanced” attack to him and the MAGA governmental movement.

However, determination is nary denotation of whether helium could enactment Trump for the prize. He has besides brushed disconnected immoderate benignant of power from lobbying.

“These types of power campaigns person a alternatively much antagonistic effect than a affirmative one, due to the fact that we speech astir it connected the committee. Some candidates propulsion for it truly hard, and we bash not similar it,” helium told The National newspaper.

“We are utilized to work[ing] successful a locked country without being attempted to beryllium influenced,” helium added.

Has this been a peculiarly pugnacious twelvemonth for Norway’s Nobel Committee?

Amid ongoing wars and antiauthoritarian repression successful immoderate countries, arsenic good arsenic Trump’s unit to beryllium awarded the prize, Frydnes told the BBC that helium and the different members consciousness that “the satellite is listening, and the satellite is discussing, and discussing however we tin execute bid is simply a bully thing”.

“And we person to enactment beardown and principled successful our choices … that’s our job.”

Within Norway, however, worries person arisen astir what the US president mightiness bash if helium does not triumph the prize.

The US has already imposed 15 percent tariffs connected the country’s exports.

The Trump medication besides told CNBC past period that the US was “very troubled” aft Norway – which has an astir $2 trillion sovereign money – announced it would divest from US institution Caterpillar due to the fact that of its links to Israel’s warfare connected Gaza.

But successful an interrogation with Bloomberg connected October 3, Foreign Minister Espen Barth Eide said Norway’s authorities was not progressive successful the Nobel Peace Prize decisions.

Who are the different contenders?

The Nobel Committee has received 338 nominees for the prize, retired of which 244 are individuals and 94 are organisations.

But according to the rules of the Nobel Peace Prize, the “committee does not corroborate the names of nominees, neither to the media nor to the candidates themselves. There are cases wherever names of candidates look successful the media, either arsenic a effect of sheer speculation oregon due to the fact that individuals themselves study to person nominated circumstantial candidates”.

Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, a unpaid radical helping civilians successful the war-torn country, and Yulia Navalnaya, the woman of Russian absorption person Alexey Navalny, who died past twelvemonth successful a Russian prison, are seen arsenic imaginable contenders.

According to bookies similar Ladbrokes and oddsmakers, Trump and the Sudanese radical are favourites.

Amid speculation, Nina Graeger, manager of the Peace Research Institute Oslo, told Al Jazeera that according to tradition, each twelvemonth she comes up with a database of 5 imaginable candidates.

“My database this twelvemonth includes Sudan’s Emergency Response Rooms, who are section Sudanese organisers who supply humanitarian enactment to committees affected by the warfare successful the country. These voluntary groups person acceptable up communal kitchens, supported evacuations, offered aesculapian care, fixed infrastructure and provided different services to communities,” she said.

She noted that awarding this year’s Peace Prize to a deserving humanitarian inaugural specified arsenic the Emergency Response Rooms would “highlight the captious value of entree to lifesaving assistance successful times of conflict, and the powerfulness of mundane citizens to service humanity successful hard times”.

The Committee to Protect Journalists is besides a worthy imaginable recipient of the Peace Prize, she said.

“At a clip erstwhile the escaped property is nether historical assault, awarding the Committee to Protect Journalists the Nobel Peace Prize would nonstop a almighty connection that bid and ideology are endangered if journalists are prevented from keeping the satellite informed, including from down the beforehand lines,” she added.