Tunisian National Dialogue Quartet Wins Nobel Peace Prize 2015

The Nobel Peace Prize 2015 has been awarded to “Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet” for helping the country's transition to Democracy.

The Nobel Committee said the group of civil society organisations had made a "decisive contribution" to democracy after the 2011 revolution. It said the quartet helped establish a political process when the country "was on the brink of civil war".

Tunisia's uprising was the first and most successful of the Arab Spring. While other countries like Libya, Egypt, Yemen and Syria either reverted to authoritarian rule or descended into violence and chaos, Tunisia managed a successful transition to democracy.

Tunisia's National Dialogue Quartet:

The Quartet was formed in the summer of 2013 when the democratization process was in danger of collapsing as a result of political assassinations and widespread social unrest. It established an alternative, peaceful political process at a time when the country was on the brink of civil war. It was thus instrumental in enabling Tunisia, in the space of a few years, to establish a constitutional system of government guaranteeing fundamental rights for the entire population, irrespective of gender, political conviction or religious belief.

The group includes a labor union, a trade confederation, a human rights organization and a lawyers group.

As an "ENCOURAGEMENT to the Tunisian people":

"More than anything, the prize is intended as an encouragement to the Tunisian people, who despite major challenges, have laid the groundwork for a national fraternity which the committee hopes will serve as an example to be followed by other countries," the committee said.The committee said the prize was also intended as an encouragement to other countries to follow in Tunisia's footsteps.

“Tunisia faces significant political, economic and security challenges,” the Nobel citation said, adding that the Norwegian prize committee “hopes that this year’s prize will contribute towards safeguarding democracy in Tunisia and be an inspiration to all those who seek to promote peace and democracy in the Middle East, north Africa and the rest of the world.”

"Everyone in this country feels a heavy sense of negativity on the streets, it's very common to hear things were better before the revolution," said Monica Marks, a research fellow for the European Council on Foreign Relations. "Having an injection of positivity  a congratulations from the international community is a really good thing."