Stockholm – AFP

Experts have ruled out awarding the Nobel Peace Prize to former US President Donald Trump, considering his chances of winning almost nonexistent. Ahead of the start of this prestigious award season on Monday, they expect the main criterion to be shining a light on forgotten issues.

The announcement on October 10th of the Nobel Peace Prize winner attracts global attention, but it is expected that President Trump’s cuts to healthcare and research budgets in the United States will be a major topic of discussion for the other Nobel prizes (medicine, physics, chemistry, literature, and economics).

Trump himself considered not receiving the Nobel Peace Prize an “insult” to the United States, but his “America First” approach and divisive character make his chances slim.

Historian and Nobel expert Eivind Stenersen said, “It is absolutely out of the question” because Trump contradicts many of the ideals the prize represents.

He explained that “the Nobel Peace Prize rewards multilateral cooperation, such as through the United Nations. But Trump represents a departure from this principle, as he follows his own unilateral approach.” Trump boasts of ending six or seven wars within months, but experts believe this number is greatly exaggerated.

Karim Hajjaj, director of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, called on the Nobel committee to “assess whether there are clear examples of successful peace restoration efforts.”

Tens of thousands of people have the right to nominate candidates for the Nobel Prize. This year, the competition includes 338 individuals and organizations, but the names remain confidential.

Forgotten Conflicts

Hajjaj believes the prize should be awarded to entities working away from the spotlight in conflicts that no longer receive much attention.

He added, “The Nobel committee should focus on the work of local mediators and peacebuilders on the ground. These are the actors overlooked in many of the world’s forgotten conflicts,” including Sudan, the Sahel region, and the Horn of Africa (Somalia, Ethiopia, and Eritrea).

He pointed out that the criteria apply, for example, to Sudan’s Emergency Rooms initiative, which is a network of volunteers providing food and aid to populations suffering from war and famine.

The prize may also be awarded to NGOs defending journalists, such as the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, after many media workers were killed this year, especially in Gaza. Nina Grag, director of the Peace Research Institute in Oslo, said, “Never before have so many journalists been killed in a single year.”

Among the favorites according to betting offices is Yulia Navalnaya, widow of the main Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

In 2024, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to the “Nihon Hidankyo” group of atomic bomb survivors in Japan.

Nobel Literature Prize for Swiss Author Kracht

Another major prize attracting speculation is the Nobel Literature Prize, to be announced on October 9th.

Swiss author Christian Kracht, one of the most prominent contemporary German-language writers, enjoys wide literary admiration.

Bjorn Wiman, head of culture at the newspaper Dagens Nyheter, said, “The Swedish Academy was fully present, sitting in the front row” at the author’s seminar during the Gothenburg Book Fair held a few weeks before the Nobel season.

Wiman concluded that this attendance is an “undeniable indicator.” The critic predicted that “the prize will go to a white man from Anglo-Saxon, German, or French backgrounds,” after last year’s award went to South Korean Han Kang.

The Nobel Prize in Medicine will be the first announced on Monday, followed by Physics on Tuesday and Chemistry on Wednesday.

Among the medical discoveries expected to be rewarded are innate immunity mechanisms, identification of leukemia stem cells, and discovery of an appetite-regulating hormone.

Winners, whether American or not, may use the opportunity to warn about the serious consequences that could result from the Trump administration’s decision to cut medical research budgets by billions of dollars.

The Nobel Prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal, and a check worth 11 million Swedish kronor (about 1.18 million US dollars).