Peace activist: Nobel Peace Prize misused

Peace activist Fredrik Heffermehl, president of the Norwegian Peace Council and vice-president of the International Peace Bureau, says that just one prize awarded in the last seven years actually meet the criteria outlined by Alfred Nobel.

Al Gore and the Panel on Climate Change, Muhammad Yunus, Wangari Maathai, Shirin Ebadi, Mohamed El-Baradei and the International Atomic Energy Agency - IAEA are among the many awards which Heffermehl think conflict with Nobel’s wishes.

This doesn't come as a shock to those of us who've watched the Nobel Peace Prize handed out in recent years to people who've done little to actually, you know, promote peace.

Heffermehl has studied this extensively. He claims that prior to World War II, 85% of awards met the criteria, while only 45% did in the years following the war.