THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE

October 15, 1999
		The humanitarian medical organization Doctors Without Borders was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize today. Dr James Orbinski, the organization's International Council President, will be on the NewsHour tonight. -- Posted Friday, 7:30 pm EDT

A Special Report on the 1999 Nobel Prizes Oct. 13, 1999: Robert Mundell wins the Nobel Prize for Economics Oct. 12, 1999: Ahmed Zewail wins the Nobel Prize for Chemistry. Oct. 12, 1999: The Nobel Prize for Physics. Oct. 11, 1999: Dr. Günter Blobel wins the Nobel Prize for Medicine. Oct. 1, 1999: German author Günter Grass wins the Nobel Prize for Literature.   The Nobel Foundation Medecins Sans Frontieres / Doctors Without Borders

The French group, also known as Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), was chosen by the Norwegian Nobel Committee "in recognition of the organization's pioneering humanitarian work on several continents." The organization provides humanitarian assistance around the world to victims of natural or man-made disasters, including Kosovo refugees and earthquake victims in Turkey this year. Dr James Orbinski, MSF's International Council President, said the prize was a "high level confirmation of the fundamental right of ordinary people to humanitarian assistance and protection." "The prize means that the people we work with," Orbinski told the NewsHour, "the populations in war zones, in civil wars, the people who are victims of famine or natural disaster, that their dignity as human beings is recognized." MSF began in 1971 by ten doctors who were frustrated by their lack of a voice while working with the Red Cross. "That group made a commitment to speaking out against egregious crimes against humanity, against situations where populations are targeted by their governments and other actors in a way that affronts their fundamental human dignity," Orbinski said, in describing what he called the ethos of MSF. The private organization now provides medical aid in 80 countries around the world on a mostly-volunteer basis. Twenty of those countries are in conflict. The prize is "a kind of consolation for a few of our colleagues who have died in the field because they took risks, because they were fearless and because they stuck to their principles to assist people," Dr. Vincent Janssens, MSF's Operations Director in Brussels, told Reuters. President Jacques Chirac called the award an "honor for France." Earlier rumors that a Chinese dissident might receive the prize brought ire from the government in Beijing, but subsequent reaction to the announcement naming Doctors Without Borders has been positive. Last year's recipients of the award were Northern Irish leaders John Hume and David Trimble, and the International Campaign to Ban Landmines and Jody William in 1997. The prize will be presented on December 10 in Oslo.